Thanks to Jay for the e-mail and link to the audio of NPR’s Fresh Air show, where rock critic Ken Tucker provides a pretty good appreciation of one of Dylan’s shows early this year at the Beacon Theater in NYC. Click here and the “Listen” link is under the heading “Ken Tucker’s Top 10.” When you open it in your player you should skip forward to about 12 mins and 27 secs if you want to hear the Dylan-related segment, which is about 4 minutes long. One thing Tucker has wrong is when he claims Dylan gave “no encores.” One encore has certainly been the standard for his last few tours, and I don’t think he cheated the NYC fans out of that on any of those nights at the Beacon. But, that’s how your memory plays tricks when you’re fashioning a narrative out of an experience and endeavoring to make a particular point about it.

On the other hand, I wouldn’t be moved to disagree with Tucker’s final statement about Dylan: “The most amazing singer-songwriter, rock performer of our era.” (Albeit that the labels are a bit constricting, as always.)

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