Last night in Youngstown, OH - April 19, 2025 - BOB DYLAN

Surprise! I added one last show from the Rough & Rowdy Ways tour, this time from the front row!

A rare opportunity to get a picture from my seat after the show. We were in Row BB, and there was no one in AA. A perfect view of Bob.

After deleting two shows from my run for a family vacation to Disney World (not mad about that btw), I sheepishly asked permission to add one more to make up for those. The response was, “Sure! So you want to drive 6 hours for a 90 minute show? And it’s the same set list every night?” What can I say, we’re a little crazy, aren’t we?

This was an exceptional show for several reasons. The odd, little town, the theater, the front row seats, the people, and some unusual set lists flubs. We’ve got a lot to unpack here so let’s get into it, in the format I’ve done for all of them, with some added detail.

The Venue:

Like I said, I drove from Chicago to Youngstown, OH. This is almost halfway to New York. It was not an exciting or easy journey, and grateful to my wife,

Lizzi Heydemann

for making the logistics possible. As I walked up to the surprisingly beautiful “DeYor Performing Arts Center,” in the not-as-beautiful streets of Youngstown, I was met almost immediately by one of my ride or die Chicago Dylan buddies,

Adam Selzer

(check out his fantastic review of the show here). We’ve been to almost every Rough & Rowdy Ways show together, and he scored some great tickets in Row HH for us. I was thrilled to FINALLY meet in person,

Britt Eisnor

(check out her Substack and Instagram for amazing Bob Dylan content).

With some encouragement from

Sue

we went to the box office and upgraded our tickets to row BB, stage Left, with no one in row AA. A perfect view of Bob. It’s really hard to talk about seeing Bob in comparison to other times when you’re in the front row. It’s almost too emotionally overwhelming staring at him while he’s singing the songs you love. Seeing the lines on his face, what he’s looking at, fussing with his hair, pointing or gesturing to a bandmate, flipping the pages of his lyric binder, and making what seems like eye contact but actually he’s blind as a bat (so it’s just him staring in your direction) is just all so so much. So on the one hand this was the best I’ve seen him, because it was the BEST I’ve SEEN him (meaning with my eyes) but I’m not sure that’s actually true…

The theater itself was absolutely stunning. A real, old theater (1931) with terrific acoustics, gorgeous atmosphere and friendly staff. According to the website only 2,300 person capacity! Talk about an intimate setting!

The Crowd:

No complaints! We were in the front row, so I wouldn’t have been bothered by them anyway. From what I could tell there was no talking, no getting up a million times and no ushers yelling “YOUR SEAT IS HERE SIR!” It was really fun seeing many of my Dylan friends in the first few rows with us. There was one notable crowd member. Before the show there was the usual chatter and joking about what Bob could play. Of course there,’s Bruce’s “Youngstown,” but let’s not forget Bob’s famous cover of the Warren Zevon classic “Boom Boom Mancini,” from Seattle, 2002. Turns out other than Halle Berry, Youngstown’s other famous child is boxer Ray Mancini. Well he was in the second row, dead center about 10 seats to the left from us! So that was kind of fun. Bob did not play it though.

The Look:

Same look he’s sported at every show. Black suit, patterned white shirt, no hat!

The Setlist:

Ok, let’s get into it. I’ll go song by song in a moment, but the elephant in the room is Bob seemed to have some sort of “senior moment” where he played the wrong song in the wrong spot. He’s 83, give him a break. And it actually turned into something cool, but here’s what happened:

The #8 spot has been “To Be Alone With You” the whole tour. Bob started it as usual, and then after a verse or two turned around and grabbed the guitar. Awesome right? I don’t think he had played guitar on this song yet so this was exciting. He rocked a blues solo a couple times through, then turned around to continue singing at the piano. Except he was signing “Watching The River Flow.” Huh? At first we didn’t even notice but something seemed weird. Adam and I turned to each other and he said, “Did he finish To be alone?” The band didn’t even really react. They were just playing the same blues rhythm and ended the song. They rolled on, into the next one (Rubicon). The question became, “What is he going to do in the #12 River spot?” The answer my friend? He played “To Be Alone With You,” in full. More details on that below. Ok one more overall setlist analysis before we get into song by song. I wondered “What is Bill Pagel going to do on Boblinks, what is Bobserve going to do and what will the official bobdylan.com do? The answer, my friend? Three different presentations! Check it out:

I’m not sure what to make of this but I’ll do my best:

I kind of saw it as a Grateful Dead/Phish sort of setlist thing. I would’ve called it,

“8. To Be Alone With you>Watching The River Flow”

1.I'll Be Your Baby Tonight

Bob opened up the show on guitar for this one! Very exciting and I believe the first time he’s done that for this song! Someone fact check me.

2.It Ain't Me, Babe

Stellar guitar work again. Wonderful melodies, LOUD guitar and fantastic singing.

3.I Contain Multitudes

I love this new version that swings. It’s a blues song now!

4.False Prophet

A more subdued version ever since West Lafayette. The Blake Mills riff during the verses is gone, now it’s sort Bob Britt noodling. Still fantastic

5.When I Paint My Masterpiece

I loooooove the harmonica he plays over the “Puttin’ on the Ritz” melody of this song at the beginning. He seems to really like this one too.

6.Black Rider

One of the best Black Riders I’ve heard. This song just grows on me more and more. Look for a future episode of Songs of Experience with Adam and Mike making their return, to talk about this one.

7.My Own Version Of You

This is the best version of this song and has become a highlight of this tour and of the set. Really focus on this one when you hear it.

8.To Be Alone With You>Watching The River Flow

Here’s where the set flub happens but you won’t really notice it. What you’ll notice is a KILLER blues guitar solo from Bob in the middle. It was thrilling to see that live.

9.Crossing The Rubicon

Another one that just keeps getting better.

10.Desolation Row

I know I keep saying this but I sobbed like a baby. It’s the only song on the set where the immortal spirit compels me to mouth the words along with Bob (silently) while I cry. I truly feel gratitude in the moment for being able to hear this masterpiece live. It’s a gift, a blessing.

11.Key West (Philosopher Pirate)

Big applause during “Gulf of Mexico,” and not just from us. For whatever reason this was the song when a spectator decided to yell out after a couple verses appreciation for Bob. It was sort of a vibe of “LET’S F*CKING GO BOB” or something like that. The second time it was like ok shush.

12.To Be Alone With You (Reprise)

Ok this was hilarious because Tony didn’t know what to do, sauntered over to Bob staring at his lyric sheet and said something like, “what are we doing” where Bob very matter-of-factly said, “To Be Alone With You” to the point where Tony laughed and was like, “ok ok” and backed away.

13.I've Made Up My Mind To Give Myself To You

14.Mother Of Muses

15.Goodbye Jimmy Reed

16.Every Grain Of Sand

Most noticeably absent is It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue. If I’m being honest, I was disappointed and very sad he didn’t play it. It’s become a highlight for me on this tour. I think he was upset about the flub. There were no band introductions and he got out of their fast. Certainly an amazing experience in the front row but a twinge of bittersweetness being my last R&RW.

Thanks for joining me on the road! See you May 24, outside of Portland for Bob’s Birthday Show!

Full show here: