On 10 April, 2011, Bob Dylan played at RMIT University in District 7 of Ho Chi Minh City. Estimates put the crowd somewhere between four and five thousand. David and I were there, along with friends. I thoroughly enjoyed the show and was glad to have been a part of a legendary performance.
Following the concert, there was much todo in the media and the blogsphere. Many media reports focused on the music that Dylan didn’t play. Many bloggers complained about the music he did play. I had intended to write a counter piece to all this, but I find that I no longer have to.
My friend, Eric Burdette, wrote a great review of the show, saying pretty much everything I felt much more eloquently than I. Go read it–it’s really a good summation of both the evening and the issues.
The Bangkok Post has an excellent article about the concert. It’s the sanest media coverage I’ve read. It’s also a pretty good review.
Finally, I’d like to make a comment about the VIP seating: bwahhhaaahhaaahaaaa! If you paid full price for your “VIP” seats, you were suckered. At least one negative review of the show came from someone sitting in the “VIP Section” and I can’t really blame him for the bad review: those seats were crap. Sure you got a chair, but you were angled to the stage in such a way that your view sucked and you were out of the main cone of the sound system! That’d piss me off, too. I bought cheap seat tickets and had a fantastic view and a great time.
