DYLAN, HAGGARD ARRIVE FULL OF COUNTRY SWAGGER.

Byline: Glenn Whipp Staff Writer

HEARING MERLE Haggard's combative, love-it-or-leave-it anthem ``Fightin' Side of Me'' and Bob Dylan's primal, prophetic call-to-action ``The Times They Are a Changin' `` on the same bill was one of many up-is-down, down-is-up moments Monday night as the two music legends opened a five-night run at Hollywood's Pantages Theatre.

Dylan put a fiddle player front and center. Haggard emphasized his own, rock 'n' roll guitar work. Tie-dyed baby boomers ecstatically applauded when Haggard began playing his biggest hit, ``Okie From Muskogee.'' Haggard didn't actually ``Okie'' all the way through, disowning the flag-waving, Silent Majority anthem by asking, ``Did I write that?'' But then he launched right into ``Fightin' Side,'' which was one of Richard Nixon's favorite songs. The sold-out crowd went nuts.

The Dylan-Haggard bill (which also includes promising singer-songwriter Amos Lee, who opened for Norah Jones last year) was initiated by Dylan, who has been wearing a cowboy hat and dressing like a country gentleman on his Never Ending Tour for the past few years. Dylan did tour minor league ballparks with Willie Nelson last summer, but his sets were still dominated by crunching rock and swampy blues. Now he seems determined to give Haggard's Strangers a run for the title of world's best beer-joint band.

To that effect, Dylan has revamped his band, adding violin player Elena Fremerman from the Hot Club of Cowtown, and transformed several of his songs with western swing arrangements. Fremerman's frequent solos, along with the pedal steel and banjo playing of Donnie Herron, provided some of the evening's most enjoyable moments. Think of an electrified ``Nashville Skyline'' and you get a hint of the game plan.

Dylan also did something Monday that he hasn't done in decades, focusing his set list on selections from his most recent studio album. That the studio album - ``Love and Theft'' - is nearly four years old is beside the point. These ``new'' songs (five of the evening's 14 numbers) clearly energize him. Crouching behind the keyboards, losing himself in the music's bluesy grooves, the 63-year-old Dylan was having the time of his life.

Dipping into his back pages, Dylan also trotted out war horses like ``Just Like a Woman'' (about as close to a sing-a-long as the night would produce), ``Highway 61 Revisited'' and the encore-closing ``All Along the Watchtower.''

That it took most people a stanza or two to recognize the songs in their new tempos and arrangements illustrates the man's perverse genius. He'll give you what you want, but only in a way that satisfies him artistically.

This approach produces a fair amount of head scratching and some complaints, although nothing on the level of, say, Dylan's '66 tour with the Hawks. No one shouted ``Judas'' because, quite frankly, few in attendance possess that kind of musical passion these days. Most people come to Dylan looking for nostalgia, not meaning, hence the audience's ability to embrace the wildly juxtaposed messages contained in ``The Times They Are a Changin' '' and Haggard's populist foot-stompers.

Not that Haggard hasn't changed, too. Like Dylan, Hag's politics have shifted over the years. More accurately, they were never as simplistic as you might think from reading some of his lyrics. Along with songs dedicated to boozers (``I Think I'll Just Stay Here and Drink''), blue-collar types (``Workin' Man Blues,'' which doubles as a drinking song, too), mothers (``Mama Tried'') and - did I mention boozers? - (``Bottle Let Me Down''), Haggard made numerous references to his love for marijuana in his 55-minute set and received his most appreciative ovation for a song about growing old (``Thirty Again'').

``I wish I could be 30 again,'' the 67-year-old Haggard sang, comically lifting his fedora to show off his bald head. The boomer-dominated audience roared its approval. And while watching Dylan and Haggard isn't akin to jumping into the Fountain of Youth, the two icons are a case study in growing old with grace and gumption. These old dogs still have plenty of bark.

Glenn Whipp, [phone]

glenn.whipp(at)dailynews.com

BOB DYLAN, MERLE HAGGARD AND AMOS LEE - Three and one half stars

Where: Pantages Theatre, 6233 Hollywood Blvd.

When: 7 p.m. Wednesday, 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Tickets: Sold out.

In a nutshell: Strange as it is to hear Haggard's ``The Fightin' Side of Me'' and Dylan's ``The Times They Are a Changin' `` performed on the same night, this is a must-see show. These old dogs still have plenty of bark.