Bob CollinsPrince has canceled his appearance at a concert in Europe, but Bob Dylan went ahead with his in Italy last night after he got another dozen armed guards assigned to the security force, International Business Times reports.
In the wake of the attack on a Paris heavy-metal concert, Dylan requested armed guards at the entrance to the auditorium in Bologna, as well as the stage and the backstage area.
The Corriere della Sera newspaper said it was the first time a performer has demanded armed guards at the concert venue.
Dylan opened his concert with “Things Have Changed.”
A worried man with a worried mind
No one in front of me and nothing behind
There’s a woman on my lap and she’s drinking champagne
Got white skin, got assassin’s eyes
I’m looking up into the sapphire-tinted skies
I’m well dressed, waiting on the last trainStanding on the gallows with my head in a noose
Any minute now I’m expecting all hell to break loosePeople are crazy and times are strange
I’m locked in tight, I’m out of range
I used to care, but things have changed
A music critic for an Italian website said anxiety disappeared once the concert started, and people returned to debating whether Dylan should’ve performed his songs in the classic style in which they became famous, or given them the different interpretation he gave them last night.
