If, at this late date, you still need proof Bob Dylan is not a man to be trusted, then this unexpected return to the UK for the latest leg of the Rough And Rowdy Ways tour is a good place to start. Certainly, after the triumphant fourth and final show at the London Palladium – with its two extra curtain calls – you could have been forgiven for thinking that Dylan was bidding farewell to the capital, before making a last, dignified excursion round the country. So it came as a surprise when this latest run of 10 UK shows were announced in July – not just simply Dylan’s decision to return to the UK, but the question this inevitably raised. When you’ve played shows as good as the ones Uncut witnessed in London, Glasgow and Oxford in 2022 what, then, do you do for an encore?
The answer lies somewhere in the 25 dates Dylan played on this year’s Outlaw Music Festival Tour between June and September. Appearing in outdoor venues as part of a larger line-up, Dylan replaced drummer Jerry Pentacost with Jim Keltner, swapping out the Rough And Rowdy Ways-heavy sets for more festival-friendly material including “Highway 61 Revisited”, “Simple Twist Of Fate” and “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35”. Reconvening the Rough And Rowdy Ways tour in Prague in October, Dylan retained Keltner and also a couple of the big hitters from the Outlaw shows. As a consequence, this leg of the tour has shifted focus and tone; Dylan, once again, is moving on.
Superficially, he’s changed three songs in the setlist since 2022 – “Most Likely You Go Your Way (and I’ll Go Mine)”, “Gotta Serve Somebody” and “That Old Black Magic” are out, replaced by three older songs. But the key to this 2024 version is Keltner. I last saw Keltner play with Dylan at Docklands Arena in 2002 – and much as then it’s impossible to take your eyes off him this evening. The 2022 shows had a very aquatic, slow-moving quality, partly down to the feline brushwork of Dylan’s then-drummer, Charlie Drayton. Keltner – wearing aviator shades for the entire show, silver hair swept back – is a much more emphatic player than Drayton. His explosive playing on tonight’s opener “All Along The Watchtower”, for instance, sets the agenda for what follows. His drumming on “Desolation Row”, meanwhile, recalls the machine gun intro to “Peggy Sue”, but sustained over nine minutes. He brings similar potency to the bluesier songs on Rough And Rowdy Ways, where his solidity and swing carries “False Prophet” and “To Be Alone With You” as much as, say, Doug Lancio’s jarring bursts of guitar. But despite the intensity of Keltner’s delivery in these lounder moments, his discreet brushwork brings warmth and intimacy to more lambent numbers like “Key West (Philosopher Pirate)” and “I’ve Made Up My Mind To Give Myself To You”. Elsewhere, “Watching The River Flow” carries an additional poignancy: the original 1971 recording was Keltner’s first session with Dylan. As if to underscore their shared history, the two men routinely exchange looks and comments with one another between songs.
If the focus has shifted in Keltner’s favour, nevertheless the rest of the band are still on point. Dylan’s baby grand is centre stage, with the other musicians placed around it, in the same positions they took in 2022. Tony Garnier and Doug Lancio are still stage right, closely following Dylan’s piano playing, with Bob Britt on stage left. Dylan is far more active than I’ve seen him in a long time. He started “All Along The Watchtower” sitting down, playing guitar with his back to the audience. By “I Contain Multitudes”, the third song, he’s upright – which is how he spends most of the show. We even get a little jig during “Goodbye Jimmy Reed” which raises a cheer from the stalls. But for the most part, Dylan leans across his baby grand, as if conspiratorially addressing the audience, occasionally reaching down to play piano or playing harp. The piano playing is every bit as strong and resourceful as in 2022 – on a particularly radical overhaul of “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue”, Dylan channels Thelonious Monk, finding angular, spacious shapes between the melodies while on “To Be Alone With You” he’s playing wild honky tonk riffs.
And then, just after 9pm, he’s gone. There are still seven shows left to play, including three at the Albert Hall. But after that, nothing has been announced. Is this, then, the end of the Rough And Rowdy Ways tour? And if so, what comes next? I like to think we’ll find out soon enough…
Bob Dylan and his band setlist Usher Hall, Edinburgh, November 6, 2024:
All Along The Watchtower
It Ain’t Me, Babe
I Contain Multitudes
False Prophet
When I Paint My Masterpiece
Black Rider
My Own Version Of You
To Be Alone With You
Crossing The Rubicon
Desolation Row
Key West (Philosopher Pirate)
Watching The River Flow
It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue
I’ve Made Up My Mind To Give Myself To You
Mother Of Muses
Goodbye Jimmy Reed
Every Grain Of Sand