Why Try To Change Me Now?

As Bob Dylan begins his latest European tour, Nick Hasted goes native with the Bobcats in Stockholm. There are many war stories to share, and new perspectives on an enduringly provocative Nobel Laureate… What should we make of the extended American Songbook phase? Has the Never Ending Tour secretly ended? And what does his Greenwich Village mentor make of Dylan in 2017?

- Nick Hasted

IT’S 90 minutes before Bob Dylan begins his 2017 European tour at Stockholm’s Waterfront Auditorium. He’s chosen April Fools’ Day for his first show in six months, and the first since his controversial Nobel Prize For Literature was celebrated – equally controversially – in his absence, here in the home city of the prize’s Academy. Dozens of diehard fans are already milling outside the entrance of the Waterfront’s 21st-century building, the upper storeys of which bristle with a porcupine quill design. Although many are veterans of over 100 Dylan shows, there’s still a frisson of anticipation. Word has spread that Dylan has finally agreed to receive his Nobel medal and diploma in a “private, intimate” ceremony at some point today. staff inside the venue suggest that it happened right here at the Waterfront before the gig. “spirits were high. Champagne was had,” Sara Danius, the Academy’s Permanent secretary will reveal the following day, depicting a warmly jovial meeting between Dylan and 12 Academy members. The convergence of a new tour and this historic event has brought radio and TV crews from across Europe to canvass reactions, adding to the feeling that this is an exceptional day in Dylan’s vast, 55-year live diary.