Last Night at The Gorge (by Ian Grant)

2024-08-10, Gorge Amphitheatre, George, WA

Photo by @RainsTrains

Last night, the second leg of the Outlaw Tour came to a close. I covered leg one fairly extensively but, due to having a new baby and not going to any shows myself, haven’t run anything on this leg. That changes today, as Ian Grant sends in a final-night (for now) recap.

If you’re a podcast listener, you likely know Grant as co-host of the excellent podcasts Jokermen, which started out a Bob Dylan podcast and has expanded to other artists’ catalogs (currently The Beach Boys and Randy Newman), and Never Ending Stories, which goes deep into live-Dylan tapes. I’ve enjoyed being an occasional guest on both shows. He also writes for Aquarium Drunkard, most recently an excellent deep dive into Street-Legal.

So I’ll turn it over to Ian for his report from what looks like an almost ridiculously scenic night at The Gorge in George.

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Yesterday, my wife and I saw Bob Dylan live at The Gorge in beautiful George, Washington. What follows are statements, suppositions, and spontaneous realizations regarding our experience.

• We drive out from Seattle, where we’re staying with friends. It’s an extraordinary journey through monumental Pacific Northwest passes—granite peaks, walls of evergreens—into desolate country equal parts central California and northern Arizona. This part of Washington looks like Mars and feels like hell. By the time we pull into the lot at 3:30, it’s a cool 95°.

• We’re greeted by a fascinating crowd: country-western wannabes, polo-clad retirees, boho Burning Man burnouts present for Billy Strings, and a couple gawky dudes wearing Jokermen gear.

• T-Mobile customers can take advantage of the “T-Mobile Fast Lane” for entry to The Gorge. They just check your phone and let you cut the line.

• We don’t discover the existence of the T-Mobile Fast Lane until we’ve waited in the standard entrance line for about 25 minutes. Major bungle.

• We wait another thirty minutes in line at the merch tent in order to purchase The Shirt. We do not see a single other person buy one.

  

• The Shirt does not smell that bad.

• Spontaneous realization: It cannot be stressed enough what an extraordinary tapestry of humanity is present. Every type of guy imaginable—a buffet of guys. 

• The Gorge is extraordinary, iconic, awe-inspiring. I’ve seen plenty of pictures and know generally what to expect, and I’m still utterly unprepared for the first glimpse of the setting once we crest the hill: the bowl, the stage, the sea of humanity, and beyond it all, the cliffs and the Columbia River and the big sky, enormous, endless, spread out beyond the horizon. 

• To anyone considering a visit to The Gorge at some point, I say this with the utmost solemnity: Don’t You Dare Miss It.

  

• Billy Strings, jamband maven. It isn’t music I would ever actively listen to, but when sitting high on a bluff at the edge of civilization, high winds whipping past, surrounded by hundreds of Oakley-clad men hooting, hollering, and playing air guitar? Brother, it sounds good as hell.

• The crowd eats it all up. This dude is gonna be a huge star, if he isn’t already.

• Spontaneous realization: There is something wild, real, old, dying in the air. Ecstasy.

• Not 10 seconds after I type the previous statement, EMTs wheel a man out on a stretcher—dying, indeed.

• Total price of two beers and two waters: 56-something with tip. Ads on the jumbo screens between sets advertise “Willie’s Reserve” pre-rolls. Someone is making a mint off the Outlaw Fest.

• Spontaneous realization: It is objectively hilarious that Bob Dylan is about to take the stage to sing “Mr. Blue” and “Under The Red Sky” to this crowd of people.

• We spend most of the Mellencamp set trooping around in search of popcorn for my wife. Mr. Cougar seems to have adopted a Tom Waits-ish growl as his late era vocal style. I can’t say I’m heartbroken to miss it.

• Spotted: Gen Z woman wearing a Jokermen 2000s tee

• On our way back to the seats for Bob, we run into Jokermen listeners Daniel and Landen, down from Vancouver for their first Bob show. Nice to meet you dudes.

• Spontaneous realization: Sun setting, air cooling, crowd growing, buzz building, Bob coming soon. Folks, it simply does not get any better.

  

• And there he is, 8:15 on the dot, right on time

  • Track 1: Rainy Day Women — Exact right way to start this set for these people. Who says Bob Dylan isn’t a crowdpleaser?

    [Editor’s note: All videos via @RainsTrains]

  • Track 2: Shooting Star — Some beautiful harp work from Bob on the bridge. Always a good sign when he whips the harmonica out this early into a set. Salute to the hammered woman getting dragged out by security in the middle of the song.

  • Track 3: Love Sick — Wild stuff from Bob on the baby grand. Heavy fills, way up in the mix.

  • Track 4: Little Queenie — Weirdly perfect choice for this environment. What a thrill: “MEAN-while!”

  • Track 5: Mr. Blue — Like “Queenie,” barely clears the two minute mark. Perfect little palate cleanser. Tony in all black, plucking the stand up bass, looking like Lee Marvin. What was I saying about real, wild, dying?