DaytonDailyNews.com

FAIRBORN — With three sets played by three different artists in slightly more than three-and-a-half hours at Tuesday evening's Bob Dylan show held at the Nutter Center, most attending would probably agree that they got their money's worth.

Due to a scheduling delay, I missed seeing Amos Lee's opening set, but was told by reliable sources that it was powerful and heartfelt.

I was safely settled in my seat when Elvis Costello nonchalantly sauntered out on stage in a smoky purple suit and his trademark glasses. He was greeted to rousing applause from a half-full Nutter Center and promptly got down to business playing an acoustic set, which was a flurry of rocking acoustic guitar play and booming vocals. Toward the middle he explained that at one point his father gave him some advice, saying, "never, ever look up to a note, always look down."

At 8:50 p.m. the voice of counterculture, one Bob Dylan, took the stage, opening with "Everybody Must Get Stoned."

Sporting a first-rate five- piece backing band, he sang with a rough, weathered voice with a craggy depth that only age can carve out.

The musical vibe oscillated from a twangy country to a lively rockabilly, to soulful blues, to a spirited honky tonk. The tireless musicianship morphed from one to another and in between.

Many of the evening's cuts, including "The Levee's Gonna Break," "Spirit on the Water" and "Nettie Moore" came from his most recent studio album, "Modern Times," from 2006.

A true poet, Dylan never rushed his songs, working instead to establish a mood. In fact, if you listened hard you could hear a heart beating in the lyrics (assuming you could decipher them) and the soul of a musician baring himself in the carefully constructed notes.

Dylan's gruff, husky, mumbling voice that sounded at times like it's been raked over hot gravel was more often than not difficult, if not impossible, to understand. The acoustics of the Nutter Center didn't help matters any.

For his encore he played "Thunder On the Mountain" and ended the evening with his song "All Along the Watchtower."

Crackling vocals and acoustics aside, there was no doubt that we were in the presence of greatness, looking down on the notes with him.

Contact this writer at (937) 225-2427 or alarsen@DaytonDailyNews.com.