Walking away from Bob Dylan’s Hilton Coliseum concert Tuesday night, a general feeling of satisfaction filled the air. As the audience leaving ignored the bootleggers on their way back to their cars, they discussed the show, using phrases like “hands down” and “kick-ass” to voice their excitement.

Brian Wrobel was also happy to have been able to attend. The sophomore in statistics was quoted in Tuesday’s preview article as not being able to afford the show, a situation soon remedied, Wrobel explains.

“My friend read the article in the Daily, was asked by one of her friends if she knew anyone who wanted to go, and thought of me,” he says. Wrobel soon found himself with free fourth-row seats to one of his favorite artists of all time.

The crowd slowly filled in part of the expanse of Hilton Tuesday night. Those on the side found their assigned seats, while the general admission “pit” sat cross-legged, waiting patiently for show time. Pre-concert ticket sales hovered around 2,500, raising the question if this might have made a better sold-out show at Stephens Auditorium.

The stage was sparse, to put it mildly. Most “big coliseum rock shows” would feature huge instrument risers and a barrage of the same huge black amps.

But this is Bob Dylan, not Creed. Instead, the stage contained a few 2-foot gray risers on which rested a motley assortment of guitar amps of different brands, shapes and sizes.

In the “big rock show,” the players would have all worn expensive wireless systems to give them free rein of the stage. But tonight, cords lay strewn about the black and white checked floor, giving the impression of witnessing an impromptu performance in someone’s kitchen. This was a show without pretense.

Dylan and crew walked out to the familiar refrain of the “Hoedown” from Aaron Copland’s “Rodeo” (you know, the song from the beef commercials). The sparse stage lighting illuminated a strange eye-with-a-crown design and the smell of torch-lit bundles of incense emanated into the crowd.

Dylan started on the piano with “Seeing the Real You at Last.” Throughout the night, he switched between the piano and acoustic and electric guitars.

It wasn’t long before Bob broke out the covers. The set showed the songs a legend pays tribute to. Dylan played a version of Don Henley’s “End of the Innocence” that sounded exactly how a Dylan-led Eagles would.

Dylan also covered Neil Young’s “Old Man” and Warren Zevon’s “Mutineer.” His version of the Rolling Stones’ “Brown Sugar” was one of the highlights, rocking like no other and proving Dylan can still whip out a guitar lick.

Dylan played a lot of his older songs, but changed them from the recorded studio versions. His acoustic-centered rendition of “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” drew scattered applause from the grinning masses after every verse. Dylan delivered the tag of the chorus with his trademark cool. Tuesday’s “The Times They Are A-Changin'” turned a political statement into a sweeter sentiment.

The tickets for Tuesday’s show read “Bob Dylan and his band” and the group of men onstage with him that night definitely deserved that shared billing. Larry Campbell lent his impressive skills to a variety of stringed instruments. Charlie Sexton almost eerily resembled Robbie Robertson as he backed up Bob on a slew of guitars throughout the night. Maybe this group will stick behind Dylan, unlike how The Band did in the ’60s.

Dylan rarely said a word into the microphone outside of song. He introduced his band towards the end of the set. Wrobel says he was a little perturbed at this fact.

“The few bad things were the fact that he didn’t talk to the audience at all. He said ‘thanks’ once after the main set and that was it,” he says. “It was too impersonal.”

After every song, the lights were drawn down, presumably to hide the changing of instruments. But all it did was serve to separate every tune and kill the previous number’s momentum.

But that just meant certain songs had to rock all on their own. Dylan ended his first set with a version of “Summer Days” that swung harder than any band without a horn section need even consider. But with Campbell and Sexton at his side, Dylan slung his guitar like a madman, trading leads among the three.

Wrobel says he was particularly impressed with Dylan’s performance Tuesday night.

“What I really liked about the show was the fact that the man is over 60 years old and can still rock out,” he says. “His voice is going a little and I can only imagine what it would have been like to see him 20 or 30 years ago, but it’s still amazing. For my first Dylan concert, I would say that it was below my expectation, but that’s saying a lot. It was still a great show and a fun time.”