Bob Dylan – Just Not the Same as It Was Review

More material from the summer shows of the Rough and Rowdy Ways tour is quite the treat. For those well-versed in Bob Dylan bootlegs, you may know already what to expect from Just Not the Same as It Was. Reinterpretations of songs which featured on the Rough and Rowdy Ways album, as well as a few inspired change-ups to classic tracks. It’s the bread-and-butter style of Dylan, the fundamentals of his live experience are built around interpretation, which audience members are likely, if they’re not keeping up with Dylan to an obsessive level, unaware of. You can hear those changes from the first moments of this bootleg, a piano-heavy version of Watching the River Flow is as incredible as the studio recording. What Dylan found on the summer 2022 shows are that some of his oldest songs are better suited to the classic rock tone he found on Rough and Rowdy Ways. Beyond that are reimaginings of songs from his most recent studio album, that is a great thrill.  

Hearing the upbeat, piano-led stylings of Watching the River Flow is one thrill, but the softer touch and stronger vocal presence on I’ve Made Up My Mind to Give Myself to You is nothing short of incredible. One of the tenderest, best tracks from Dylan there, and adapted so many times to the stage over the last few years, there was bound to be one version which stands above the rest. That’s the version found here, from the stage in Boise, Idaho. Sparse is the word for it, and it’s the tone of many songs featured on Just Not the Same as It Was. There’s a trust in the quiet which Dylan deploys often on songs which fit the Rough and Rowdy Ways theme, or the album tracks themselves. Songs of contemplation, of making good on faith and hope, it’s the core of the show which has stretched on for half a decade and counting. It doesn’t feel like a last gasp, though, it still stands as an occasion for Dylan to detail what he does best, his writing still strong.  

Chances to hear that developing writing style are featured throughout Just Not the Same as It Was, a bootleg that does rather well to develop and maintain these overlapping, fresh commentaries. Most Likely You Go Your Way (and I’ll Go Mine), When I Paint My Masterpiece, and Every Grain of Sand are the classics given a welcome, modern touch-up here. Notable performances which, often, rely on instrumental elongation just as much as they do on the rougher, yet delicate vocal work Dylan provides. Take the Gotta Serve Somebody performance from Long Beach, California. Deftly served up to the audience, the little spots of drumming backing up those piano strokes are a nice interpretation of a song which relied on gospel tones on first release, a song that sounded as though it couldn’t be shifted by new instrumentals.  

But such is the quality of Dylan as a live performer, and in particular for the Rough and Rowdy Ways tour. Tremendous work all the way through this compilation is not an inevitability, but there is much to love about how Dylan conducts these new arrangements. Even the material tailor-made to this new sound feels readily changed and full of fresh, enlightened changes. I’ve Made Up My Mind to Give Myself to You is the best example, a song that goes from strength to strength the more it’s played. Thirty strong songs here, much overlap between said tracks but, all the same, excellent renditions. Black Rider and False Prophet stand out too, the latter Boise performance, which closes out the compilation, is quite something. The tour itself is one hell of an experience, and those who are itching for more strong examples from Dylan’s Rough and Rowdy Ways are catered to brilliantly here.