Autobahn 61 revisited
Bob Dylan's Stuttgart gig on Monday showed the old trouper in 
fine form.

Bob Dylan's newest song, from the soundtrack of the Michael Douglas  
movie "Wonder Boys", is called Things Have Changed. But they haven't 
really. A new century finds Dylan doing what he has always done - a new 
tour, a new album on the way and still playing the songs that came to 
define the latter half of the 20th century.

On Friday he collects the "Polar Music" prize from King Gustav of 
Sweden in Stockholm and he decided while he was in Europe he might as 
well play a handful of dates. Sadly there are none in Britain although he 
will be back in September for an appearance at the Albert Hall. By 
then he should have a new album to promote, his first since 1997's
acclaimed Time Out of Mind, his best record in years.

There is currently an upbeat mood in the Dylan camp, which suggests 
he is about to kick off the millennium with a real stunner. We shall 
see. Certainly in Stuttgart on the second date of the current tour he 
was in fine form. He disposed of The Times They Are A-Changin'  
early in the proceedings. Then he was straight into Desolation Row,
radically restructured with a melody that was barely recognisable. 
Tangled Up in Blue was another classic which bore only a tangential 
resemblance to the original. Dylan long ago tired of being a human 
jukebox and, to the irritation of many, has often mangled his best 
songs. These were at least properly worked out and rehearsed 
arrangements but it was not always immediately apparent what the 
songs were until the words gave them away. Most unrecognisable of 
all was Gates of Eden, which was stripped of its old anger and 
given a lovely lyrical treatment.

Halfway through the evening he exchanged his acoustic guitar for an 
electric and the four-piece band moved up a gear. Country Pie from 
the Nashvillel Skyline album was followed by a stirring Maggie 's Farm 
and a throwaway I 'll Be Your Baby Tonight. But he sounded most 
engaged on the newest material and he played three songs from Time 
Out of Mind. They haven't yet suffered from the overfamiliarity of 
having been sung a million times and the bluesy Can't Wait and 
he haunting Not Dark Yet had a greater passion and commitment than 
some of the earlier songs.

Over the years Dylan concerts have become hit-and-miss affairs and 
it has often appeared that he was trying to debunk his own myth. This 
ranked as one of his better nights, although a cover of Not Fade Away 
displayed the old perversity and was a strange choice from someone 
who has written so many of the world's greatest songs.

It was perhaps his way of saying that it's only rock 'n'roll. There was 
a time when it was much more but these days it is enough. Dylan is 
no longer the voice of a generation. But he still knows how to put 
on a compelling show when the spirit moves him.