Bob Dylan to play Bumbershoot

So the big news today is that Bob Dylan will headline at Bumbershoot this year!  The tickets price for a day pass is only $40.00 including the mainstage shows, if you decide to skip the big names you can get in for only $22.00, which is really cheap.  40 bones is cheaper than a Dylan ticket.  If you want to spend big bucks of course you can still go for the VIP tix at $450.00 for all 3 days, reserved seating and separate entry from the unwashed masses.

Having just gone to the Folklife festival this past weekend at Seattle Center, which was free with a suggested donation box, I can say that the chances of Bumbershoot being packed to the gills just went through the roof.  Folklife was already elbow to elbow on the pathways, though not much of the music was engaging enough to draw crowds at the stages.  I didn’t see that much to be fair – It was cold, rainy, and I was in cherrypicking mode, just went to see friends play (the Starlings). 

I’m already hearing the usual complaints that accompany the booking of Dylan – he’s old, he mumbles, he doesn’t care – but the fans know none of this matters.  I have a theory that ever since the booing that started in ’66 stopped, he’s been trying to get people to react any way he can.  The last time I saw him (with RD and Grilled Cheese here in Seattle) he sang every song using the same 2 notes “Like a rollin stooooone,  Maggies faaaarm no more, times they are a chaaaaanging,” and he played electric piano almost all show, finally putting on the acoustic at the end, and then barely playing it anyways – Larry Campbell knows what to play.  Its hit or miss how he will be (those crappy shows in the 80s ouch) but the band is so good even on a bad day it’ll be fine.  You know all the words anyways.

“Who will go?” is a question my buddy Meuter raised, and it’s a good one.  Its like a socio-cultural survey – will the kids go, or only the older folks?  Looking forward to finding out.  The set times have not been listed yet, so I don’t know if I will be done with KEXP’s secret location music lounge in time to make it – assuming I have the gig again .

Dylan is in Europe now, and the set lists seem to have plenty of the hits in them, go here to take a peek.  As usual though, no way to tell if the pattern will hold through September.

Other artists I’m hoping to see :

Neko Case, The Decemberists, Visqueen, Zoe Muth and the Lost High Rollers, Star Anna, Laura Veirs, and I still love Bobby Bare Jr every time I see him live.

Ozomatli are always fun live, and intrigued to see if Justin Townes Earle has something new in the bag.  The whole list of performers is here.