Bob Dylan delivered an intense, stripped-down and mesmerizing show at Robinson Center
by Glen Hooks March 28, 2025 3:11 pm Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to share on X (Opens in new window)Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)Click to share on Bluesky (Opens in new window)Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)Click to share on Threads (Opens in new window)Click to print (Opens in new window)
Editor's note: Our photographer's request to shoot the show was — expectedly — denied, and concertgoers were required to put their phones in locked pouches before the show, so we don't have any visual evidence of Bob Dylan's performance. You'll have to use your imagination.
If you were expecting Wednesday night's Bob Dylan show at Robinson Center to be a rough and rowdy "greatest hits" nostalgia setlist, surprise! The ever-inventive icon instead provided an intense, personal, stripped-down and mesmerizing set of mostly deep cuts, rearrangements (or reimaginings?) and recently-released tracks played quietly by a five-piece band with Dylan forgoing his guitar for keyboards and harmonica for the entire show. His performance was aimed at the diehard fans in attendance — of which there were plenty — rather than the more casual folks who know only a few of the classics. Happily, the effort thrilled the sold-out crowd and left them rapturous.
It's become somewhat cliche over the years to dismiss Dylan's modern live performances as lackluster and unintelligible, but his Little Rock performance was anything but. Amid a sparsely-illuminated stage setup with all the musicians dressed in black and never spotlit (it was difficult at first glance to determine which member was Dylan), the man himself was in great voice, alternating between a bluesy whispering growl and a deep, rich, sonorous boom with just enough of that trademark nasal twang to remind us all of who we were dealing with.
He started the set with "All Along the Watchtower," made even more famous by a classic Jimi Hendrix cover and likely familiar to anyone who has ever seen a movie about the Vietnam War. The remainder of the set was notable for an absolute lack of stage patter or crowd work. Dylan was all business, taking his audience on a tour of both the back catalogue (a handful of which you can find on 2023's "Shadow Kingdom," consisting mostly of rerecordings of songs from the first half of his career) and a healthy helping of tracks from his latest album of new material, 2020's "Rough and Rowdy Ways."
Standout tracks for this reviewer included haunting renditions of "Desolation Row" and "Goodbye Jimmy Reed," both also from 2020's "Rough and Rowdy Ways." When he finished up the night with a plaintive version of "Every Grain of Sand," the show was suddenly over with no goodbye and no encore, just a stark vision of an absolute American icon quietly exiting stage left while we mortals cheered for more.
Setlist:
"All Along the Watchtower"
"It Ain't Me Babe"
"I Contain Multitudes"
"False Prophet"
"When I Paint My Masterpiece"
"Black Rider"
"My Own Version of You"
"To Be Alone With You"
"Crossing the Rubicon"
"Desolation Row"
"Key West (Philosopher Pirate)"
"Watching the River Flow"
"It's All Over Now, Baby Blue"
"I've Made Up My Mind to Give Myself to You"
"Mother of Muses"
"Goodbye Jimmy Reed"
"Every Grain of Sand"
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