The first performance of the Highway 61 Revisited epic since 2018 took place on the final night of Dylan’s run on the Outlaw Music Festival tour
Bob Dylan‘s time on the Outlaw Music Festival tour came to an end Tuesday night following a show at Darien Lake Ampitheater in Buffalo, New York. The three-month tour was packed with moments that stunned longtime Dylan fans, including the return of gospel band-era drummer Jim Keltner, the defection of multi-instrumental Donnie Herron after a 19-year run in the group, and a faux vintage 2012 tour shirt (complete with a phantom Rosemont, Illinois show) for sale in the merch stand we’re still struggling to understand.
That’s not even mentioning the surprise covers (“Little Queenie,” “Mr Blue,” “The Fool,” “Six Days on the Road”) he pulled out, and originals (“Silvio,” “All Along the Watchtower,” “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35,” “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues”) that he hadn’t touched in years. Simply put, it was the loosest Dylan has seemed onstage in many years.
Dylan saved perhaps the weirdest moment for the grand finale in Buffalo when the band kicked into “Desolation Row,” and he took out a tiny wrench and rhythmically banged it on the microphone while he sang it for the first time since August 2018. Was this rehearsed? A spontaneous decision after finding a wrench on his piano? We have no idea, but Dylan superfan Ray Padgett, purveyor of the Flagging Down the Double E’s newsletter, hopes to find out. “I need to interview whoever put that wrench on his piano,” he tweeted out the morning after the show.
Memphis-based blues and soul band Southern Avenue were the opening act for the final leg of the Outlaw Music Festival, and they were amazed to see Dylan watching them from the side of the stage earlier this week. “Still in shock,” they wrote on Instagram. “Pinch us! Not only did he have some incredibly kind words to share, but he also asked for a picture with us. Today has officially become one of the most unforgettable days of our lives. Feeling beyond grateful for this moment, this tour, and all the love and support we’ve been shown. Thank you, Bob, for making this dream even more surreal.” (They shared the photo, which is a rare chance to see Dylan in his offstage duds.)
Dylan returns to the road Oct. 4 when he kicks off an extensive European tour in Prague. It wraps on Nov. 14 at London’s Royal Albert Hall. Let’s hope the tiny wrench makes another appearance at some point. There’s a lot more he can do with that thing.