Bob Dylan has performed his politically charged track ‘Masters Of War’ for the first time in almost a decade.
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The icon opened his set with the anti-war anthem on Friday (August 8) at the Darien Lake Performing Arts Center in Darien Center, New York. You can view footage below.
It is the first time Dylan has played the track since performing at the Desert Trip Festival in 2016, according to Rolling Stone.
He also opened his next two shows in Hershey (August 9) and Syracuse (August 10) with the same song. Dylan is currently performing on Willie Nelson’s ‘Outlaw Music Festival Tour’, which kicked off in May and is set to run until September.
In recent years, Dylan has remained largely silent politically but he did previously perform the track at the start of the Gulf War in February 1991, at the Grammy’s after being presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
While Dylan didn’t acknowledge the Gulf War during his 1991 performance, his decision to play the song implied his stance.
It is thought with the ongoing wars in Ukraine and Gaza, that may be the reason why Dylan has brought it back to his set list on his current tour. He is yet to comment publicly on either conflict.
According to his liner notes from his 1963 album ‘The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan’, which ‘Masters Of War’ featured on, Dylan wrote of the song: “I’ve never really written anything like that before. I don’t sing songs which hope people will die, but I couldn’t help it with this one. The song is a soft of striking out, a reaction to the last straw, a feeling of what can you do?”
Ahead of his show on Friday, Dylan also recorded at White Lake Studios in Albany, New York, on August 5 and 6 with “members of his band”, according to a press release.
It comes after he recently announced the UK and Ireland leg of his ‘Rough And Rowdy Ways’ tour, which sprung from his 2020 studio album of the same name and has been running since November 2021. The 10th leg of the tour ran across North America in March and April this year and saw him dipping into his back catalogue, including the first performance of ‘The Times They Are A-Changin’ in 15 years.
The UK and Ireland dates will kick off on November 7 and, as with other recent shows, the use of video cameras and mobile phones will be prohibited at all shows. Tickets for the tour are available here.