Bob Dylan: International Arena, Cardiff

THE CULT OF Bob Dylan stands at its highest point for decades, bolstered by the singer's highly regarded US radio show and superb memoir Chronicles. Martin Scorsese's laudatory 2005 documentary No Direction Home also reminded us what an electrifying a performer he used to be, even before he went electric. With a new album due in August, the 65-year-old elder statesman remains one of modern rock's last surviving foundation stones. Generations of vital performers, from Bruce Springsteen to Nick Cave to the White Stripes, still borrow heavily from his visceral rawness and florid poetry.