Bob Dylan at Nottingham Arena live review

There was a sense of anticipation in the Lace Market on Tuesday 15 November. After meeting some friends in the Broadway cinema, Jared and I made our way to the arena and joined the long queue to get in. We splashed out on a bit of merchandise (£10 for a programme!!), a couple of beers and then made our way to our seats.

Bob and his band took to the stage just after 7.30pm. They launched straight into Maggie’s Farm, with Bob playing keyboards and harmonica. This was something that continued throughout the night, making it the first of five times I have seen Bob live that he has not played guitar. He played through a few classics including The Times They Are A Changin’, Under The Red Sky, Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee and Highway 61. For the encore, some had risen from their seats and were dancing in the aisles. It might not have been as wild as it was in the sixties, but Bob Dylan lived up to his reputation as a brilliant performer. His singing, keyboard and harmonica playing were superb and his backing band were worthy of sharing the stage with him.

No-one wanted the performance to end, but it did… and early too. But we left and went to our homes with a good feeling in our stomachs, which for me personally lasted  the whole rest of the week at work.

Richard Wilson

When I was a kid I never used to like Dylan. If you play the songs of one artist on repeat to a child, from their birth until they leave home, then they’re always likely to rebel against it. My dad played and talked about Bob Dylan lots when I was younger and hence for many years I wasn’t interested. But as you get older, you realise that your parents are often cooler than you think and certain things you may have cast aside earlier in life might actually have been worth keeping.

It was a real pleasure to see Dylan play live in my home town, alongside my old man. I’d actually seen Bob play before at Glastonbury in 1998, but this was a bit special because of the family occasion. The band took to the stage early… at around 7.30pm! It was a surprise there was no support act, but at least we were ready and in our seats by then… unlike some others with tickets.

From start to finish it was a cool gig. Not much crowdsurfing, stagediving or other rock’n’roll antics, but great music all the same. My personal favourites were Masters of War, Blind Willy McTell and the awesome encore featuring All Along The Watchtower and Like a Rolling Stone. It was a pity Bob didn’t play guitar and that the gig had finished by 9.30pm, but then he is getting on a bit these days and maybe he’s arthritic and goes to bed early. As we left, I turned my phone on and got a message from a friend who had turned up to the gig at 9pm (expecting Bob to not even be on stage yet) and only caught the encore. The times they are a changin’…   

Jared Wilson