Presented by House of Harmonica
@ Nexus Cabaret
SATURDAY 25 Feb (until March 17)
Having filled the Rob Roy Hotel for two sold-out performances and a third by popular demand at last year’s fringe, local harmonica guru and Dylan-aficionado John Hastwell (aka Aussie Bob) returns for another run of tribute shows at Nexus Cabaret.
After thoroughly enjoying those 2011 gigs, which took their costume and set list cues from the gypsy rock and iconic white face paint of Dylan’s mid-70s Rolling Thunder Revue tour, I was keen to find out how Aussie Bob and his band The Rolling Downunder Revue might approach their material this time around. The group was smaller, going from a seven to five-piece with drummer Jason Sifis, Darren Hedley on bass, guitarist Caitlyn Lesiuk and violinist Kim Perry alongside Hastwell up-front and in-character. This talented group manage to capture the sound and spirit of Dylan’s songs with deceptive ease. There is excellent musicianship behind each well-known beat and melody, including some great auto wah bass work on the fire and brimstone gospel track Slow Train, a lovely violin solo on Love Minus Zero and suitably mysterious, apocalyptic versions of both One More Cup of Coffee and All Along the Watchtower.
Not to mention Aussie Bob himself. Hastwell describes his musical loves and influence as a contest between Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones to see who could affect him most deeply – that Dylan won is clear in the way he channels this century’s most enigmatic singer-songwriter with such admirable precision. Both this and his previous tribute shows have managed to imitate and celebrate (through costumes, arrangements and showmanship) while avoiding cliché.
However, there were some downsides. Hastwell said the idea for this show, as its title suggests, was to offer a “songbook” type overview of Dylan’s career, in contrast to the more narrow period focus of his 2011 gigs. Certainly a good idea, in terms of not covering too much of the same material twice. But scheduled at only sixty minutes, A Back Pages Ramble is around half the length of those shows, which were split into two separate sets. There isn’t really enough time here for paying homage equally to all of Dylan’s five decade career. One nice touch to help with this was a long instrumental medley, which mingled the melodies of several well known Dylan tracks while showcasing Hastwell’s excellent guitar and harmonica work. But even this piece dealt only with the first half of Dylan’s output. Of the medley plus eleven songs performed, none were dated later than 1979. Additionally, the smallish opening night crowd’s less than spectacular applause stamina resulted in no encore (surprising, given this group’s previous sell-out shows), which prevented a longer performance and perhaps more varied song inclusions.
The change of venues from a lively pub setting at the Rob Roy to Nexus Cabaret’s darker, more intimate environment definitely works for the idea of a songbook tribute, but the show’s length and song choices somewhat undermine that promise. This may, however, be the minor nagging of an over-thinking Dylan fan-boy. Because what most people will take away from a Rolling Downunder Revue show is new appreciation for the strength and influential power of Bob’s songs.
Aussie Bob’s last Fringe show is on Saturday March 17. You can also watch a short video montage of A Back Pages Ramble at his YouTube channel.
