27 Sepember 1997 - Bob Dylan - Bologna, Italy - Pope John Paul II - NSF

SETLIST

REVIEW

Hello everybody Kees de Graaf here,
well, Bob just performed  3 songs for the the pope which I saw on
Italian Television Raiuno:
Knocking on Heavens Door
Hard Rain's gonna Fall
Encore: Forever Young.

Bob wore a large cowboy hat in a striped black suit. His face
looked a little puffed with some vertical wrinkles beneath his eyes.
The set was entirely electric and Bob had a good voice.
After Hard Rain Dylan went up the stairs to a large platform
at the side of the stage where the Pope was sitting in a large
chair. As he went up the large stairs he nearly stumbled over
the steps, nervously clenching both his hands in front of him.
At the top of the stairs he took off his large cowboy hat and
slightly bent forward to meet the Pope who had risen from
his chair to meet and shake hands with Dylan. The Pope
took Dylan's right hand in both his hands as they spoke
for half a minute or so I think. What was said could not
be heard however.
A pretty unique event I think. Some on this newsgroup have
suggested that Dylan returned to Judaism. Well, I don't think
that if this were true Dylan would have done this. On the
other hand I must say that there were no specific christian
songs performed. But we have to remember: "there is nothing
gained by any explanation, there's no words that need to be
said"- Dylan has said what he had to say.

Read more at : https://expectingrain.com/dok/set/97/09/970927a.html