This weekend marked the start of the “Outlaw Music Festival Tour” 2024 (get tickets here)and while fans didn't get to see Willie Nelson (who had to cancel his performance “on doctor's orders”), they did get to see Bob Dylan do a wonderful Bob Dylan move by playing a whole new set of '50s covers .and recent deep cuts.
Dylan's performances on Friday and Saturday night marked the first time in a few years that Dylan made major changes to his setlist, which was primarily populated by cuts from his 2020 album. Rough and noisy waysas well as older original songs.
Get tickets to the Outlaw Music Festival tour here
Dylan opened Friday’s show with a cover of Willie Dixon’s blues classic, “My Babe,” followed by renditions of Chuck Berry’s “Little Queenie,” “Mr. Blue”, “Cold, Cold Heart” by Hank Williams and “The Fool” by Sanford Clark. In between, he performed songs from his most recent albums, especially the one from 2012. The Tempestwhich had four songs included in the setlist.
He included a few more classics in Saturday's sets, including “Highway 61 Revisited” and “Ballad of a Thin Man performed by Bob Dylan” (which marked the first such performances of the opening tracks in five years), as well as “Shooting Star” Oh Mercy“Love Sick” and “Can't Wait” by Time out of mindand “Things have changed.”
Beyond changing his repertoire, Dylan also made some changes to his band, bringing in drummer Jim Keltner (with whom he played in his gospel days) and parting ways with his longtime pedal steel player, Donnie Herron.
Additionally, fans reported that the merch Dylan was selling at the start of the tour was simply the tour t-shirt from his 2012 performance in support of The Tempest. A 12-year-old tour t-shirt for sale already seems pretty cryptic, but eagle-eyed fans noticed that the t-shirts were copyrighted 2024 and, interestingly, included a seemingly fictional show in Rosemont, Illinois, that never happened .
The “Outlaw Music Festival Tour” will run through September and will feature appearances by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, John Mellencamp, Billy Strings and more. Tickets are available here..
Bob Dylan Alpharetta GA 7-21-24 pic.twitter.com/058QjTdrof
— Josh (son of Keith Richards) 🇺🇸🟧🟦✊🏻 (@dualshowman) June 22, 2024
– Ray Padgett (@rayfp) June 22, 2024
Now he's destroying Little Queenie. What's happening?? pic.twitter.com/nUrvb6LCBY
– Ray Padgett (@rayfp) June 22, 2024
The best song so far. pic.twitter.com/pszagrg4si
– Ray Padgett (@rayfp) June 22, 2024
The Bob Dylan t-shirt that was sold last night was for the “Tempest Tour 2012.” They are new; It says “c2024” on the back. All three jersey songs played in the wonderfully strange first game. At least one tour date on the back (Rosemont) didn't happen.
He's up to something, man! pic.twitter.com/IrNZJjTTz0
— Adamselzer 🧵 | אדם (@adamselzer) June 22, 2024
Setlist – Ameris Bank Amphitheater in Alpharetta, GA, June 21, 2024
My Babe (cover by Willie Dixon)
Beyond here there is nothing
Simple twist of fate
Little Queenie (Chuck Berry version)
Mr.Blue (Fleetwoods cover)
Pay with blood
Cold, Cold Heart (cover by Hank Williams)
The first Roman kings
Under the red sky
Things have changed
The Fool (Sanford Clark cover)
scarlet city
Long, wasted years
Setlist – PNC Bank Music Pavilion in Charlotte, North Carolina, June 22, 2024
Highway 61 revised
Shooting Star
sick love
Little Queenie (Chuck Berry version)
Mr. Blue (Fleetwoods cover)
The first Roman kings
I can not wait
Under the red sky
Things have changed
Stella Blue (Grateful Dead cover)
Six Days on the Road (cover by Paul Davis)
shortly after midnight
Ballad of a thin man
I'll be your baby tonight
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