Bob Dylan Stuns at 2025 ‘Rough and Rowdy Ways Tour’ Kickoff

Over the past four months, Bob Dylan has been closer to the forefront of popular culture than any other time in recent memory. This is largely due to Timothée Chalamet’s portrayal of Dylan in the authorized biopic A Complete Unknown, which grossed over $130 million, earned eight Academy Award nominations, and introduced deep cuts like “Outlaw Blues” and “Three Angels” to a mass audience on a surreal episode of Saturday Night Live that Chalamet hosted as part of his Oscar campaign.

Dylan himself played a role in the frenzy by embracing Twitter and Instagram in baffling ways, generating quite a few headlines. (We’re still trying to figure out why he posted a 2016 clip of Machine Gun Kelly rapping in an Orlando record store. And who the hell is “Mary Jo?” Did he really meet a Buffalo Sabres player in an elevator at a Prague hotel? He’s really posting all of this himself? We have no idea.) Throughout all of this, however, Dylan never made a single public appearance.

That changed Tuesday night when the 2025 leg of the Rough and Rowdy Ways tour kicked off at the 2,800-seat Tulsa Theater. Dylan fanatics from all across the globe flocked to Oklahoma for the show, expecting changes to the set as unpredictable as his stint on the Outlaw Tour last summer when he broke out Grateful Dead and Chuck Berry covers, and resurrected originals like “Under the Red Sky” and “Shooting Star” he hadn’t touched in ages.

But much like the European run in October/November 2024 that followed the Outlaw Festival, this was a reversion to the standard Rough and Rowdy Ways show. In fact, it was the exact 17-song set he played when he wrapped up 2024 with three nights at London’s Royal Albert Hall. This may have been disappointing to fans following the show live via fan forums, but for those of us lucky enough to watch it unfold in the flesh, nothing about it felt even remotely rote, safe, or predictable thanks to his constant reinvention of the songs.

When it kicked off with “All Along the Watchtower,” many things were instantly apparent. The first was that drummer Jim Keltner is out, and Anton Fig — best known for his long stint on The Late Show With David Letterman — has taken his place. (Fig has a history with Dylan going back to the 1985 Empire Burlesque sessions). It was also clear that the four-month break from the road allowed his vocal cords time to rest and recover. There isn’t any trace of the garbled “Wolfman Voice” that plagued shows from the past. It’s been replaced by a soothing purr where nearly every syllable is clear.

“All Along the Watchtower” was followed by “It Ain’t Me Babe,” which surely perked up the ears of some fans thinking they might actually see an evening of familiar oldies. But it wasn’t to be. With the possible exception of “Desolation Row” and “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” — not exactly classic rock radio favorites — nothing else in the set could even charitably be called a “hit.” This is a show designed for true die-hards, which is the vast majority of his live audience at this point. (Most casual fans gave up on seeing him live a good 25 years ago.)

Much like last year, “When I Paint My Masterpiece” was sung to the tune of “Istanbul (Not Constantinople).” And “Black Rider” and “My Own Version of You” were stripped down radically to Dylan’s voice and piano with minimal accompaniment by the band. The impact was haunting, bringing the crowd to a stunned silence. Again, these may be the same Rough and Rowdy Ways songs he’s been playing since 2021, but they sound nothing like they did back then. They’ve never stopped evolving, just like the traditional folk music Dylan played in his early days.

After a rollicking “To Be Alone With You,” Dylan told the crowd they’d be back after a ten-minute break. They returned with “Crossing the Rubicon,” and a devastating “Desolation Row” that brought much of the crowd to their feet. It’s the 60th anniversary of the Highway 61 Revisited epic, and its power is undiminished even though Dylan shaved off some of the latter verses. (One day we’ll get to hear him deliver the “all the agents and the superhuman crew” and “Titanic sails at dawn” segments again, but not now.)

“Key West” was the emotional peak of the Rough and Rowdy Ways kickoff show in Milwaukee back in 2021, and it’s only grown better with time. This was a sparse, slow arrangement that emphasized every word of the tune, which chronicles a man’s escape to a new life “beyond the sea, beyond the shifting sand” in Key West, Florida. It’s undoubtably one of the best songs he’s written since the turn of the century.

It should be noted that this was a phone-free show, and all devices were placed in locked Yondr pouches at the door. This caused a fair bit of grumbling, but was the right move. It wasn’t logistically possible to ban phones at the Outlaw Festival shows last summer, and many fans spent the duration of his set taking photos, shooting video, FaceTiming complete songs to friends, or scrolling through social media.

This was a radically different environment where everyone’s attention was 100 percent focused on the stage. Let’s hope this is a trend that continues to catch on.

Dylan never left the stage for an encore break, but he did briefly introduce the band before wrapping the evening with “Goodbye Jimmy Reed” and “Every Grain of Sand.” The latter is the only song in the set recorded between 1971 and 2020. It came near the tail end of his gospel period in 1981, and was sublime from the instant he laid down a crude demo with his dogs barking in the background. Like many songs from this time, it’s about the search for God in a world consumed by chaos. “In the fury of the moment I can see the master’s hand,” he wrote. “In every leaf that trembles, in every grain of sand.”

When it finished, Dylan quickly gazed at the crowd alongside the band before the lights darkened and they vanished from view. This was the first of an astonishing 57 shows he’ll play between now and September, a punishing schedule for a musician of any age. For a man on the verge of his 84th birthday, regardless of how luxuriously he travels, it’s remarkable.

If you’ve avoided Dylan all these years because you’ve heard he doesn’t play the right songs or his voice is shot, we advise you to tune that out and see this show for yourself. He’s playing the exact right songs for this moment in time, and his voice remains a powerful instrument despite decades of wear and tear.

Also, it’s easy to take Dylan’s live concerts for granted since he’s been touring basically nonstop since Reagan was in office. But one day in the not-too-distant-future, the Never Ending Tour will indeed come to an end. At this moment, however, there are 56 shows to go, and retirement isn’t even a thought. In a career packed with enough major moments for a dozen sequels to A Complete Unknown, his commitment to a life on the road well into his 80s might be the most impressive one.

Bob Dylan’s complete setlist at the Tulsa Theater on March 25:
1. All Along the Watchtower
2. It Ain’t Me, Babe
3. I Contain Multitudes
4. False Prophet
5. When I Paint My Masterpiece
6. Black Rider
7. My Own Version of You
8. To Be Alone With You
9. Crossing the Rubicon
10. Desolation Row
11. Key West (Philosopher Pirate)
12. Watching the River Flow
13. It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue
14. I’ve Made Up My Mind to Give Myself to You
15. Mother of Muses
16. Goodbye Jimmy Reed
17. Every Grain of Sand