Before Bob Dylan even walked onstage Friday night to kick off the summer Outlaw Music Festival tour at Ameris Bank Amphitheater in Alpharetta, Georgia, word circulated through the fan community that big changes were afoot in Dylan World. Super fan Ray Padgett was on site with early reports that gospel-era drummer Jim Keltner was taking over from Jerry Pentecost, and pedal steel player Donnie Herron was out after a 19-year stint in the band.
But nobody was prepared for the remarkable show that followed, which was one of the most surreal and unpredictable nights in the 36-year history of the Never Ending Tour. After three years of playing a static set built around his 2020 LP, Rough and Rowdy Ways, and select deep cuts from the past, Dylan presented a completely new show heavy on Fifties covers and his original tunes from the past two decades. The only songs recorded prior to the turn of the millennium were 1990’s “Under the Red Sky” and 1975’s “A Simple Twist of Fate.”
The tone for the night was set when he opened with a cover of Willie Dixon’s 1955 blues standard “My Babe.” Later in the evening, he broke out Chuck Berry’s 1959 classic “Little Queenie,” the Fleetwoods’ 1959 hit “Mr. Blue,” the 1951 Hank Williams masterpiece “Cold, Cold Heart,” and Sanford Clark’s 1956 rockabilly hit “The Fool.”
There’s no record of him playing any of them throughout the course of his career. There wasn’t a single selection from Rough and Rowdy Ways, but he did break out four songs (“Early Roman Kings,” “Long and Wasted Years,” “Pay in Blood,” and “Scarlet Town”) from 2012’s Tempest.
Willie Nelson is headlining every night of the Outlaw tour, but hours before showtime, news hit that that he was under the weather and would be missing the first four shows “per doctor’s orders.” Lukas Nelson and the Family Band subbed in. That meant fans who bought tickets hoping to see the elder Nelson and hear their favorite Dylan Sixties tunes were in for a long evening. They did, however, get to see Robert Plant and Alison Krauss cover Led Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll” and “The Battle of Evermore,” along with “Gone Gone Gone,” “Please Read the Letter,” and “Rich Woman” from their own albums. Celisse took the stage first.
When the Outlaw tour heads to the West Coast later in the summer, John Mellencamp and Brittney Spencer are coming onboard, and Plant and Krauss are departing along with Celisse. Dylan and Nelson are on the bill every single night. But in the more immediate future, many questions linger. Will Nelson recover from his mystery ailment in time to join up with the tour next week? Will Dylan stick with this bizarre set every night? Will he throw in more surprises? Might he consider covering a song written after Dwight D. Eisenhower departed the White House? Will venues continue to let fans bring in phones and film/livestream the set? (This was a huge no-no at Dylan shows these past few years.)
Whatever happens, it’s clear this is the start of yet another chapter in the long saga of the Never Ending Tour. And for the first time in a very long time, anything feels possible on any given night. Well, almost anything feels possible. We’re not going to hear “New Pony,” “Ballad in Plain D,” or “Sara.” But if a song was on the radio when Dylan was in grade school, it might emerge at some point. For the Dylan faithful, that’s an incredibly exciting prospect. But if you’re showing up with the hopes of hearing something from his Greatest Hits record, it’s probably best to sit this one out. This is one for the die-hards.
Bob Dylan Set List:
“My Babe” (Willie Dixon)
“Beyond Here Lies Nothin'”
“Simple Twist of Fate”
“Little Queenie” (Chuck Berry)
“Mr. Blue” (The Fleetwoods)
“Pay in Blood”
“Cold, Cold Heart” (Hank Williams)
“Early Roman Kings”
“Under the Red Sky”
“Things Have Changed”
“The Fool” (Sanford Clark)
“Scarlet Town”
“Long and Wasted Years”
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