BOB DYLAN : TULSA 2025

 

Disc One (45:53)

  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

Disc Two (60:44)

  1. Crossing The Rubicon
  2. Desolation Row
  3. Key West (Philosopher Pirate)
  4. Watching The River Flow
  5. It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
  6. I've Made Up My Mind To Give Myself To You
  7. Mother Of Muses
  8. Goodbye Jimmy Reed
  9. Every Grain Of Sand

Label : no label

Venue : Tulsa Theater, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA

Recording Date : March 25, 2025

Quality : Audience Recording (A+)

Concert Review (Flaggin' Down The Double E's) : Last night, the Rough and Rowdy Ways World Wide Tour 2021–2024 continued in Tulsa. I had to scratch out that last bit of the usual title. The posters, after having listed 2024 as the closing year this whole time, suddenly didn’t any more. It’s become the Never Ending Rough and Rowdy Ways Tour! Our grandchildren will die from old age, and Bob Dylan will still be out there crooning “Key West” every night. I hope so. The setlist remained unchanged from Europe last fall, but there was one big change in the band. Jim Keltner has left, and his BobFest drumming partner Anton Fig (who also played on some Dylan albums in the 1980s) has taken the stool. There was also a new ten-minute intermission eight songs in. I was not in Tulsa last night—I’ll be reporting in from Omaha and Sioux City next week instead (subscribe if you want to read them)—but a bunch of the sharpest Dylan fans I know were. So, instead of just one guest review, I convened a murder-most-foul-ers row of short reviews from the experts on the ground. It’s a similar format to Memphis last spring, where I asked people to comment on one song/moment that struck them about the show. While I do still feel some FOMO, I enjoyed being able to experience last night’s show through their words, and am sure you will too. Find short reports from our 15 special Tulsa correspondents below. (Plus, there are already tapes! I embedded a few songs people specifically shouted out, in bold.) The word of the night for me was jovial. The man in front of me said the whole place had “barn house rodeo vibes.” Well I’d guess he hasn’t been to many of those, but from my point of view in the fourth row there was an element of reckless fun in the audience. A lot of standing, dancing, and people in and out of the aisles. The setlist remained the same as the previous fall European leg, but everything felt fresh. Bob was totally dialed in, naturally, and delivered beautifully. The audience was totally dialed in too, hanging on every word. His outfit was as sharp as ever in black hat, black boots, and a fun shirt. There was some laughter during “Key West” and “Black Rider,” appropriate hoots and hollers throughout, and many standing ovations. A fantastic show we all gleefully chatted about afterwards and had a hard time coming down from.

Concert Review (Flaggin' Down The Double E's) : When I first heard talk of the frankly optimistically named Rough and Rowdy 2021-2024 tour, I sincerely hoped he’d still be around and able to perform in 2024. I’ll be honest: I doubted it. Shame on me. Here he is in Tusla in March 2025, literally in the shadow of the Bob Dylan Center and all his memorabilia of an age past. Fascinating as it is, the live performance is what really matters. Tonight I was often reminded of Robert Shelton’s great quote about Bob: “He’s the guy who jumps out of the hearse on the way to the cemetery.” The show opened with a quirky start to “Watchtower” with Bob sitting behind his piano back to the audience, noodling on his guitar loudly. The volume up high. “It Ain’t Me Babe” followed the same pattern. But then things took off and didn’t look back. With his vocal high and front in the mix, he delivered a quite remarkable show. It’s hard to pick out highlights. Everything sparkled. I mean everything. There were no low points. I saw the last Albert Hall show which was very good. This was, by a country mile, a vastly better show. His focus on the vocal and piano runs were sublime. Oh and yes “Key West” is still in the Gulf of Mexico. A hugely appreciative and enthusiastic crowd would have carried him out of the venue on their shoulders at the show’s close given the chance. We all know no one wins the battle against Father Time but our man isn’t showing any signs of decline. Quite the opposite. Rave on Bob, rave on.