10 Things We Learned from the first night of Bob Dylan’s latest UK tour

Sound effects! Hecklers! These and more takeaways from the first date of Dylan’s latest UK tour

It’s not dark yet
Actually it is, it’s pretty much completely pitch black in here. After the strong visual presentation of the London 2022 shows – that illuminated floor! – we’re watching a large theatre show which is lit solely by what seem to be forgotten dressing room bulbs of a backstage yesteryear.

Jam session vibe
The vibe is often that of a garage rehearsal which happens to be taking place on stage in front of 2000 people. To start most of the songs, Bob lays down a lick, to which the band sensitively respond. Sometimes it will turn into a modest 12-bar shuffle. Other times it’ll lead somewhere almost post-punk, with trebly guitar interactions like you might hear played by Tom Verlaine of Robert Smith.  And then things start in earnest with what turns out to be “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight”.

“When I Paint My Masterpiece”
This vaporous and faintly psychedelic approach to the music peaks with this fifth song. From the introductory jam, the song takes shape around a modal shuffle with a strong debt to “Istanbul Not Constantinople” as popularised by The Four Lads in 1953.

Drama
“Black Rider” is the song which pays back the most from this excellent but subdued show. Dark room. Dark forces. The hushed room forces attention onto Dylan’s delivery as if it’s the only sound available anywhere.

Effects
Feels slightly off brand for the top-flight after hours hotel band mood which Dylan’s road band seems to shoot for, but there are a couple of sound effects this evening. Some running water before “Watching The River Flow” which felt a bit on the nose. “Black Rider” had a delay effect on the vocal, which was actually pretty spooky.

“My Own Version Of You”
The lilting swing band feel of the album is radically altered here. This macabre song is reassembled with a casual disregard its protagonist would likely approve of, Dylan’s experimental piano flourishes matched by increasingly abstract guitar.

“It’s All Over Now Baby Blue”
Of the reconfigurations of his greatest hits which he plays tonight, it’s probably this one which has the greatest element of suspense and release when the key line arrives.

Heckles!
Not everyone’s completely into it. “Key West (Philosopher Pirate)” is delivered in a fashion that gives heavy weight to every phrase, expanding the running time quite a bit. Maybe halfway through, someone in the balcony shouts “Get on with it, Bob!”. Dylan seems to splutter a tiny bit at this, but carries on undaunted.

Harmonica
Things that people like at Bob Dylan shows: 1) Bob saying something 2) Bob playing a song they know in a form they recognise 3) If 1) and 2) are not available, Bob playing an instrument which he used to play in the early 1960s. Tonight is a big night for 3) as Bob hits harmonica hard during “Desolation Row”. It’s a loose event but it can’t be an accident how he wails very close to John Lennon’s “Love Me Do” riff.   

Goodnight
Well of course he doesn’t do an encore (though it seems at one point he might). Or say anything to the crowd. And he does just finish up “Every Grain Of Sand”, turn around and walk off at the end. But from where I was sitting it did look as if he did a little bow after “I’ve Made Up My Mind To Give Myself To You”.

The Ultimate Music Guide to Bob Dylan is available here.

Bob Dylan and his band setlist for Brighton Centre, November 7, 2025:

I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight
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 Reid
Every Grain Of Sand