Bob Dylan kicked off his 2025 ‘Rough & Rowdy Ways’ tour last night (March 25) in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
- READ MORE: ‘A Complete Unknown’ review: don’t think twice about seeing this brilliant Bob Dylan biopic
The legendary singer-songwriter took over the Tulsa Theater and opened with ‘All Along The Watchtower’ – Dylan played the track for the first time in six years back in 2024, and has become his most played track, racking up a total of over 2,285 times performed live.
From there, the Nobel prize-winning artist then treated attendees to a packed 17-track setlist including performances of ‘It Ain’t Me’, ‘I Contain Multitudes’, ‘Black Rider’, ‘My Own Version of You’, ‘To Be Alone With You’, ‘Watching The River Flow’, ‘It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue’ and more.
A bulk of the night’s performance saw the icon play the majority of his 2020 LP ‘Rough And Rowdy Ways’. To wrap up the show, Dylan ended with his song ‘Every Grain of Sand’. As noted by Rolling Stone‘s Andy Greene, the night’s setlist was the exact same as the one during Dylan’s final night after a three-night stint at London’s Royal Albert Hall last year.
However, fans still appeared to be satisfied with the setlist, with one Reddit user sharing, “I would pay for this set in a heartbeat. I’m curious about what he’s going to do for the Outlaw Tour,” while another responded, “What a fantastic night it was!”
Last night, the Spring Tour kicked off in Tulsa, OK. According to first reports, Bob & the band were in very fine form. There’s a new drummer: Anton Fig has replaced Jim Keltner.
1: Duncan Hume, 2: Tim Swaddling, 3: Nightly Moth #bobdylan pic.twitter.com/KI2OvWJU7Y
— Daily Dylan (@the_daily_dylan) March 26, 2025
Amazing show last night! So happy to have made the pilgrimage to Tulsa… enjoyed the Bob Dylan Center as well, glad no phones allowed, nothing worse than a see of people recording and not enjoying
— JFMayo🎗 (@mayo_jf) March 26, 2025
Bob Dylan’s 2025 ‘Rough & Rowdy Ways’ setlist in Tulsa, OK on March 25 was:
‘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’
Set 2:
‘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’
Elsewhere, the night revealed that Dylan’s previous touring drummer Jim Keltner was replaced by Anton Fig – who previously was the drummer and second-in-command for Paul Shaffer and the World’s Most Dangerous Band, who served as the house band on The Late Show With David Letterman. Fig and Dylan have a history of working together dating back the 1985 ‘Empire Burlesque sessions’.
Bob Dylan's band has a new drummer: Anton Fig. Fig held it down in David Letterman's house band for almost 30 years. He also, and I cannot stress this enough, played drums on Bob Dylan's 1985 classic "Clean Cut Kid."
EMPIRE BURLESQUE HEADS RISE UP pic.twitter.com/sC8ZrCoxJR
— HarryHew (@harryhew) March 26, 2025
He is NOT 83; he is so vital and gives his energy to us all
Out of my 427 Bob shows this is one of the best
Everyone agrees and we are outside stunned and no one can really talk
Best Desolation Row I've ever heard and a Key West to absolutely cry for
Thank you @bobdylan pic.twitter.com/EHpmVpEtzz
— Anne Margaret Daniel 🦋 (@venetianblonde) March 26, 2025
Tremendous show tonight! Bob Dylan played all of Rough and Rowdy Ways – his set list pretty close to2024…his classics were re-composed, breathing new life into them… won't give any spoilers, his vocals amazing, especially the crooning – what a performance! pic.twitter.com/PGNXznRcyr
— JFMayo🎗 (@mayo_jf) March 26, 2025
Dylan will continue with his tour tonight at the Robinson Center in Little Rock, AR. You can view a full list of remaining tour dates here and visit here to purchase tickets.
In other news, The 1975’s Matty Healy revealed that Dylan’s 1965 LP ‘Highway 61 Revisited’ is one of his favourite albums of all time. Elsewhere, Jeff Bridges recently opened up about the time he was asked to teach ‘Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright’ hitmaker some acting techniques while they worked together on the set of a film.