Bob Dylan Played ‘I Shall Be Released’ for the First Time Since 2008

It’s officially the summer of Bob Dylan‘s Basement Tapes. The festivities began June 4 in Troutdale, Oregon, when Dylan played the Basement Tapes extreme deep cut “Baby, Won’t You Be Me Baby” for the first time since recording it in the basement of Big Pink 59 years ago, continued June 6 in Woodinville, Washington, when he opened the night with the first “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” since 2012, and then carried on June 9 in Eugene, Oregon, when he stunned fans by closing out the show with his first live take of “I Shall Be Released” since 2008.

There have been four shows so far on Dylan’s Long Hot Summer Tour ’26, and three of them have featured surprise Basement Tapes songs. (On the second night in Woodinville, he didn’t do any Basement Tapes tunes.) If he keeps up this pace at the remaining 31 shows, which is very improbable, we’ll get 23 additional Basement Tapes songs.

Throughout Dylan’s entire live career, he’s only played 10 Basement Tapes songs in concert: “Million Dollar Bash,” “Tears of Rage,” “Yeah! Heavy and a Bottle of Bread,” “Crash on the Levee (Down in The Flood),” “This Wheel’s on Fire,” “Don’t Ya Tell Henry,” “Quinn The Eskimo,” “Minstrel Boy,” “I Shall Be Released,” and now “Baby, Won’t You Be My Baby.” It’s very hard to imagine this trend continuing throughout the summer, but anything feels possible in the aftermath of the “Baby, Won’t You Be Me Baby” stunner. (It was, by far, the longest gap he’s ever had between recording a song and debuting it live.)

It’s impossible to get into Dylan’s head and figure out exactly why he’s chosen this moment for a Basement Tapes revival, but there are some recent precedents for setlist themes across tour legs. In the fall of 2023, he paid tribute to cities and local heroes by playing songs like “Kansas City” in Kansas City, John Mellencamp’s “Longest Days” in Indianapolis, Indiana, Dwight Yokam’s “South of Cincinnati” in Cincinnati,  and two Chuck Berry songs in St. Louis. 

Earlier that year, he began playing so many Grateful Dead songs (“Stella Blue,” “Truckin,” “Brokedown Palace,” “West L.A. Fadeaway”) that fans began thinking he might be prepping an entire album of Dead covers. But the Dead record never came, and he hasn’t done any of those songs in the past couple of years. The city-specific trend also stopped just as it was starting to get really fun for the fans.

In all probability, this Basement Tapes revival will peter out pretty soon, too. Let’s all enjoy it while it lasts, and continue to hope for the live debut of “Goin’ To Acapulco.” If it’s ever going to happen, now is the moment.