What Bob Dylan played on first of two-night Rough and Rowdy Ways shows in Amsterdam

Bob Dylan performed his first of two shows in Amsterdam last night, with an unchanged setlist for the Rough and Rowdy Ways tour.

Dylan has performed almost all of his 2020 album on this tour, along with a handful of classic songs from his discography. His setlist at the AFAS Live arena is no exception, with the veteran performer playing the likes of When I Paint My Masterpiece and I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight. The shows are set to conclude later this month in Dublin, Ireland. Dylan had performed several dates for the Rough and Rowdy Ways tour in the United States at the start of the year, and then joined Willie Nelson on the Outlaw Music Festival tour.

The latter tour gave Dylan a chance to play some of his deepest cuts and most-loved songs like Mr. Tambourine Man, Things Have Changed, and Masters of War. Such songs were missing from last night’s performance, but typically so as Dylan focuses much of the show on his most recent studio album. A full setlist from his first of two nights in Amsterdam can be found below.

• I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight
• 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)
• 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

The show comes nearly a year after Dylan performed in Europe on the Rough and Rowdy Ways tour. Rough and Rowdy Ways celebrated its fifth anniversary earlier this year. Dylan has performed all songs from the album, except for Murder Most Foul, extensively since 2021. The album was recorded in “last-minute” fashion according to drummer Matt Chamberlain, who explained Dylan’s style when making the album.

Chamberlain said: “Yeah, well the Dylan thing is, the tour was very last-minute. I played for a couple of days, and he wanted me to tour, literally, it was like a three-day window, and he asked me to hop on this tour.

“So we did like six weeks and got back, and then after the first year, we started his record, and that was an education because he’s so last-minute, in-the-moment about the way he makes his records.

“It’s almost like playing with a poet jazz musician because he’s just always changing it up; anything can happen at any time, things can just get trashed, and we’ll do a whole new version of a song. He’s amazing. He’s Bob Dylan, so…”

Though it may seem daunting to play along with Dylan and find the right groove, Chamberlain suggested it was “pretty fun” to experience. Rough and Rowdy Ways would mark another critically acclaimed release from Dylan, and his first release of original music since the release of Tempest.

Chamberlain added: “Pretty much, yeah. He might have like a reference point for a groove or a feel, and then we’ll just kind of jam on that.

“And then he’ll start trying to sing over it, and then he’ll get on the piano and add some extra chords, and we’ll kind of work out the arrangement, and the next thing you know we’ve tracked the song. It’s pretty fun…”