Dylan knocks fans out of the park

Last night Bob Dylan and John Mellencamp filled the night sky above Missoula's Ogren-Allegiance Park with their time-honored harmonies. Paying listeners inside the baseball field routinely cheered before and after each song while those hoping to hear the legends from along the riverbank were sorely disappointed. Stadium personnel set up bright yellow roadblocks along the river path on either side of the ballpark. Fans hoping for a freebee were promptly turned away.

Dozens of bikers, dog-walkers and families with strollers hoping for a closer patch of grass settled for McCormick Park. From behind the dirt hills built up around the stadium only the strongest notes from the old-school singer-songwriters could be heard.

"Money, money, money. You wouldn't think Dylan's pressed," said Carol Huey, a retired Missoulian and Dylan fan. Huey and her friends had set up camp east of the baseball park with camp chairs and blankets, straining to hear the concert.

"Though I'm glad some of these bands come to town," Huey said.

Other fans wanted to know what jurisdiction big-name shows had to close public walking paths.

"I don't quite know how they can block the trail up like that. I can't quite believe it," Tony Martian said, a local electrician.

The scene was different a week ago when another national act drew a crowd to the very spot left empty during Dylan's performance.

"When the Beach Boys played here, people were all over the river path right outside the stadium," said Matt Freeborn, freshman at the University of Montana.

The Beach Boys held a concert in the home of the Missoula Osprey baseball team Thursday Aug. 26.

Dylan, now 69 years old, paused in Missoula for his 20th show while on his 2010 summer tour. In his spurt around the Western United States Dylan will hold 23 concerts. The tour that began Aug. 4 in Austin, Texas and will end in Seattle, Wash. on Sept. 4.

This is not Dylan's first visit to Missoula; he made appearances in 2000 and 2005, though his previous shows were held in the Adams Center. It was Mellencamp's first appearance in Missoula.

Hannah.ryan@umontana.edu