I was getting my hair cut yesterday, and I couldn't help overhear another customer talking about how she walked out on Bob Dylan.
What the fuck?!
Walk out on one of the most influential musicians of our time?! I was gobsmacked.
The woman said that she was about an hour into the show, and she turned to her husband and remarked that so far, she hadn't heard one song that she recognized. He said, "Let's go."
Now, I wasn't at the show, so I couldn't comment on the playlist, but a review in the local paper listed some pretty important songs, including "Tangled up in Blue" and "Like a Rolling Stone."
Walk out on Bob Dylan? Singing "Like a Rolling Stone?" Pfffffffffff.
Granted, Dylan isn't quite the performer he once was. He's in his 70's, for God's sake. And you probably know the issues with his voice, so I can understand someone going to the show and being disappointed it isn't like his old albums. But anyone who is awake and alive and aware on this planet would've known that, and made allowances. I just shake my head when people show their ignorance like that.
For example, I went to see the Led Zeppelin concert film "Celebration Day." When I was walking out, I was behind a couple, and the woman was saying to the man that she only recognized about three songs during the whole 2-hour movie.
The songs played in that movie were about as representative a sampling of Zeppelin's greatest hits as you could probably want. And you didn't recognize them? What the fuck did you come to the show for?
Like I said, ignorance. It's embarrassing.
I remember when I saw Tina Turner, oh years ago. This was at the end of her last major world tour. It was a slick performance, very different than the one I'd seen her put on previously. It was in a small club in Deadmonton, just before "Private Dancer" put her back on top again. But both shows were done by a professional at the top of her game, and I was just rocked to the core.
But while she was doing her encore, the spotlight played over the audience, half of which was heading for the exits. I guess getting out ahead of the traffic was more impotant than "Proud Mary."
Like I said.
Ignorance.
Embarrassing.
