Image of the John Doe Folk Trio by There Stands the Glass.
I was walking past the designated standing area closest to the stage at Starlight Theatre when John Doe opened a Fourth of July concert with a rendition of Jimmie Dale Gilmore’s “Tonight I Think I’m Gonna Go Downtown”. Much to the chagrin of the ushers, I decided to post up at the spot rather than make my way to my assigned seat at the back of the venue. (I paid $61 to enter.)
I didn’t become a nuisance until Doe revived X’s “See How We Are”. Involuntarily, I became the first of the mentally unhinged superfans who went into ecstatic paroxysms of nostalgia during the next three-and-one-half hours. The dire message of the 1987 protest song- the ongoing deterioration of American society is inevitable- walloped me in ways I didn’t imagine 39 years ago.
X means a lot more to me than Lucinda Williams. Even so, I relished her literate Southern rock jams bolstered by the presence of Black Crowes guitarist Marc Ford. Williams diffused the tension incited by her strident compositions by insisting she’s a patriot, a savvy move, given the surprising number of people wearing MAGA-related clothing amid the audience of about 5,000.
Speaking of unaccountable perversities, Bob Dylan’s confrontational performance art routine rolls on. The distinguishing characteristic of Saturday’s concert was a relentless battery of private armaments unleashed in the public park surrounding the venue.
Fireworks repeatedly drowned out Dylan and his band from the seat I illicitly claimed in the front half of the amphitheater. An absurd Irving Berlin-style take on “When I Paint My Masterpiece,” Dylan’s eccentric jazz-based keyboard work and Joel Paterson’s Jimmy Rogers-style guitar riffs were the best bits of what was audible. Ka-boom!