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BOB DYLAN : MASTERS OF WAR, OUTLAW TOUR 2025 |
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Label : Crystal Cat Records Venue : Xfinity Center, Mansfield, Massachusetts, USA Recording Date : September 7, 2025 Length : 78:17 Quality : Audience recording (A-) Review : Masters Of War, Outlaw Tour 2025 captures Dylan's stop at the Xfinity Center in Mansfield, Massachusetts, on the Outlaw Music Festival run, opening in familiar fashion with Duane Eddy's "Forty Miles Of Bad Road" ringing out over the PA before the band walks on. The title track itself is a real highlight here, a gnarled, simmering "Masters Of War" that still carries real bite six decades after it was written, and it sets a slightly harder-edged tone than some of the more contemplative sets from this period of the tour. From there the band settles into the now-familiar late-period rhythm, mixing gruff, loping run-throughs of "I Can Tell" and "Early Roman Kings" with more tender readings of "Forgetful Heart," "To Ramona" and "Under The Red Sky." A rasping "All Along The Watchtower" and a rolling "Desolation Row" anchor the middle of the show, songs that have become dependable centerpieces of these sets, while "Blind Willie McTell" and "Love Sick" bring welcome variety and shade to the second half. The show winds down with a warm, unhurried "Soon After Midnight," a driving "Highway 61 Revisited" and the closing "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right," sending the Massachusetts crowd home on a note that's equal parts weary and warm. Taped from the audience, this eighteen-song set on Crystal Cat Records is a well-rounded document of the Outlaw tour, anchored by a title track that alone makes it worth seeking out. |
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