Bob Dylan is no stranger to changing the meaning and words of his songs on the fly.
His live shows have consistently featured changes, instrumentally and lyrically, to some of his greatest songs. Tangled Up in Blue, a Blood on the Tracks classic that was last performed in 2018, made its return to the stage last night in Oslo for Dylan’s first European show of 2026. There, Dylan performed 19 songs, including Crash on the Levee for the first time since 2005 and a massively overhauled version of Tangled Up in Blue. Attendees have since shared the changes made to the song during last night’s show, with extra lyrics added to two verses from the classic song.
Dylan has performed Tangled Up in Blue a total of 1,710 times throughout his career, and there’s every chance he keeps it as part of his setlist for these European dates. The song had been absent from Dylan’s set since August 28, 2018, when he performed a show at the Horncastle Arena in Christchurch, New Zealand.
The previous outing of Tangled Up in Blue was part of a 20-song setlist that featured some of Dylan’s greatest hits. A full setlist for the show can be found below.
- Things Have Changed
- It Ain’t Me, Babe
- Highway 61 Revisited
- Simple Twist of Fate
- Summer Days
- When I Paint My Masterpiece
- Honest With Me
- Tryin’ to Get to Heaven
- Make You Feel My Love
- Tangled Up in Blue
- Pay in Blood
- Early Roman Kings
- Like a Rolling Stone
- Love Sick
- Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right
- Thunder on the Mountain
- It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry
- Gotta Serve Somebody
- Blowin’ in the Wind
- Ballad of a Thin Man
Setlist.FM also notes the Gotta Serve Somebody rendition was a “boogie woogie version,” and it’s anyone’s guess as to what that means. Eight years later and Dylan has reintroduced Tangled Up in Blue to his set and featured new lyrics for the song. Dylan expert Ray Padgett shared the new Tangled Up in Blue lyrics, which are as follows:
“Way up north in the frozen woods
Teardrops touch the sky
The leaves are falling one by one
And the mornings pass you by
Sometimes it gets so quiet
Sometimes it gets in the way
Look here for another
Tomorrow’s another day
And all the while I was alone
The past was close behind
I seen a lot of women
But I never escaped her mind
And she just grew
Tangled up in blue”
Another verse featured different lyrics to the studio recording, which were reportedly:
“Things were getting to cost too much
Summer slipped through my hand
Certain truths about that thing
I never did understand
You bury the hatchet, you put it to bed
Sometimes you go for a ride
Nothing ever looks the same
After you’ve been on the other side
He turns around, the magic disappears
What I know he was looking at
He never did find it here
Neither did you
Tangled up in blue”
Dylan would also feature a cover of Randy Newman’s Louisiana 1927 for the first time, and a cover of Guy Clark’s Dublin Blues too at his Oslo Spektrum performance. A full setlist for the show can be found below.
- To Be Alone With You
- Man in the Long Black Coat
- Crash on the Levee
- Tryin’ to Get to Heaven
- Early Roman Kings
- I Can Tell (Bo Diddley cover)
- Tangled Up in Blue (first time since 2018)
- Share Your Love With Me (Bobby Bland cover)
- Louisiana (Randy Newman cover)
- When I Paint My Masterpiece
- I’ll Make it All Up to You (Jerry Lee Lewis cover)
- Crossing the Rubicon
- Soon After Midnight
- Under the Red Sky
- Dublin Blues (Guy Clark cover)
- I’ve Made Up My Mind to Give Myself to You
- Goodbye Jimmy Reed
- I Shall Be Released
- You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere
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