Dylan Jams Like It’s ‘60s Again

How many solos must one rock icon take, before they call it a jam?

Bob Dylan didn’t quite become Jerry Garcia on Thursday at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Irvine on the summer tour he’s sharing with former Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh, but he certainly seemed to enjoy playing--not just strumming--guitar as much as reinventing his rock classics.

The dice roll that determines each night’s set list on his Never Ending Tour came up six, as in ‘60s. Other than the choice covers--Leadbelly’s “Duncan and Brady,” the pop standard “That Lucky Old Sun” and country-bluegrass obscurity “Searchin’ for a Soldier’s Grave”--Dylan relied almost exclusively on his ‘60s work.

Some fan on the Net may know precisely how many times Dylan has sung “Like a Rolling Stone” live, but it didn’t matter--the electric, pealing version he and his marvelous quartet pounded out made it as riveting as ever. Their muscle gave “Down in the Flood” the feel of a Stones chestnut.

As for Lesh’s closing set, it proved the Dead not only walk among us, they still jam too.

Lesh makes no attempt to distance himself from rock’s legendary hippie groove band, and repeatedly invoked his former group’s trademark party rhythms.

Vocals were kept to a bare minimum. Musical dialogue is the thing, and Lesh & Friends--guitarist Robben Ford, Little Feat guitarist Paul Barrere and keyboardist Bill Payne and Other Ones/Bruce Hornsby drummer John Molo--chatted up a wordless storm.

That chat was most scintillating on Latin-based polyrhythmic numbers, least on two-chord, four-beat rockers. Yet, like the Dead, the payoff isn’t any particular number. Lesh & Co. reward fans’ patience with cumulatively building performances that gently subvert our increasingly short attention spans.

* Bob Dylan and Phil Lesh play today at Del Mar Fairgrounds, Del Mar, 7 p.m. $40. (619) 755-1161.