Last night in New York, Bob Dylan completed what has been, by all believable accounts, an exceptional fall tour. The sixteen song set list included seven songs from his new album, Modern Times, including the live debut of the epic Ain’t Talkin’ (clip here). Taking into account the two songs he played from “Love and Theft”, that makes nine songs out of sixteen in this final gig which were from his two most recent albums. The audience clearly dug them at least as much as they dug the classics, cheering appreciatively at particular lines, like:

You think I’m over the hill
Think I’m past my prime
Let me see what you got
We can have a whoppin’ good time

Not a bad position for a 65-year old singer-songwriter to be in. It’s been a great year for Bob, and a very fun year to be a fan. Not many artists would be able to claim to have had a great year, when the Broadway musical they were associated with closed after 28 performances — think of Paul Simon and his “Capeman” failure. However, that’s a measure of just how great a year it’s been for this guy: a number one album (not only in the U.S. but all over the place), a highly-lauded weekly radio show, and ninety-nine concert appearances (so far). Although 2007 is unlikely to see a new studio album (or a new Broadway musical) from Dylan, it’s fair to say, considering this year’s fecundity, that there will likely be surprises in store.

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