A change to the Rough and Rowdy Ways European tour setlist was made tonight (November 23) by Bob Dylan.
The veteran performer has toured Europe with the Rough and Rowdy Ways tour since October and has since confirmed further dates across the world are to come in Spring 2026. While the setlist may have been the same for most shows on the tour, Dylan did make a change to his setlist on the European date in Killarney, Ireland, at the Gleneagle Arena. Dylan’s usual seventeen songs, which feature the likes of Desolation Row, Black Rider, and Mother of Muses were featured along with a classic folk song from the Great American Songbook. The inclusion of The Lakes of Pontchartrain came as a surprise to those in the audience, who took to social media to share their delight at hearing the change to the setlist this leg of the tour. A full setlist 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)
- 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
- The Lakes of Pontchartrain
Dylan’s show received a rave review from Cult Following earlier this month, with the veteran performer taking to Leeds’ First Direct Arena for a five-star show. The review reads: “At the best of times, like with To Be Alone with You or Desolation Row, the results are revelatory. You’ll find something in yourself you never knew was there with a Dylan show, so long as you give yourself up to missing this lyric or that note.
“Things have changed for Dylan as a performer. These are not moments to be documented by a camera or talked over, but if you truly give yourself up to the show, then connecting with it is no harm at all. No screens, dim lighting, these are self-made blockades for a crowd needing visual stimulation.
“What Dylan provides here is an all-time great performance, a truly exhilarating time that digs deep into what makes his songs so long-lasting. He just about finds out how it comes to be, but in true Dylan fashion, you’d have to be there, in the moment, to understand why they still click with a new generation.”
The Rough and Rowdy Ways tour will conclude later this month in Dublin, Ireland, at the 3Arena. Dylan has confirmed more dates on the Rough and Rowdy Ways tour will be announced, with “where and when” to be confirmed in the near future.
I just read three reviews of last night’s Bob Dylan gig in Killarney and I’m wondering if I was at the same concert! It’s no wonder Dylan keeps touring when the reviews are so OTT positive. He still thinks he’s marvellous. Here’s mine:
I’ve been a huge Dylan fan since my teens, I have every album (40+) and I worship his music and especially his lyrics but I’ll call a spade a spade when I see and hear it. His voice was largely excellent last night – it’s still powerful – but his piano playing left a lot to be desired. He was off tune several times. His harmonica was seriously disappointing and mediocre. Of all instruments, his harmonica has always been outstanding and tuneful – not last night. His guitar was a non-event as he barely touched it. The band did their best to subdue the music and keep it within Dylan’s current vocal range which is obviously very limited now and they didn’t have an easy time.
Following other dismal Dylan gigs over the years, I had low expectations coming to this show so I wouldn’t be too disappointed so I wasn’t. It lived up to my fears with one exception and that was ‘The Lakes of Ponchartrain’.
The ‘Rough and Rowdy Ways’ album is a slow, almost funereal, listen but it has its moments and it gets under your skin if one gives it a chance. It’s probably his best work since 1984’s ‘Infidels’ but Dylan didn’t do it justice last night. All nine of the album tracks he sang blended into one as he maintained the same delivery throughout.
Then there were the old reliables: ‘I’ll be your baby tonight’, ‘It ain’t me babe’, ‘When I paint my masterpiece’, ‘Desolation Row’ etc. All were unrecognisable. It was only when the title of each came around that the audience realised what song it was meant to be and reacted!
Watching the audience last night was another revelation: people were sitting in their seats unmoving. There was an occasional tapping foot but that was it. Audience reaction was largely absent during the songs. No one sang along. They couldn’t, it was impossible to do so. Several people left before the gig finished so they missed the absolute highlight of the event: ‘Ponchartrain’.
There was no ‘tight’ connection between artist and audience nor even a loose one. There was no acknowledgment by Dylan that the audience was even there. He may as well have been singing to himself and therein lies the problem – he was. The chosen tracks, the rearranged melodies, the vocal delivery, the lack of interaction, the absence of audience participation, all indicated how self indulgent the event was. Dylan was pleasing himself over 17 tracks. Then came ‘Ponchartrain’. ‘Ponchartrain’ revealed what this concert could and should have been. A recognisable, rousing, audience inclusive, foot stomping, breath of fresh air. The old, real Dylan. The venue was lifted. What came before was forgotten. The moment was electric but it was all too fleeting. The song was sung, the gig was over. Dylan left the stage but, during that final song, the years had fallen away and a star briefly shone. Adieu Mr. Zimmerman.
I saw him in Liverpool last year and this is an excellent summation of my gig as well.
Excellent perceptions, fair review.
Thanks for the review. With Bob trying to hide himself on stage, being paranoid about phones, ejecting a fan recently, etc., I wonder about his mental health.
The band quieting to a spoken word vibe is okay with me, as it is easier to understand him if the band plays accents around the softer vocals. If the band played too loud, he would have to sing too loud, and we would be scratching our heads about what tune he is doing. It is almost that way still anyway. I wish Bob well, I’m a huge fan, but seeing him is more of an art/poetry event than a music concert at this point. There is not a lot of professional playing pushing the songs.
Agree with the previous review I saw Dylan in November 2024 he is not performer who notices his audience