Hear Bob Dylan Perform a Folk Ballad for the First Time in 34 Years

Three days after stumping the crowd at Belfast’s Waterfront Hall by playing Van Morrison’s 2016 supreme deep cut “Going Down to Bangor,” Bob Dylan went significantly further back in music history — about 180 years to be exact — and broke out the traditional folk ballad “The Lakes of Pontchartrain” at INEC Arena, in Killarney, Ireland.

Unlike “Going Down to Bangor,” Dylan has actually played “The Lakes of Pontchartrain” at prior gigs, but the last one took place 34 years ago. He debuted it June 7, 1988, when the Never Ending Tour kicked off in Concord, California. The last time he performed it was on July 6, 1991, at Holman Stadium in Nashua, New Hampshire.

“The Lakes of Pontchartrain” originated in America and directly references New Orleans and the surrounding region. It was resurrected by the Irish folk group Planxty on their 1974 LP Cold Blow and the Rainy Night, turning it into an Irish standard. That’s why Dylan revisited it in Killarney.

This isn’t the first time Dylan has surprised audiences by covering local favorites. Back in 2023, he had a run where he covered Chuck Berry in St. Louis, Muddy Waters in Chicago, John Mellencamp in Indianapolis, Leonard Cohen in Montreal, and many others. He also played so many Grateful Dead covers that year that many fans speculated that he was recording some sort of Dead covers album. If that was the case, it has yet to surface.

Dylan’s tour continues Monday night with a second show in Killarney before wrapping up Tuesday in Dublin. There are no dates officially on the books for next year, but Dylan has already said he’s playing more Rough and Rowdy Ways shows. Let’s hope he sticks with these surprising covers. Rough and Rowdy Ways is great, but he’s played many of these songs about 275 times each. The show is a lot more fun when there’s at least one surprise, even if it’s a 2016 Van Morrison tune or a folk ballad from the early 19th century.

We’d wish for him to play actual deep cuts from his own catalog, including the vast majority of the music he recorded between 1967 and 1997, but we know that’s simply not going to happen. There’s a better chance he’ll play Van Morrison’s 2021 song “Why Are You on Facebook” than anything from Street Legal or Empire Burlesque.