WIHAN: Bob Dylan, 1978
Saturday, February 28th, 2009
I had forgotten this was a Halloween show. There must’ve been people there in costumes, but I don’t remember it.
I do remember a certain electricity about this show. As a colleague of mine from the East Coast delights in pointing out, Minnesotans are pathologically possessive about famous natives, so Dylan’s ambivalence to the state he grew up in had long felt like an insult. But all was forgiven when he put St. Paul on the Street Legal tour schedule. ‘Will he acknowledge us from the stage?’ we wondered, ‘Maybe even apologize for ignoring us for so long?’
I have saved almost every ticket stub from concerts I’ve been attending since 1974. I’m not sure why, except that behind every one of them is a memory. Most of them are good, none are profound, a few make for good stories after a couple of beers. Some of the memories have gone missing – I honestly can’t remember seeing The Boomtown Rats, but there’s a ticket stub in my dresser that says I did. So I’ve decided to write down what I do recall, before any more go AWOL. Consider this the beginning of an occasional series; I don’t expect any rhyme or reason to the order. I’m starting with this Kinks show, well, just because.
