DYLAN'S FIRST-EVER CAPE CONCERT MEANINGFUL TO FANS OF ALL AGES

Forty years after they began making sense of the '60s, Bob Dylan's songs are as powerful as ever. His performance of some of them may have softened, in the sense that he sees things from a different perspective. But as his searing reading of "All Along the Watchtower" proved Wednesday night, Dylan has relinquished none of his passion for making music.

Dylan and his four-piece band performed before an enthralled audience of 2,803 at the Show Me Center. The concert was Dylan's first ever in Cape Girardeau and brought out people ranging in age from children to the silver-haired. For some the concert brought back memories of seeing him when they were young. Others were there to see what all the talk is about. They should have found out.

Dressed in a black suit and cowboy boots, Dylan and the band started out playing pensively with acoustic instruments. They soon built to a driving "It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding" with its famous line "But even the president of the United States sometimes must stand naked."

When Dylan and friends strapped on the Fender electric guitars, they flushed out another politically charged classic, "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall," which Dylan sang with gentle resignation instead of the snarling anger and foreboding it once held.

"Tangled Up in Blue," one of Dylan's best songs, started sparely but quickly surged with drama. Toward the end, he pulled out his harp, playing with his left hand while balancing with his right like a surfer riding a wave. It was simply thrilling.

Dylan began playing encores halfway through the concert, beginning with his new Oscar winner, the irresistible "Things Have Changed." A stream of the essential Bob Dylan followed, including a blow-torch-hot "Highway 61 Revisited," a playful "Blowin' in the Wind" and "Like a Rolling Stone."

In 1972, "Like a Rolling Stone" was an anthem to a generation. Thirty years ago, the stage lights turned on the audience as Dylan sang, and you looked around at the faces of your generation and did not feel so all alone. Wednesday, the lights played more softly, but you know what? We're still not alone.

An acoustic "Forever Young" was all the more touching sung by a man who has been able to fulfill his wish: "May you always be gentle/May your song always be sung."