Bob Dylan gives an intimate virtual concert, “Shadow Kingdom”

Bob Dylan rarely does things the usual way. In her first performance since 2019, a pre-recorded selection of songs titled Kingdom of Shadows, the enigmatic artist offered viewers not only 12 of his most poignant songs (reimagined, of course), but a cinematic and film noir experience that brought fans closer to a man well known for his strict policies of “no photos”. at concerts.

Directed by Alma Har’el, Kingdom of Shadows featured Dylan as the centerpiece of a small house group in a prohibition-style sweatshop surrounded by men and women with smoldering cigarettes and polished drinks. Accompanied by his masked band mates – Alex Burke, Janie Cowen, Joshua Crumbly, Shahzad Ismaily and Buck Meek – Dylan, although dressed simply throughout the show in a few different costume jackets, garnered the most attention with his wide stance and direct eye contact with the camera. The dimly lit room, courtesy of cinematographer Lol Crawley, cast mysterious shadows on the musicians’ faces, including Dylan’s, and explained the title of the performance.

Dylan rarely announces his next song during his regular live performances – it’s often up to the listener to decipher which tune he’s cleverly reworked into something brand new – but Kingdom of Shadows took the guesswork out of showing the title of each song before its performance. Billed as “Bob Dylan’s First Songs”, the concert kept its promise with standards like the opening “When I Paint My Masterpiece”, “It’s Over Now, Baby Blue”, “Queen Jane About “and” Tom Thumb’s Blues, “but also included a later gem,” What Was It You Wanted, “from Dylan’s 1989 album, Oh mercy. Dylan made the transition between the mic – singing in a gruff but robust voice – his guitar and his harmonica, but of course, no applause filled the short silence between the numbers. The set list did not include any songs from her most recent album, 2020’s Rough and rowdy ways, despite its rave reviews.

Maybe that’s how Dylan wants most of his concerts to go, with just a small crowd of people and an intimate group in an undisclosed location. While it’s unclear at this time when he’ll return to tour in the wake of the pandemic, in the new era of livestreaming, it was only fitting that Dylan took things to the most inventive level possible with Shadow Kingdom.

Fans who missed the initial broadcast can still purchase and watch the virtual concert until July 20 by going here.

Bob Dylan, Kingdom of Shadows Define the list

1. “When I paint my masterpiece”
2. “It is very likely that you will go your way and I will go mine”
3. “About Queen Jane”
4. “I’ll be your baby tonight”
5. “Like the blues of Tom Thumb”
6. “The Gravestone Blues”
7. “Be alone with you”
8. “What did you want”
9. “Still young”
10. “Promise my time”
11. “Watch the river flow”
12. “It’s over now, baby blue”