“Well, I’ve been to London and I’ve been to gay Paree
I’ve followed the river and I got to the sea
I’ve been down on the bottom of a world full of lies
I ain’t looking for nothing in anyone’s eyes
Sometimes my burden seems more than I can bear
It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there“
(Bob Dylan, 1997)

It’s strange, but true – it’s been a whole year since the two great shows in Paris at La Seine Musicale!! I remember so well that I was both surprised and overwhelmed the first night, to see Dylan leaning over the upright piano, eagerly gesticulating to underline both the lyrics and to heighten the weight of the performance, he even stepped out on the floor several times. Nevertheless, at the time I felt pretty sure that this was it, the last tour in Europe, not least because it had been promoted as the “Rough And Rowdy Ways World Wide Tour 2021-2024”. When I saw the last three shows in Royal Albert Hall in November, I had to admit that there was not a single sign of goodbye, more the contrary. Then, as suspected, twenty new RRW shows was soon to be advertised in March and April, then came the Outlaw Festival from May to September with 38 shows, before 26 new RRW shows in Europe. And here we are, and here I am again. My show number 201.

The sound of only a slow rhythm of some dark pianochords starts as the lights in the arena are dimmed, and we can see the musicians pass by the backdrop, like in a shadow kingdom, an eager Dylan steps in as number two of them. Tony is soon ready to start up the band, Dylan finds his place with the piano first, the baby grand has now taken the place of last years upright version, then he finds his guitar and turn his back to the world. I already knew I had the perfect spot for this night, on the right side of the seventh row with perfect view to Dylan behind the piano, even with his face lighted through the night. The first two songs starts with Dylan on guitar, jamming in long instrumental intros, before he turns to the piano and grabs the mike, not handheld mike this year, more like a hand held microphone stand, which he, after the two first songs, places between his legs, so he can control the mike with his left hand while playing piano with his right. For the more thunderous parts he of course uses both hands. He will rise up behind the piano a few times, to cheers and applause from the audience, but there are less movements and no dancing this time. Still, Dylan both sounds and seem strong tonight, although mostly from a sitting position.

Dylan changes, maybe involuntarily, some of the lyrics in “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight”, and it takes some time before he really controls the groove and the mike. The guitar on “It Ain’t Me, Babe” is not a highlight of the evening, but vocally it’s a really beautiful version. The piano great, too. He starts “I Contain Multitudes” almost before the rest of the band understands what’s happening, but that’s okay.

“False Prophet” becomes the first really highlight of the evening, it’s like Dylan straightens out and is adding a few inches to his height behind the piano, now in proud total control, digging the groove so much that he stretches out his left hand in the air while singing, several times. Then rests his arm on his left hip several times. The version is so great that it is like it’s lifting the whole show from there. A change in gear. The band starts the now not so new “cuban” arrangement of “When I Paint My Masterpiece” and Dylan finds his harmonica, starting soft and low, comes into the groove and makes it a wonderful start of the song before he starts singing. You can see he is satisfied. “Black Rider” has been great for a long time, little by little growing with small changes in both beat, arrangement and vocal performance – also a strong version tonight. “My Own Version of You” becomes another highlight of the evening for me, partly because of Dylan’s reciting vocal that suddenly turns to singing a few lines, making it a new melody inside of the song. Great stuff, and he does the same with several songs this night, maybe just inside a verse or some lines where his timing and phrasing ignites some wonderful moments – the same happens in a great version of “Desolation Row”, another highlight of the evening, in “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” and in a verse of “I’ve Made Up My Mind To Give Myself To You”. “Baby Blue” was beautiful through and through, but sadly something went wrong with the sound of Dylan’s voice at the start of the last verse, maybe something with the microphone. The same happened again a few times.

The other part of what made “My Own Version of You” so great tonight was the fabulous work from Anton Fig with both drums and percussion behind Dylan’s vocal, making it kind of a duet between the two. I guess this was some of what the man behind the piano missed from Keltner last year. Fig made this a very special moment, and Dylan gave him the space and trust he needed.

I have admitted before that “Watching The River Flow” never was a great favorite of mine – usually I admit that when I sometimes hear a really wonderful version of it – and that happened tonight. Dylan made up some new figures at the piano along the way, and the spark from his groove hit the rest of the band in a way that for me sounded like a potentially new and better arrangement of the song. So cool to see this happen before our eyes.

I mentioned Dylan’s satisfaction after “Masterpiece”, but the opposite happened in “Mother of Muses”, where the piano player at the end is semaphoring to Bob Britt how he really should play the guitar, with some heavy strokes Dylan shows him in the air. It happens several times, Britt tries to take cue, and Dylan really takes the role of conducting the whole band on this one, nodding to every one of them to get the right rhythm, absolutely more satisfied when they understand what he means.

More and more of the audience stands up while cheering after each song, as the show goes on – after a beautiful “Every Grain of Sand”, people comes running down the isle to the stage, the ovations last for several minutes and you can feel the hope for extras in the air, but not this time.

I have seen RRW shows both in 2022, 2023, 2024 and now the first one in 2025, and has followed with great interest the changes, both in arrangements, vocals and performances – also the drummer changes has of course made an impact. The majestic strength in Dylan’s vocals this night, and his playful work with phrasing, really made my day this time. After all, that’s the main reason for me to see all this shows, hunting for this moments. It doesn’t happen every show, not in every song, but tonight was great with many golden moments.

In many ways I see both the album “Rough And Rowdy Ways”, the live versions of the songs, and also the composition of old and new in this set, as maybe the most personal phase in Dylan’s live project. It sums it all up, in a way. It contains multitudes. The trio of songs that starts the show is really interesting – the road from “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight” to the quite opposite theme “It Ain’t Me Babe”, then the reminder that explains it all, “I Contain Multitudes” – before the next song reminds us that he “ain’t no false prophet, I just know what I know“. It feels like a program directed at the audience, both a greeting and a thank you, also with partly new lyrics in songs like “Masterpiece”: “Sometimes it feels like my cup runneth over”, and an updated “To Be Alone With You” where the mortal bliss could point to the audience present, obviously taken that way. Bob Dylan would surely never make up a “Farewell Tour” – still I can’t help thinking of RRW as just something like that, and that maybe this is some of the explanation for continuing exactly this tour so extensively. I don’t know. What I know is this: I’m looking forward to another show in Paris tomorrow!

Johnny Borgan