Dylan headlines SPAC festival after watching
Levon Helm from the shadows

By John W. Barry • Poughkeepsie Journal • August 18, 2008

Tucked behind a massive beam that supported a wall and hid him from view, standing anonymously in the dark just a few feet from thousands who might have kneeled at his feet or trampled him if they knew he was there, watching an old band mate perform new songs, pop culture icon, musical legend and former Woodstock resident Bob Dylan Sunday night joined the crowd at Saratoga Performing Arts Center as they watched former Band drummer Levon Helm during the inaugural Saratoga Music Festival.

Helm’s performance at the outdoor amphitheater north of Albany followed sets by Conor Oberst; Gillian Welch and David Rawlings; Steve Earle; and The Swell Season, which is fronted by the Academy-Award winning duo of Glen Hansard of the Irish band, The Frames, and Marketa Irglova. Dylan and his five-piece band played after the Levon Helm Band, a 13-piece ensemble that has fueled a monster comeback for the Arkansas native and voice behind most of The Band’s hits.

Helm had the crowd dancing in the aisles during “Ophelia,” and dancing on the lawn during “The Shape I’m In,” two Band staples that are signature songs for the Levon Helm Band.

But the crowd expressed as much interest in “Got Me A Woman,” a bouncy, roots-based acoustic song from Helm’s 2007, Grammy-winning CD, “Dirt Farmer.”

As the crowd watched Helm and his band perform “Got Me A Woman,” Dylan watched as well, barely identifiable in the dark as he stood stage left, on a grassy hill in a restricted area off a wide walkway, near where tour buses came and went all day.

Anyone in the section of seats closest to Dylan could have tossed him a grapefruit, he was that close. People in the same backstage area from which Dylan watched milled about around him, and moved past him, as if they did not know the legend was a mere few feet away.

Dylan’s interest in Helm’s set was likely very high. Helm, bassist Rick Danko, guitarist Robbie Robertson, keyboard player Garth Hudson and pianist Richard Manuel backed Dylan decades ago, after the famous folk singer opted for an electric backing ensemble. Also, Larry Campbell, Dylan's guitarist for eight years, is now a member of the Levon Helm Band.

Helm and his band mates were playing a bar on the Jersey Shore in the 1960s when Dylan asked them to back him up. The boys in the backing band eventually joined Dylan in Woodstock, embarked on their own career as The Band and released records — “Music from Big Pink” and “The Band” among them — that are considered musical milestones in the evolution of rock music.

Dylan joined Helm and Danko on stage in New York City in 1983, for an impromptu set; and Helm and Dylan saw each other again in 1992, during a Dylan tribute concert at Madison Square Garden. Also, Dylan sat in with a reformed Band during a performance at President Bill Clinton’s inauguration in 1993.

Earlier Sunday, from the backstage area where Dylan later watched, yet in clear view of the public, Oberst watched Earle’s set, and Earle watched The Swell Season play “Falling Slowly,” from the film, “Once,” which earned Hansard, from Dublin, and Irglova, from the Czech Republic, the 2008 Oscar for Best Song.

Hansard during the afternoon — for a long while — sat on the same hill from which Dylan watched Helm play. Hansard was easily identifiable from where the public took their seats inside the SPAC pavilion.

Dylan did not make himself obvious, but if you knew he was there, you could have seen him in plain sight, albeit in the dark.

Dressed in a top with a hood that he did not wear; and a hat that resembled a beret, was hard to identify in the dark, but was nowhere near as ostentatious as the bolero he wore on stage, Dylan stood expressionless and motionless as he paid strict attention to the Levon Helm Band’s set.

Any doubt that this figure in the dark was Dylan was erased by the white stripe on the outside of his left pant leg, a familiar sight for anyone who has seen Dylan perform in recent years. The white stripe on the dark pants is part of Dylan's on-stage costume, which typically features a cowboy hat and suit right off a late 1800s stage coach.

Dylan was only seen watching “Got Me A Woman,” the a cappella dirge, “Anna Lee,” from “Dirt Farmer,” and “Rag Mama Rag,” a rollicking Band song that features a tuba solo.

The legendary songwriter from Minnesota, who lived in Woodstock for several years in the 1970s and has returned to the Hudson Valley three times since Feb. 2006 for private rehearsals at the Bardavon 1869 Opera House in Poughkeepsie, was surrounded by three bodyguards. He left during “Rag Mama Rag” with one bodyguard and disappeared behind a tour bus.

Dressed like a riverboat gambler, Dylan took the stage just before 10 p.m. and launched into an explosive “Leopard-Skin Pill Box Hat,” which opened a more than 90-minute set that featured “Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again,” “It’s Alright Ma I’m Only Bleeding,” Like A Rolling Stone” and “Blowin’ In the Wind.” As he has done for years, Dylan reworked many of the arrangements, but delivered straight-ahead rock ‘n’ roll.

Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band evoked the 1960s British invasion with their look, but called on the spirit of Woody Guthrie with a real gem of a tune called "Moab," built around the soothing chorus of "There is nothing that the road cannot heal." In between swigs of Miller Lite beer — from a can — Oberst got the most out of SPAC's great acoustics by playing great song after great song.

Welch's summer dress complemented nicely the warm breezes and towering evergreen trees that SPAC's lawn is famous for, and she and Rawlings provided lilting, lumbering, acoustic tunes that seemed to sit just fine with the crowd.

Technical problems delayed The Swell Season's set, and Hansard lost power during his first song. That didn't affect him all that much, as he simply leapt to the edge of the stage and kept playing, much to the delight off fans who couldn't hear him but screamed out their love for him nonetheless.

The duets that Hansard and Irglova sang were of another world — the sound of two people singing with one set of vocal chords. They were quite a contrast to Dylan, who sang staccato on his best performance of the night, "Desolation Row," injected vocal inflections that rose and fell from line to line, word to word and syllable to syllable, and roared into the microphone as though he had downed a flask full of lighter fluid prior to taking the stage.

It's hard to imagine anyone would disagree with the assertion that the emotional high point of the evening came during the last song of the Levon Helm Band's set, which traditionally closes with the Band classic, "The Weight."

Levon and his gang were joined on stage by Hansard, Earle, Welch and Rawlings.
Earle growled his way through the "Crazy Chester" verse, and everyone did their best to keep up with Helm, who dug deep inside to "Take A load off Fanny."
 

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