On the Road Again: Bob Dylan plays the Outlaw Music Festival
REVIEW BY Bob Russell
On July 2nd, 2024, Bob Dylan performed at Mansfield, Massachusetts’ Xfinity Center, still referred to by its original name Great Woods by many who attended concerts there in the 1980s and 1990s. It is one of the big-barn amphitheaters popular for major national summer tours in the United States. The event was Willie Nelson’s 2024 Outlaw Music Festival, a traveling package tour crossing much of the country over the summer, with Nelson as the planned headliner, though illness prevented his appearance at several dates, including Mansfield. Despite Dylan’s frequent touring in the last few decades, fans have eagerly awaited this Outlaw tour as an opportunity to see another new twist in his travels on the road.
From November 2021 to April 2024, Bob Dylan performed approximately 200 concerts on the Rough and Rowdy Ways Tour, named after the stunning 2020 album. The shows involved performing first eight, then nine, of the ten album tracks, omitting only the epic “Murder Most Foul.” Fans always hoped for this last track, which was somewhat impractical in a live setting due to its almost seventeen-minute length and spare accompaniment. The concert setlists remained relatively static during the tour, but Dylan’s performances were intense and focused, showing off the new album tracks with just a small selection of other songs, not at all a greatest hits kind of event.
Despite the newness of the material and the audacity of presenting such a limited set of songs, critics and fans received the tour extremely well, generally viewing it as a career- capping triumph. As the tour progressed, several surprise songs popped up as occasional setlist additions, notably respectful and faithful renditions of Grateful Dead classics such as “Truckin’” and “Stella Blue,” no doubt baffling some more Dylan-centric listeners. As magnificent as the Rough and Rowdy music could be at its best, the alarming prospect loomed that the majority of Dylan’s classic oeuvre would never be heard again (an inevitability at some point, but not one easily accepted).
Rampant speculation followed the announcement of the Outlaw Music Festival in early 2024. Was the Rough and Rowdy Ways Tour over? Would the sets be short, as often experienced at European festivals? Who would be in the band?
The Outlaw Music Festival has a changing list of performers. In Mansfield, the lineup was (in order of performance) Celisse, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Bob Dylan, and Willie Nelson’s band (without the ailing Willie). Celisse (Henderson) is a dynamic vocalist and guitarist performing as part of a three-person power trio, heavily influenced by Jimi Hendrix. She won over the early-arriving crowd with her personality and flair, along with an emotional moment when she confessed that she was in a dream come true. Robert Plant and Alison Krauss played a stunning long set, heavy on moody rock (with some Led Zeppelin hits), and short on the bluegrass that made Alison’s reputation. The once-unthinkable pairing worked magnificently, backed by a stellar band, including guitar whiz J. D. McPherson and bluegrass multi-instrumentalist Stuart Duncan. It is a very successful match. (I feel bad though for some of my fellow traditional bluegrass fans who may have bought tickets based on the name Alison Krauss, only to be horrified by a style of music which would have Father of Bluegrass Bill Monroe spinning in his grave. However, the open-minded fans would have been delighted.) Following Bob Dylan’s set, Willie’s son Lukas led the Nelson band through a set of Willie’s classics. Lukas has the guitar chops and the voice of his father, making him a fine substitute for Willie.
Bob Dylan took the Mansfield stage shortly after the sun went down. With a light-colored shirt unzipped halfway down, he looked jauntily comfortable and ready for the summer heat.
A few things stood out throughout the show. First, after shaking up the setlist from the Rough and Rowdy Ways norm, after the first two nights of the tour Dylan had firmly established the lineup of songs. Possibly the “Cold, Cold Heart” or “Long and Wasted Years” from the first night would eventually return (or even the “Sweet Home Chicago” rumored to have been sound-checked one night), but for the present, perhaps the unchanging setlist was returning.
Second, the band has changed for the Outlaw tour. Drummer Jerry Pentecost was replaced by the veteran Jim Keltner, whose history playing with Dylan is long and distinguished. Keltner is a solid, safe choice for timekeeper, though Pentecost (and Charley Drayton before him) had done sterling work on the previous Rough and Rowdy tour. More significantly, long-time multi-instrumentalist Donnie Herron is no longer in the group, after being in the band since 2005 on pedal steel, mandolin, and violin. Just as Bucky Baxter had in the 1990s, Herron added variety and color to the band’s sound and dynamics. Though sometimes not fully noticed, Donnie Herron’s contributions were significant in Dylan’s live sound for almost twenty years. The lack of it in the new band is noticeable.
