1981: The Last Really Great Dylan Tour?

It was Flag Day 1981, and I found myself driving south on I-95, taking a friend to see Bob Dylan at some place called the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland.

It was Flag Day 1981, and I found myself driving south on I-95, taking a friend to see Bob Dylan at some place called the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland.  It was her first Dylan concert and my tenth.  During the ride, I was trying to explain to my friend what she may or may not see at the show, which considering this was Dylan is always a close to impossible task.  I told her about Slow Train Coming, the all gospel concerts, and how the previous fall, Dylan had started doing some of his classic songs again.  As we got closer to our destination we had turned off I-95 onto some new highway on the outskirts of Baltimore where there was a parade of green exit signs that all said “Nowhere.”  I was hoping it wasn’t some kind of sign of things to come.