The legendary Rolling Thunder Revue tour for Bob Dylan featured some of his all-time greatest songs, and many were performed live for the first time on this day in 1975.
Dylan would deliver a debut of I Shall Be Released and When I Paint My Masterpiece, songs that still feature in his setlist today, during his show at the Plymouth Memorial Hall in Massachusetts. Dylan would debut nine songs in total, and deliver performances of The Times They Are A-Changin’ and The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll for the first time since 1966 and 1965 respectively. It marked a bold Rolling Thunder Revue show, with Dylan playing 15 songs that night. More than half of the setlist comprised songs he had never performed live before, with many taken from Desire. There was also a cover of Johnny Ace’s Never Let Me Go.
A full setlist for Dylan’s show at the Plymouth Memorial Hall, which took place on this day in 1975, can be found below.
- When I Paint My Masterpiece (live debut)
- It Ain’t Me, Babe
- A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall
- Romance in Durango (live debut)
- Isis (live debut)
- The Times They Are A-Changin’ (first time since 1966)
- Never Let Me Go (Johnny Ace cover, live debut)
- The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll (first time since 1965)
- I Shall Be Released (live debut)
- Mr. Tambourine Man
- Oh, Sister (live debut)
- Hurricane (live debut)
- One More Cup of Coffee (Valley Below) (live debut)
- Sara (live debut)
- Just Like a Woman
Dylan has since performed When I Paint My Masterpiece a total of 560 times, most prominently over the last five years. It has maintained its place as a setlist staple since 2018, when Dylan performed the song across the world a total of 58 times. I Shall Be Released has made a return to the setlist too, with Dylan opting to close out many of his shows in 2026 with the Greatest Hits Vol. II track.
Some songs which received their debut during the Plymouth show have rarely surfaced since. Oh, Sister was brought back to the stage once in 1990 and has not been performed since. Dylan would play it fairly regularly in 1975, 1976, and 1978, but has hardly touched the song since. Hurricane, too, has been left well alone since 1976 and shows no sign of returning to the stage.
Those other Desire songs have fared poorly when it comes to live representation. Romance in Durango has been performed just once since 1976, a lone outing of it at the Hammersmith Apollo in 2003 marks the only time Dylan has performed the song since the Rolling Thunder Revue.
Isis never made an appearance after 1976, the Ace cover Never Let Me Go would feature for the final time at the show on October 31, 1975, and Sara too would be performed just once in 1976. One More Cup of Coffee (Valley Below) has featured in a smattering of shows since 1976, with over 100 performances of the song in 1978 alone. Dylan appears to have cooled on the track though, with the last time he performed it live being in 2009.
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