Unlike a Rolling Stone

You have to ask yourself: what exactly is it that brings Bob Dylan, one 
of the most influential figures in the history of rock 'n ' roll, to a 
cycle track in downtown Stuttgart? When contemporaries such 
as the Rolling Stones tour, they are heavily sponsored and hyped to 
the hilt, performing slick stadia shows. But Bob still does it his way: 
rolling restlessly around the more improbable venues of Europe.

Here is the man who singlehandedly revolutionised the pop lyric, 
nominally promoting a 'Best Of, Volume 2', but choosing to play only 
two tracks from the album. More frustratingly, he also manages to 
bypass the excellent "Things Have Changed", his first new song of the 
21st century. Over the past 40 years many have tried to figure Dylan 
out, but the only thing that's certain, as he edges towards 60, is that in 
concert he is still able to deliver.

It is a weird experience to see such an uncompromising and 
inspirational figure playing his wonderfully fierce songs, not just to the 
grey-haired men who grew up asking, "How does it feeeel?", but to the 
young and curious.

Perversely, rock music's most influential songwriter opens his set 
with a breezy cover of Roving Gambler, a traditional ballad. Then it's a 
brisk trot through more familiar territory: Times They Are 
A-Changin', a fragile Girl From the North Country, Tangled Up in Blue, 
Gates of Eden and even a truncated Desolation Row.

On stage, he cuts a curious figure, frequently doing a little single-step 
duckwalk - the Bob shuffle; but the first harmonica solo is greeted 
rapturously, and the show offers something for everyone. New fans 
receive familiar titles such as Maggie's Farm and It Ain't Me Babe
warmly; while loyal followers of many years' standing are rewarded 
with unexpected little footnotes: an electric Country Pie, a 
startlingly energetic cover of Not Fade Away and a jaunty 
I' ll Be Your Baby Tonight.

Audiences used to pristine CD versions of the hits can be 
disoriented as Dylan trawls through one of the most distinguished 
back-catalogues in pop and reclaims over-familiar songs for himself. 
The notion that he merely clings to past glories is disposed of swiftly
by his poignant performance of a trio from his recent and masterly 
Time Out of Mind: Can't Wait, Lovesick and Not Dark Yet -
which may well be his best song of the past decade. Performed by 
the man who altered the very language of rock'n'roll, Like a 
Rolling Stone still packs an awesome punch; and then it's into the 
home straight as a moving Forever Young and boisterous Rainy 
Day Women bring the energetic two-hour show to a close.

Dylan forges ever forward, and there are rumours of British shows 
in the autumn. Be there. If nothing else, it will be an opportunity to 
admire the audacity of a man who, legend though he is, refuses to be 
bound by his own myth.