CALGARY -- Bob Dylan is back.

Of course, he has never really been away, but the sloppy concerts and cobbled-together albums he often offered up during the 1980s and '90s seem like the work of another, less visionary, man.

His show last night at the Saddledome found Dylan committing himself to live performance and rediscovering that tight connection to his past. He didn't mumble his way through songs, nor did he reshape them beyond recognition.

Backed by an excellent four-piece band, Dylan opened with the playful Leopard-Skin Pill Box Hat which, to my delight, didn't sound that dissimilar to the Blonde on Blonde studio original.

Maybe Dylan is actually excited about touring behind Time Out of Mind, his best album of original material in years.

One of that album's best tracks, Cold Irons Bound, rattled on ferociously.

Next up was another Blonde on Blonde beauty, Just Like a Woman, which was given a majestic reading.

Close your eyes and you could imagine it was Mike Bloomfield on guitar and Al Cooper on organ -- and when Dylan added some harmonica at the end, many of the 7,000 fans gave a rousing cheer.

They had plenty more to cheer about.

Dylan offered up songs new and old, familiar and obscure -- indeed, the set list was a master-stroke in itself.

And Dylan, finally, lived up to his own legacy.

Jann Arden may stand no more than 5 ft.-4 -- on her tippy-toes -- but she is in no way dwarfed in the presence of giants.

The local singer/songwriter earned a standing ovation opening for Eric Clapton last month, and her opening set last night was just as seductive and alluring.

"I try to play the Saddledome every month," she quipped after her opening number, Could I Be Your Girl.

What followed was classic Jann: Songs about friendship and family, romantic longing and personal independence, gussied up in shimmering arrangements and delivered in Arden's supple, heart-rending voice.