Bob Dylan @ United Palace Theater - Nov 18, 2009 (hightea)

Huffington Post: A lot of the acts from your generation seem to be trading on nostalgia. They play the same songs the same way for the last 30 years. Why haven't you ever done that?

Bob Dylan: I couldn't if I tried. Those guys you are talking about all had conspicuous hits. They started out anti-establishment and now they are in charge of the world. Celebratory songs. Music for the grand dinner party. Mainstream stuff that played into the culture on a pervasive level. My stuff is different from those guys. It's more desperate. Daltrey, Townshend, McCartney, the Beach Boys, Elton, Billy Joel. They made perfect records, so they have to play them perfectly ... exactly the way people remember them. My records were never perfect. So there is no point in trying to duplicate them. Anyway, I'm no mainstream artist.

Bob Dylan and his band played for the second night in a row at United Palace Theater on Wednesday (11/18). Those that went both nights were rewarded with a different setlist at each show (until the end anyway). Night one setlist HERE. Night three tickets HERE. Night two's setlist below...

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Bob Dylan @ United Palace Theatre - 11/17/09 (Frank Beacham)

Even Bob Dylan can't be Bob Dylan all the time.

The 68-year-old Boy From the North Country born Robert Allen Zimmerman has been trying to break his own myth since the mid-'60s, when he alienated fans of his early folk albums by plugging in and rocking out. Since then, his muse has come and gone, but his contrarian streak has been a constant.

For the past 20 years, the road has been constant too. Dylan tours endlessly, turning up at a half-full arena or a minor league ballpark near you again and again, as if to prove he's no sage, just an itinerant song-and-dance-man. Though late-period albums like "Time Out of Mind" and "Love and Theft" have evinced a creative renewal, he's often been erratic, even indifferent onstage. Still, there's something noble in his doggedness, singing on even though thousands of shows have curdled his voice into a viscous, gut-shot croak. On a good night, he can still remind you why people worshiped him in the first place. [Washington Post]

Was last night a good night? Bob Dylan and band played their first of three nights in a row at United Palace Theatre in NYC (11/17). Dion is the opener. Tickets are still available for the next two (11/18-11/19).

The setlist from night one, and a better version (than what I posted before) of Bob's new hysterical video for "Must be Santa" (off Bob's new Christmas album), below...

Continue reading "Bob Dylan played United Palace Theater in NYC (night 1 setlist), released "Must Be Santa" video"