Third, the Outlaw Music Tour has visited venues far different from the intimate theaters so favored by Dylan for the previous four years. Willie’s Outlaw troupe attracts an audience much broader and wider than Dylan’s usual following. In Mansfield, I was surrounded by devotees of Led Zeppelin, hardcore bluegrass aficionados, and longtime Willie/traditional country fans among the 20,000 or so other attendees. Given Willie’s age (91 at the time of Mansfield) and instability, some would have seen this as perhaps their final opportunity to see him in concert. The upshot is that listeners during Dylan’s performance were not all following closely and reacting breathlessly to every slight lyric change or vocal inflection. The Outlaw crowd was not a typical Dylan crowd. It would be more difficult to wow them or even to keep them interested for seventy minutes. Does Bob realize this? Does he care? Does he alter his approach for this audience?
It raises a question in the mind of an astute concert reviewer: Is the quality of a show determined solely by the activity on the stage? How should audience reaction be factored into the evaluation, if at all? The perhaps sad reality is that a fair percentage of the fans in attendance at the Outlaw tour were totally uninterested in hearing Dylan’s set and proceeded to talk inanely throughout, during both soft and loud passages. This in turn greatly annoyed the engaged fans and negatively impacted the quality of their experience. The more rabid Dylan fans were left a-longing for the comfort and intimacy of an Orpheum or Beacon Theatre.
Beginning in 1978, my own Dylan tour history spans more than 170 shows. What multitudes I have seen and listened to in that time! That first 1978 show in St. Louis (its “Mr. Tambourine Man” discussed in Paul Williams’ Bob Dylan: Performing Artist: 1974-1986 The Middle Years) was the “big band” alimony tour, with all new arrangements and the largest band Dylan would ever tour with. My experience that night was drastically different from any that I would experience in the coming years. After three years of intense exposure to Bob Dylan albums, in 1978, I was finally seeing the legend in person.
Over the coming years and many dozen more shows, there were ups, downs, and in-betweens. Among them were wonderful shows with surprise setlists in the 90s; some fairly pedestrian shows with rough, uninspired vocals around 2005; and sometimes, the truly magical. Among these: Patti Smith joining Bob for the first ever duet on “Dark Eyes” in Boston in 1995; the one and only live appearance of “10,000 Men” in Kingston, Rhode Island in 2001; on the third night of a 1994 Boston run (the first concert of many for my then 9-year-old son), an unexpected final encore of “Two Soldiers”; Jorma Kaukonen, Warren Haynes, and Phil Lesh all joining in on a 1999 encore. There were events close to home, others seen while driving across big sections of the United States, and a few in Europe. There were nights I was all alone, nights I shared with an international set of fans and friends, and many nights with a very close friend, a man that I shared dozens of tours with and who added to the wonder and enjoyment of my journey.
Did I gain any real insight from these concerts? The main thing I take away from these years of following the tours is to take each night as it comes and to be open to the possibilities. There is enjoyment and delight to be taken from the nights where Dylan is at the peak of his performance art, but also from those times where all is not perfect; where there are sound issues, where the singer is not happy with the band, where lyrical mistakes are made. This is because we are seeing live art being made, with all the potential for triumph or disaster. It is like watching any live event, whether a play, sports event, or ballet. We see human beings displaying their art and we are amazed by the potential and the reality of the attempt. I never take that idea lightly.
On the Rough and Rowdy tour, Bob Dylan opened each night with the ironic line, “What’s the matter with me? I don’t have much to say,” then proceeded to say multitudes in the following hour and a half. On the Outlaw Tour, on July 2, 2024 in Mansfield, Massachusetts, Dylan begins with “Highway 61 Revisited.” Interestingly enough, Dylan omitted the line “kill me a son” this night, whether intentionally or not. This song has been somewhat problematic in recent times. The loud, fast, noisy rendition we hear, while potentially exciting, is a challenge for Bob’s voice. With the “Sinatra” albums and tours, Bob found a volume and pace where his voice was comfortable, and the results were stunning. Perhaps the vocal cords themselves had healed somehow after years of rough going, but the material was perfect for these late-career concerts. The trend continued with Rough and Rowdy Ways. The album did not go into the troublesome vocal territory, rather lent itself to beautiful songs such as “Mother of Muses” and “I’ve Made Up My Mind To Give Myself To You.” In Mansfield, Dylan’s vocal delivery was solid, though a few words skipped or slurred. Musically, the guitars of Bob Britt and Doug Lancio rocked out in a way little experienced in recent tours.
In Mansfield, the initial sound quality, as often happens, was not totally set. Dylan was clearly unhappy through the second half of the first song, and had comments at the end for ever-faithful bassist Tony Garnier. The instrumental audio was fine, guitar-based fast rock, but the vocal was a bit low on the starter. Also, the large crowd did not have the enthusiasm this song richly deserves, a bad sign with several slow ballads to follow.
