Road warrior Bob Dylan returns to stage – at least on film

NEW YORK, July 19, (AP): After a year and a half away because of the pandemic, relentless road warrior Bob Dylan returned to a concert stage on Sunday — at least online.

He performed for fans who paid $25 to watch online through the live-streaming platform Veeps. It was less a concert than a stylized black-and-white film, with the 80-year-old singer fronting a four-piece band in a juke joint before audience members who smoked a lot and paid little attention to him.

Dylan hasn’t performed live since December 2019, COVID-19 finally concluding his so-called Never Ending tour. Since 1988, he had kept performing regularly: 78 gigs in 2019, 84 in 2018, for example.

His wardrobe changes and differences in the placement of the band and witnesses made clear that Sunday’s performance, titled “Shadow Kingdom,” did not run straight through. His audience was actors rather than fans; they didn’t applaud.

Dylan’s band included an accordion player and, for many songs, an upright bass player. There was no drummer, with the performances more folk, blues and country instead of rock ‘n’ roll. Dylan sometimes accompanied himself on acoustic guitar, as on the opener, “When I Paint My Masterpiece.”

As he began, two women sat in tables in front of him, smoking and taking drinks from beer bottles. When he performed “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight,” the women flanked the white-coated Dylan onstage, staring emotionless at the camera.

Dylan concentrated on material from early in his career, including infrequently performed numbers like “Queen Jane Approximately” or “Wicked Messenger.” His luminous version of “Forever Young” was the best-known of the 13-song performance. A version of “What Was it You Wanted” from the 1989 album “Oh Mercy” was the only song originally released later than the early 1970s.

He didn’t speak to his online audience. After a stark version of “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue,” the performance was over in less than an hour, giving it the feel of the first part of something more. Dylan hasn’t announced any further appearances on Veep.com, and hasn’t said when he is returning to the road.

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Elvis Costello is re-releasing his classic “This Year’s Model” album — but this year’s version erases his vocals and replaces him with Spanish-language singers.

A video of Juanes performing “Pump it Up” was released Thursday, preceding the full version of “Spanish Model” due to come out on Sept. 10.

Producer Sebastian Krys kept, and remixed, the original instrumental tracks recorded by Costello and his backing band, the Attractions. Besides Juanes, other vocalists include Fito Paez, Luis Fonsi, Sebastian Yatra and Jesse & Joy.

Originally released in 1978, “This Year’s Model” was Costello’s second album and first with the Attractions. With its furious sound and blistering pace, Costello described it as an album about control and “desire and how that relates to love, fashion and the male gaze towards women.”

“I don’t think there’s anything that somebody in another language would not have encountered,” he said.

He said in a news release that he was inspired by television producer David Simon’s request that he record his song “This Year’s Girl” as a duet with singer Natalie Bergman for his show “The Deuce.” He said he had a dream where he heard “This Year’s Model” sung in Spanish.

Juanes had just worked with Krys on his latest album, “Origen.” He told The Associated Press that he could hear Costello’s breathing in the mix used for his vocals.

“The video is very particular, too,” Juanes said, “because it’s an animation over the original. I mean, it’s the original video, but with my face. It’s a bit crazy, but it’s really cool. The same body of Elvis dancing to the song, but with my face.”

“Spanish Model” includes versions of “Mentira” (Lip Service) sung by Pablo Lopez, “La Chica de Hoy” (This Year’s Girl) by Cami and “Tu Eres Para Mi” (You Belong to Me) by Fonsi.

Costello has teased the concept of bilingual releases recently, with Iggy Pop singing a French version of Costello’s song “No Flag.”

“Part of the fun of this project is its unexpected nature,” Costello said. “Although, I think people in my audience that have been paying attention are pretty much used to surprises by now.”