Bob Dylan is open to projects of all sorts, his musical genius and versatility being fit not only for a Never Ending Tour, but also for a never forgetting experience, unique in more than one sense. One month ago, he shared his on-stage talent with a crowd of only one lucky fan. The name of the single person in the audience is Fredrik Wikingsson and according to Rolling Stone, he was the guest of honor at a Bod Dylan concert which was held at Philadelphia’s Academy of Music.
The Bob Dylan versus one man concert occurred as an important event included in a Swedish film series symbolically entitled Experiment Ensam (or Experiment Alone). The purpose of this film experiment is to portray the human being and his/her reactions towards contexts in which he/ she would normally engage as part of a group. Wikingsson’s position as a Bob Dylan aficionado and constant concert-goer made the experience of the latest concert much more intense and demanding for the psyche of the attender, who was forced to overcome some inner boundaries during the private show.
Prior to the concert, Fredrik Wikingsson confessed that the scheduled Dylan concert would totally mark in the top five most important events in his life and he added that before that, he had attended about twenty concerts of the folk legend (of course, never by himself): ‘’I’ve seen him live maybe twenty times, he might notice me. That’s just crazy.’’ The anxiety of the single fan is obvious and difficult to restrain, as he considers the event as being almost surreal: ‘’ If he were to notice me and somehow face me, it would be life-changing, somehow.’’ Bob Dylan entered the stage almost unnoticed and started singing a cover of Buddy Holly’s “Heartbeat”. The single man in the audience responded to the artist with smiles and anxiety mixed with contemplation. As Dylan continued with the sound of Fats Domino’s “Blueberry Hill” or Chuck Wills’ “It’s Too Late (She’s Gone)”, the reactions of the privileged guest became as interesting to follow as the artist on the stage himself. The conclusion of his whirlpool of feelings is quite well drawn by the sentence: “A flood of emotions. I wasn’t far from crying.”
Two weeks after the great show, Fredrik Wikingsson met with the psychologist in the film to share his more accurate, but still subjective thoughts about the Bob Dylan experience. Firstly, he confessed that he ‘’had a feeling of almost being high for several days’’, but that he had eventually found ‘’a cozy little space inside, (called) Bob space’’. As a final conclusion of Experiment Ensam, Wikingsson shared that the very moment of the concert could not have been more intense with others present, but that after the musical experience stopped, he wished to have had somebody to share his feelings and fascination with.