The final United States-based performance from Bob Dylan took place last night (September 20) on the Farm Aid stage.
The event raising money for farmers across America celebrated its fortieth anniversary, with a stellar line-up including Dylan and Neil Young. Dylan has just finished his Outlaw Music Festival tour and will pick up the Rough and Rowdy Ways tour in the UK later this year. The veteran songwriter would play a shortened selection of his Outlaw Music Festival tour songs, with his five-song set a snippet from the usual setlist of his earlier shows. Dylan made a surprise appearance at Farm Aid in 2023, playing Maggie’s Farm and a handful of other classics. His recent appearance for the fortieth anniversary would see a similar layout to his Outlaw Music Festival stage. Dylan would sit behind the piano, with his hood up, obscured by the dark stage.
His five-song setlist would be short and sweet, twenty minutes of hit songs. Aside from a Bo Diddley cover, Dylan’s set featured nothing but classics from his ’60s discography. A full setlist for the Farm Aid 2025 show can be found below.
- All Along the Watchtower
- I Can Tell (Bo Diddley cover)
- To Ramona
- Highway 61 Revisited
- Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right
At-home viewers of the show were full of praise for Dylan, who is fresh off the Outlaw Music Festival tour. One person in a YouTube upload of the performance wrote: “This is amazing.” Another added: “Excellent video to live up to this tight, short set from Bob Dylan and his band.”
The Farm Aid lineup this year also featured Willie Nelson, Neil Young (and the Chrome Hearts), John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews (with Tim Reynolds), and Margo Price, as well as Kenny Chesney, Billy Strings, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Lukas Nelson, Trampled by Turtles, Wynonna Judd, Steve Earle, Waxahatchee, Eric Burton of Black Pumas, Jesse Welles, Madeline Edwards and Wisdom Indian Dancers.
Dylan will not embark on a tour of Europe and the United Kingdom as part of the Rough and Rowdy Ways shows. The veteran performer last played the UK in 2024, in what some believed would be his final gig. A show at the Royal Albert Hall on November 14, 2024, was hailed by fans at the time. A setlist for the show can be found below.
- All Along the Watchtower
- It Ain’t Me, Babe
- I Contain Multitudes
- False Prophet
- When I Paint My Masterpiece
- Black Rider
- My Own Version of You
- To Be Alone With You
- Crossing the Rubicon
- Desolation Row
- Key West (Philosopher Pirate)
- Watching the River Flow
- It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue
- I’ve Made Up My Mind to Give Myself to You
- Mother of Muses
- Goodbye Jimmy Reed
- Every Grain of Sand
