This is an excerpt from the lengthy post I did six years ago when Bob Dylan first blew through Fort Wayne:
Overall? Got my money's worth. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and I had to be there, wouldn't have missed it for the world. They were selling postcards of the hanging and, though I didn't go for one of those, I have the tickets to prove I was in the presence of the master on a drizzly Tuesday night in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Dylan never had a good voice, and these days he sounds like Kermit the frog with laryngitis. But his band really rocks -- most people forget what a good musician he actually is. And his play book, however few titles he plucks from it on a given night, is one of the most insightful journeys available through the last 40 years. I don't think I could count the pivotal moments in my life when there was a Bob Dylan song in the background somewhere. He never spoke for me, but he spoke to me.
Guess I'll have to rethink that "once-in-a-lifetime" stuff since he's back tomorrow night for a concert in our new downtown stadium, and I'll be there for that one, too. I'm looking forward both to the music and my first visit to Parkview Field. I'm not, however, like this guy:
“When we first announced the Dylan show, a guy emails in and says, 'You'd know me if you saw me,'” Nutter said. “'I come to 20 TinCaps games a year. You always make eye contact and wave. I'm one of those thousands of people that loves coming out there but you don't probably know me by name.
“'I just wanted to tell you something. I'm not the biggest fan of Bob Dylan. I bought two tickets this week. I think this is great. I want to come out and support live music in your venue. You hooked me with the TinCaps; if you book a live guy (act) down there I'm coming.'”
I, too, hope this new venue succeeds with non-baseball events, especially musical ones, but going to see somebody I'm "not the biggest fan of" seems to me to get the whole entertainment concept backwards. We do not exist to make their efforts successful. Their efforts are supposed to exist to amuse and entertain us.
Speaking of which, no opening acts this time around? Boo, hiss, Bob. That's an important part of the concert experience. I am not amused.
