Bob Dylan Kicks Off Fall Tour With New Lineup & Live Debuts In Milwaukee

Bob Dylan returned to the stage last night at Milwaukee’s Riverside Theatre to begin Fall Tour 2021 with his first show in front of an in-person audience since December 8, 2019. Tuesday’s concert also marked the iconic musician’s first since the release of his 2020 album Rough And Rowdy Ways and Dylan filled the setlist with eight songs from the LP backed by a new lineup.

The 80-year-old singer-songwriter was accompanied by bassist Tony Garnier, multi-instrumentalist Donnie Herron, drummer Charley Drayton and guitarists Bob Britt and Doug Lancio. Garnier, Britt and Herron were part of Dylan’s band when he last performed in 2019 while Drayton and Lancio are new additions to the group. Charley Drayton previously played with Bob on bass in 1991 according to Rolling Stone, while Lancio’s credits include work with John Hiatt, Nanci Griffith and Patty Griffin.

Bob Dylan played piano for the bulk of an evening dedicated to the Wisconsin-native Les Paul which started with classic “Watching The River Flow.” Last night’s version was Bob’s first outside his “Shadow Kingdom” livestream since July 15, 2014 as per Setlist.FM. Dylan and company then performed Blonde On Blonde standout “Most Likely You Go Your Way And I’ll Go Mine,” another song missing in action since 2014 besides a take during “Shadow Kingdom.” Next came live debuts of Rough And Rowdy Ways‘ “I Contain Multitudes” and “False Prophet.”

The ensuing “Simple Twist Of Fate” was the evening’s first song Dylan played regularly during his last tour. It was then back to Rough And Rowdy Ways for “My Own Version Of You” and “Black Rider,” which were split by “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight.” From there, Bob looked to 2016’s Fallen Angels for the Frank Sinatra popularized “Melancholy Mood” and premiered “Mother Of Muses” off his latest LP. The 16-song main set rolled on with “Gotta Serve Somebody” and the live debut of “Key West (Philosopher Pirate).”

A double dose of 2012’s Tempest followed with “Early Roman Kings” and “Soon After Midnight.” Bob Dylan and his band ended the main set with live debuts of Rough And Rowdy Ways tracks “I’ve Made Up My Mind To Give Myself To You” and “Goodbye Jimmy Reed.” With an encore of “Love Sick” and “It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry,” the only songs from Rough And Rowdy Ways that didn’t see action last night were the 17-minute opus “Murder Most Foul” and the bluesy “Crossing The Rubicon.” Dylan continues the tour tonight in Chicago.

Check out a clip in which Dylan introduces the band and dedicates the show to Les Paul below:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CVzKyWRA–K/

Setlist

Source: JamBase.com