Sooooo, did I mention I got to see Bob Dylan recently? Oh, I did? I mentioned it repeatedly, you say? Huh. Well, guess what? I went to see Bob Dylan and it was fabulous.

CW’s friend from college was visiting for the weekend and the three of us headed up to Atlanta for the concert and checked into our fabulous lodgings, up on the 54th floor:

We met up with my friend D., and had ourselves a grand old time. If you are a fan of beer and in Atlanta, may I recommend The Porter? They have a beer list a mile long, good pub-type food (with suggested beer pairings) and a knowledgeable staff. I went for a Danish pilsener and a Kölsch (lager from Cologne). Excellent.

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The concert started with My Morning Jacket (I like them, but I don’t really know their stuff — they were good, though!) and then Wilco. I like Wilco a lot but hadn’t ever gotten around to seeing them, so this was a really nice treat, too. They kept the place rockin’ pretty hard.

(The photo of Wilco was the best of my attempts to capture anything on my iPhone — cameras were technically banned and even phone photography was discouraged.)

Bob Dylan closed the show and I thoroughly enjoyed it. If you’ve heard him perform in the last decade or so, you probably know the gruff, gravelly sound his voice has these days — his singing was often hard to understand and several of the songs were new ones I didn’t know (but still good). When he did play his classic hits, the style and arrangements made them sound new and fresh again. Some of my favorites from the show: “Tangled Up in Blue,” “A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall,” “All Along the Watchtower,” “She Belongs to Me,” and “Ballad of a Thin Man.”

Bob Dylan’s music has been the backdrop for a lot of moments in my life — and the soundtrack to so many emotional developments along the way. New love and heartbreak, betrayal, change, frustration, longing. It’s all there. I never knew if I’d get the chance to see him perform live (I don’t tend to go to many concerts these days because it costs a goddamned arm and a leg now), but I’m so glad I finally did. Big thanks to CW for making it happen.