dylanunited1

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

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

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…

Bob Dylan – Must Be Santa

Dylan PosteR

Bob Dylan @ United Palace – 11/17/2009

1. Cat’s In The Well
2. It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue (Bob on guitar)
3. Beyond Here Lies Nothin’
4. A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall
5. Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum
6. John Brown
7. Summer Days
8. Po’ Boy
9. Cold Irons Bound
10. If You Ever Go To Houston
11. Highway 61 Revisited
12. Ain’t Talkin’
13. Thunder On The Mountain
14. Ballad Of A Thin Man

(encore)
15. Like A Rolling Stone
16. Jolene
17. All Along The Watchtower