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Bob Dylan blew into town last night on an ill, idiot wind, and he didn’t have to sing about it for us to know which way it was blowing. This was, after all, the day that the U.S. Congress passed a disturbing bill that hopes to combat terrorism by restricting civil rights.

I hate—absolutely detest—arena shows, but you make an exception for Bob Dylan especially when it’s his first show in his mom’s home town since she died.

At least three and maybe four generations came together 14,000 strong to hear what this 60-year-old national treasure—and one of our own up here on the far edge—had to say about the most troubling times in more than 30 years. I have to admit that it was a little disconcerting when Dylan and his band took the stage in snazzy white and burgundy suits, respectively. From up in the cheap seats it looked like a 1970s soul review, but this was Dylan and I eagerly suspended belief and judgment. Since he’s been opening recent shows with Fred Rose’s “Wait For The Light To Shine,” I knew that those must be western-cut suits and this show—like most Dylan shows—was going to run the gamut of musical styles.

Dylan’s playing was in keeping with the show’s minimalist staging. A sparse black-and-white stage coupled with gimmick-free lighting and a straight-ahead backup band showcased Dylan’s poignant phrasings and meager guitar and harp solos.

Five songs off the new release, “Love And Theft,” made the setlist and most of the older tunes had new arrangements. “Masters Of War” (with a repeated first verse at the end) was played as a haunting acoustic blues, for example, with vocal phrasings that were startling but as roiling as ever. Effective, but subdued, lighting that imposed an enormous Dylan-shadow on the backdrop made the piece all the more evocative. It was followed, whipsaw fashion, by the jump blues stylings of “Summer Days.” It was an evening of whipsawed emotion, from the broad, boisterous grins of “Sugar Baby” and “Summer Days” to the quiet tears of an especially slow “Positively 4th Street,” “Forever Young,” and “Blowin’ In The Wind” to the firm, knowing grimace of the aforementioned “Masters Of War,” “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall,” (arranged as a sort of psychedelic waltz, no less) and the set-ending “Everything Is Broken.”

Maybe it was—for once—a recognition of his hometown crowd, or maybe it was because he needed some sort of final emotional release. For whatever reason we were treated to a second encore: a blazing “All Along The Watchtower.” And then Bob Dylan was gone, blown out of town on that same ill, idiot wind. This morning it was calm again.

Setlist

Wait For the Light To Shine (acoustic) Mr. Tamborine Man (acoustic) A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall (acoustic) Searching For A Soldier’s Grave (acoustic) Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum< I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met) Positively 4th Street High Water Mama, You Been On My Mind (acoustic) If Dogs Run Free (acoustic) Masters Of War (acoustic) Summer Days Sugar Baby The Wicked Messenger Everything Is Broken

Love Sick Like A Rolling Stone Forever Young (acoustic) Honest With Me Blowin’ In The Wind (acoustic)

All Along The Watchtower