Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson transformed the Hollywood Bowl into a paradise for Americana and Country on Friday evening, while the two legends brought the Outlaw music festival instead of vegetables for the second consecutive year.
Dylan continued just at dusk, and the scene was lit as a black rodeo, revealing the Piano signature of Dylan. He and his group – dressed in blacks like out -of -law entrepreneurs – opened with a boastful “things have changed”.
The configuration of the scene was simple: an image of a peaceful background of the mountain lake which looked like a label of bottle of fancy water, well mixed with the surrounding Hollywood hills and a crowd full of cowboy hats and rhinestones.
Sierra Hull and Billy Strings opened the Bluegrass stars, Bluegrass stars, while the upcoming tour of the Outlaw Fest 2025 tour will rotate in acts like Sheryl Crow, Wilco, Lucinda Williams and Nathaniel Rateliff. The alignments of outlaw in previous years have included Neil Young, Brandi Carlile and Chris Stapleton.
At 83, Dylan is always asserted, quirk and everything. His piano was unusually mixed, highlighting both a rhythmic reader and occasional missed notes. He was an indulgent audience, many of whom were probably adolescents when Dylan released his first albums.
Dylan’s set was the most unpredictable. Rough and rowdy ways The material of the tour and rather removed deep cuts, covers for the first time and completely redesigned versions of beloved songs. For the superfans, this evening could have felt a replay – almost identical to its set the day before at Chula Vista – but for the most part, it was refreshing and strange, especially for the young participants seeing it for the first time after caught last year A complete unknown But not realizing how Dylan has transformed his live sound of the last decades of tour.
PIECES like “Simple Twist of Fate”, “Desolation Row” and “To Ramona” were reshaped with mixing grooves and the Honky-Tonk piano of Dylan. “Throughout the Watchtower” felt like a challenge if Dylan could make sure that one of his songs sounds like Sade – a sentence that this writer did not expect to write. “Blind Willie McTell” wore a terrible Detroit combarator. Even “Under the Red Sky”, the title song of what had long been considered one of the less albums in Dylan, lost its shine in the early 90s and was allowed to breathe, seeming particularly spacious and pretty.
Other Dylan gems – “Forgeful Heart”, “Love Sick”, “Early Roman Kings” – remained close to their original recordings while he interpreted new covers on this subject like George “Wild Child” Butler “Ax and the Wind”, Charlie Rich, I will do everything for you “and” Sharing your love with me ” Malone.
In a typical Dylan fashion, he said little between songs, apart from a funny moment asking a member of the public what he ate. For the first songs, the bowl monitors remained away, as if Dylan did not want to be seen. When they came to a few songs, to public acclamations, they showed only a much large plan, always keeping the recluse forever hidden.
Whenever Dylan picked up a harmonica, the crowd roared. The greatest applause came for the closest, “do not think twice, everything is fine”, rethought with Jangly Piano and Harmonica.
If Dylan was the dark preacher on Friday, Nelson was the light of campfire. At 92, he is still typically American, our white -headed gypsy. After having seen him live in the tenth year of what has become the most loved festival of Outlaw music, it is difficult to challenge this.
Presented as “Willie Nelson & Family”, the scene turned on in red and orange, a huge American flag hanging behind them. Nelson, seated with Trigger – his faithful and long worn acoustic guitar – was surrounded by his literal family. He opened with “Whiskey River” and the bowl broke out. Nelson did not shoot things, just classic after classic, played with joy and clarity.
His set included successes he wrote or popularized with friends: “Workin ‘Man Blues” (Merle Haggard), “Good Hearted Woman” (Waylon Jennings) and “help me cross the night” (Kris Kristofferson). Unlike Dylan, Nelson sometimes discussed with the crowd, giving intros to songs and memories of old friends.
The stars included a “Bloody Mary Morning” (with the public applauding for his name-drop), a crowd to the singer of “Mammas let let your babies become cowboys”, and tender and funny interpretations of “(die when i’m High) Halfway to heaven” and “Everhything is bullshit”, The youngest of Nelson, who performs under the Moniker Kid Kid. The latter was particularly entertaining, with the youngest Nelson, who made an almost perfect impression of his father’s voice, injecting cat meals while the oldest Nelson has dismissed “Bullshit” throughout the choirs – causing himself as your grandfather who knows that he is in trouble to say something mean.
From 10 p.m., Nelson never seemed tired. He smiled, nodded and sang as if he always wanted to say every word. The evening ended with most of the Outlaw holiday crew that returns to the stage together (except Dylan, who was sleeping), playing with Nelson to close the night by covering the timeless “Will the circle be uninterrupted?” And “I fly.”
Nelson then fareweed and came out of the right scene while the rest of the gang played him with “I Saw the Light” by Hank Williams.
