Only the greats, and Zach Bryan, can perform at Hyde Park. The continued appeal of standing in a field with sweating civilians means attracting some of the biggest and best around. A dual headline show for Bob Dylan and Neil Young is about as big as it gets, and though the latter man would star on the BST Hyde Park stage alone in 2025, just six years before that, he was joined by the great Highway 61 Revisited songwriter. An overlap in their sets, this is not. Bob Dylan’s performance at Hyde Park 2019 is a heavy set of crowd-pleasing hits. What else could it have been? Where the veteran performer may shy away from giving audiences what they believe they want, the Hyde Park 2019 set is a showcase of his very best works, his most popular efforts, bar a few which would not return to the stage until the Rough and Rowdy Ways tour.
Once more changing the tempo and range of his very best songs, Dylan presents an all-time great showcase of his discography with this Hyde Park show. Almost every song featured is a recognisable hit, and the few tracks around it are just as brilliant. Not as quick to recognise, but certainly up there with the very best of his works. Opening song Ballad of a Thin Man sets the mood brilliantly. One of the many protest songs Dylan has provided listeners, and one which still holds firm. Counterculture is still relevant, still the beating heart of bustling communities. It is what Ballad of a Thin Man highlights, and more so now, when those opposing forces are fractured, slimmer in number and more focused on niche interests, does it stand as a relevant best from Dylan. The songs to follow, particularly Simple Twist of Fate and When I Paint My Masterpiece keep that counterculture experience flowing.
Hyde Park is no place for counterculture, and yet Dylan makes it feel like a suitable environment for these songs. He is now mainstream, after all. Songs of unity are presented here, like It Ain’t Me, Babe and Make You Feel My Love. Perhaps the most surprising part of the Hyde Park 2019 show is the Love and Theft track, Honest With Me. A strong song for sure, but a tad out of place considering the heavy focus on crowd-pleasing numbers across the set. Tempest and Modern Times get a look-in too, but this show is more about Dylan experimenting with his on-stage sound than anything else. Soon After Midnight and the still frequently played Gotta Serve Somebody are sweet additions to the later moments in the set, before an encore of Blowin’ in the Wind and It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry cement the Hyde Park 2019 show as one of the all-time best Dylan experiences.
Here is Dylan performing at a time when contemporary, original material was not interesting to him. Shadows in the Night, Fallen Angels, and Triplicate all heard Dylan drift away from his own works in the studio, but on stage was, as is often the case, a different story. Despite these hits of the past being the highlight, the best offering from this set is Time Out of Mind track, Can’t Wait. A groovy instrumental adaptation of the modern classic, which has Dylan punch through with a brilliant vocal performance. There are those who do not like the gruffer tone Dylan takes when he reworks these songs, and those people are the ones missing out on intensely reflective and intoxicating takes on the finest moments in his decades-spanning discography.
