Bob Dylan packs a punch> Fans makes it clear Bangor loves him

It wasn’t sold out, but the Bangor Civic Center was cram-packed last night with unflagging fans who came to hear the legendary Bob Dylan perform classic folk-rock music. From the first note, concert-goers wanted to dance in the aisles, but were deterred until the last half-hour of the concert when they rushed the stage. One fan even made it onto stage to give Dylan a farewell kiss.

Performing with a four-piece back-up band, Dylan appealed to the wide range of listeners in the smoky audience. Dylan’s younger fans wouldn’t hesitate to say Dylan kicks. His longtime fans — those in Dylan’s own fiftysomething age group — could justifiably say that Dylan is still very cool.

In some ways, he is, in fact, cooler than he has ever been. During his first set, it didn’t matter whether he was playing “All Along the Watchtower,” “Every Grain of Sand,” “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight” or “Silvio,” Dylan was a hotshot on electric lead guitar. In the past, his poetic and radical lyrics, as well as his characteristically nasal singing voice were the building blocks of a career.

In recent years, however, he has taken off in performance as a guitarist. Last April during a concert at the University of Maine, Dylan was outshined by the excellence of lead guitarist John Jackson. Although Jackson’s replacement Larry Campbell is a nimble guitarist in his own right, and Bucky Baxter (on guitar and mandolin) and Tony Garnier (on bass) are champion musicians, Dylan was shining bright on his own last night.

Particularly on acoustic guitar, Dylan truly drove this point home with a soulful rendition of the Grateful Dead hit “Friend of the Devil.” In the same set, Dylan brought out his harmonica for a funky performance of “Love Minus Zero/No Limit.”

“I’ll Remember You” and “Maggie’s Farm” filled the third set and led to four encores including “Like a Rolling Stone” and “Rainy Day Women #12 and 35.”

These days, Dylan tends to play to smaller crowds. Rumor has it that he likes the cozier venues, and a listing of his scheduled stops for this tour, which began in Canada, shows that he’s playing halls that average about 3,000 seats or less.

And Bangor loves Bob Dylan, loves to get into the old familiar groove, loves to dance a little hip-hop to his ever tuneful music. That he performed some of the same songs his fans heard last year, or that he wrapped up with his predictable signature pieces didn’t matter. It didn’t matter that the concert had to be rescheduled at the last minute because Dylan’s equipment got iced in on a ferry in Newfoundland. What matters is that a Dylan concert still works for pretty simple reasons: It’s loud, it’s tight, it’s got an enthusiastic crowd, and it’s Dylan — back again and packing ’em in.