Chrissie Hynde Sings Bob Dylan, Covent Garden, review: perfect songs and a voice that just keeps getting better

Chrissie Hynde wasn’t exactly dressed for a night at the opera. The great Pretender strode onto the huge stage at the Royal Opera House dressed in her regulation rock and roll outfit: shiny knee-length fake-leather boots, tight jeans, red belt, black T-shirt and enough eye make-up to start an ancient-Egyptian cult. There may have been no drums or electric guitars in her band, but at 69 years old her attitude remains distinctly punk. “There’s not much you can say about these songs,” she observed, settling down with an acoustic guitar. “They’re all perfect.”

Hynde recorded an album of Bob Dylan covers during lockdown, Standing in the Doorway, collaborating with Pretenders guitarist James Walbourne via the internet, and it was clear that she has been impatient for an opportunity to bring them to a live audience. Her T-shirt boasted the no-nonsense message Don’t Pet Me I’m Working, and her between-numbers chatter was brusque and direct, infused with wry humour. “Rumour has it Bob wrote this song for me,” she declared, introducing the title track. “A rumour I started and he hasn’t denied.”

Hynde played nine Dylan songs in a row, delivering the great singer-songwriter’s long, complex and involved lyrics in a sultry, seductive, free-flowing style that invested each phrase with fresh intent. In The Summertime (from 1981’s religiously themed Shot of Love) was sung as if it was Hynde’s account of her connection to Dylan himself (“I’m still carrying the gift you gave / It’s part of me now, it’s been cherished and saved”).

His bitter 1975 ballad You’re A Big Girl Now became a song of letting go from mother to child, while she dedicated the mystical epic of interconnectedness Every Grain of Sand (also from Shot of Love) to a friend who “didn’t make it through the lockdown”. Hynde fumbled the intro, restarting twice with the blunt admission “Sorry, I ballsed that up.” Introducing a delicate Love Minus Zero (from 1965’s Bringing It All Back Home), she said “Feel free to sing along…” Then added, almost threateningly “… but not really!”

She was backed by a trio of acoustic musicians, playing double bass and piano with Walbourne nimble-fingered on lead guitar, and they weaved a gentle tumble of notes behind Hynde’s simple rhythm guitar and gorgeous vocals. It sounded a little loose and unrehearsed but no worse for it, emphasising a spontaneity and interconnectedness between players that really made it feel like a unique live performance. “We’re finding out how easy this hippie s--- is to play,” smirked Hynde.

The absence of her usual highly amplified rock band set up put extra focus on her voice, and that proved the true highlight of the night. Voices age and change, but Hynde’s is just getting better and better as she settles into her soft, round tone and almost jazzy rhythmic inflections. She ended the night performing some of her own songs from the last Pretenders album, 2020’s Hate For Sale, which “we never got a chance to play”.

Putting down her guitar and stalking the stage, microphone in hand, she sang like a rock and roll Dusty Springfield, letting long soft notes unfold with luxurious ease. By the standards of the Royal Opera House, this was a very small, casual and intimate gig, but the star at its centre held that intimidating stage as well as any of the great divas who have trod these famous boards.

Until July 31. Tickets: 020 7304 4000; roh.org.uk