Playlist Rewind: Bob Dylan at the Liacouras Center

Pot and incense. Although we could easily identify the aroma at the Dylan concert on Monday night, the show itself left us scratching our heads.

Yes, we know the artist is aging. Yes, we know that his voice has drawn criticism throughout his career. But he is an icon. And he is constantly on tour. Wouldn't, then, his team know about the horrible acoustics at the Liacouras Center? Even the clearest of pitches sounds muffled at the venue—so by the middle of this stop on Dylan's Never Ending Tour, the set list merged into one long, loud cacophony (Dylan played 17 songs from 8 of his albums, not including any from his latest Christmas in the Heart).

Attendance was also surprising. Fewer than expected occupied the second level, and except for those closest to the stage, fans acted like kids at a junior high dance. Judging from body language, people wanted to move, but because nobody else around them did, they became withdrawn, nodding their heads as excessive strobe lights flashed on the stage. Dylan, wearing a Panama hat and a naval-inspired suit, shuffled between a keyboard at stage left and a microphone at center. As if sensing at times that the mood was more subdued than the selected set intended, he rallied his audience with frequent and soulful harmonica playing. (Guitarist Charlie Sexton, who rejoined Dylan's band this past August, was also a true highlight of the show.)

Joyce Carol Oates, American writer and critic, describes her first exposure to Bob Dylan's music in the early sixties as "dramatic and electrifying." She identifies Dylan as the "Tambourine Man" of social change, an artist who pushed tradition into action by stylizing folk music as political statement. And that's the thing. Even though it's harder to hear the singer now, we still want to know what the artist has to say.

So yes, we will go to see Bob Dylan again. Even at the Liacouras Center.