Has Bob Dylan passed his sell-by date?

BYRON BAY, AUSTRALIA Bob Dylan croked on Tuesday night. Well, he would have died on stage had the audience not been so delighted that the legendary Mr D was topping the bill at the 22nd Byron Bay Bluesfest. They refused to believe that this was a below par performance. But the reality is that the voice done. Frankly, it's all over now baby Bob.

His vocals have grown more gravelly over the years but now they have become so bad, he is forced to sing as little of a song as he can get away with and rely instead on his playing and that of his backing band.

It may be that his Never Ending Tour has finally taken its toll. Or it may be that Dylan just needs a rest. His current tour of the Far East, Australia and New Zealand only started on 3 April. Before that his last date was at the end of November. Tomorrow (30 April) he plays in Auckland, New Zealand before taking six weeks off.

He returns to live touring on 16 June when he appears in Cork, Ireland followed two days later by the London Feis at Finsbury Park. Then it's off to Israel and mainland Europe until 2 July.

The reason this itinerary is of interest is that on 24 May, he celebrates his 70th birthday. It's an age when many men have been long retired and are enjoying life. Their life's work done and their money made, they take time to do all the things they always wanted to do.

Dylan has made his money and then some. He doesn't need to tour and put his voice under such strain. Last Tuesday he sounded like a man with a very bad sore throat. He was, not to put too fine a point on it, hoarse. It was hard to hear the words he sang (sic). But he and his band played great music. They are a tight outfit.

It was harder too to see Dylan. At his request the large screens that have become so much a part of music concerts were switched off so that only those at close proximity to the stage could see the man.

I thought that was very bad customer service, Bob, and in a day and age when people expect value for the money they spend, this action showed a contempt for those who had paid A$160 (£105) to see and hear him perform 14 songs.

Ironically the best performance of one of his songs was A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall earlier in the evening by Leon Russell (below).

That was an appropriate choice given that the rain had fallen sporadically over the six days of the Bluesfest leaving us to wade ankle-deep through foul smelling mud. A sort of Aussie Glastonbury.

Let's hope it's a sunny two days on London on 18 and 19 June. Let's also hope that Bob Dylan spends the next few weeks dosing his throat with honey and letting it rest. Dylan tops the bill on Saturday and Van Morrison on Sunday.

*** Dylan's playlist on Tuesday 26: Gonna Change My Way Of Thinking; It Ain't Me, Babe; Rollin' And Tumblin'; Tangled Up In Blue; Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum; Spirit On The Water; Cold Irons Bound; Desolation Row; Summer Days; Simple Twist Of Fate; Highway 61 Revisited; Ballad Of A Thin Man; Like A Rolling Stone; Forever Young