“Shooting Star” was in the second spot, a good changeup after the initial rocker. The beautiful intense ballad from Oh Mercy was a success, in terms of arrangement and delivery. The poignant verses and dramatic bridge were greatly enhanced by Dylan’s now excellent piano playing. Gone are the days of roller rink organ or tinny piano. Bob’s baby grand piano is now the lead instrument much of the time, and shines in that role. He clearly has been woodshedding (maybe at the Crossroads). Dylan also employed harmonica here for the initial time of the night, with three more to follow. Only one frustration here. This is clearly an instance where Donnie Herron’s absence is a great loss. The steel guitar in a 2013 rendition, for example, added a sweet counterpoint to the piano and other guitars. For a Willie Nelson-centric audience, perhaps unfamiliar with Oh Mercy, the reception was tepid, especially in the middle to high reaches of the arena.
“Love Sick” followed. This take on the Time Out of Mind track was, on the face of it, well executed. From my location the vocal lacked sufficient volume. Further, the chattering audience, bane of modern concert going, seemed bored by the slow (yet dramatic) pace.
A cover next, “Little Queenie.” Here we go. What a song for a festival audience! “Little Queenie” is, of course, a joyous Chuck Berry original, notably done by the Rolling Stones in 1969 for the Get Yer Ya Ya’s Out! live album, and here conjuring the (virtual) memories we have of a teenage Dylan bopping out Little Richard songs. Dylan was enjoying this one. The music featured Bob Britt on the trademark Chuck Berry intro riff, and the band rocked to the essential rock ’n’ roll driving rhythm that Berry invented. One could imagine Dylan and the Cruzados rocking this on the glorious 1984 Letterman episode. The Willie Nelson crowd loved this rocker, and so did I. For those who have not seen a Dylan tour in 10-15 years, Bob’s voice and piano playing must be a revelation. Bob on keyboards now makes sense, and his voice can show the power and emotion that have moved so many in the past.
The show then moved into a slow section, temporarily losing much of the audience. “Mr. Blue,” a DeWayne Blackwell song notably covered by the Fleetwoods, was unfamiliar to the audience, and the volume of talk increased. The song rendition itself was exquisite, recalling the best of the “Sinatra” cover era. “Early Roman Kings” as a lyric is quite fascinating, especially with the proper background on the text. As a stalwart of pre-Rough and Rowdy times, it had become a drag on the setlist (I know, some will disagree), and it was no better here. “Can’t Wait” was enjoyable and recalled the late 1990s when the Time Out of Mind album was featured and displayed the power and depth of that career revival.
“Under the Red Sky” came next, its lilting melody and nursery rhyme lyrics working together to revive some of the enervated audience. That song has been unjustly knocked for its simplicity, but shone here, and would make a welcome mainstay of future sets. Treasures like this from Dylan’s songbook are a joy to hear again. “Things Have Changed” also brought back memories, in this case from a long stretch when this was a powerful concert opener. It retains that power and Dylan’s current piano prowess and vocal approach just enhance it. If I had one specific request for Bob’s touring structure, it would be to turn up the sound (as he would for Neil Young!). The vocals and the musical chops of this crack band need to be heard. See the Plant/Krauss band for how to create volume and dynamics to unleash the full potential of an excellent performance.
Two more covers followed, both played with intensity and passion. “Stella Blue,” a Grateful Dead ballad now familiar to those hearing recent concert recordings, was a faithful rendition of a song that Dylan’s friend Jerry Garcia once did so impressively. It was a moving moment, but again one largely lost on this audience (except for a lone fan in the lower seats, who seemed to be having a moment of religious ecstasy; security staff spoke with him mid-song). Again, we have the dichotomy: a strong performance unrecognized by more than half the audience, at least in my area. Dylan and his band performed “Six Days On the Road,” the Dave Dudley country classic, with gusto. Bob Britt and Doug Lancio on guitars and Dylan on piano gave a rollicking run through, though Bob fussed a bit and had instructions for bass player Tony Garnier early. One could imagine a stunning cover collection of tracks like this one and “Little Queenie,” showing the rock ‘n’ roll chops of this band.
“Soon After Midnight,” from the album Tempest, has one of Dylan’s loveliest melodies, which Dylan delivered flawlessly before a trio of classics from the 60s and 70s stirred the crowd. “Ballad of a Thin Man” was strong and accusatory as it was the mid-60s, “Simple Twist of Fate” featured Willie Nelson’s harmonica master Mickey Raphael, and “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight” kept the Rough and Rowdy tour arrangement: slow intro verses, rocking middle section, and dramatic, strutting ending. With no encore, the changeover to Willie’s stage began.
The audience had seen a fine show, though many did not know it. Dylan, per usual, made no concessions in terms of setlist, talking with the audience, introductions, or anything else. For those paying attention, the wonder and joy were there, and the prospect of future tours seemed very bright indeed, especially if they can play it loud.
