Two days after Bob Dylan wowed his devoted fans by opening his summer tour with the little-known "Baby, Won't You Be My Baby" - a song he hadn't performed since recording it 59 years ago - he returned to the« Basement Tapes» on the second night of their tour in Woodinville, Washington, opening the show with "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere.".
It wasn't as unexpected as the performance of "Baby, Won't You Be My Baby," as "You Ain't Going Nowhere" is a well-known song covered by everyone from the Byrds to Tom Petty and the Heartbreaks, but it was still Dylan's first concert appearance since 2012. He also allowed guitarists Doug Lancio and Bob Britt to add light harmony vocals to the song. During the Larry Campbell and Charlie Sexton era in the late 1990s and early 2000s, it was common for members of Dylan's band to sing with him, but that ceased entirely over 20 years ago.
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The rest of the set was very similar to the first night, although he dropped his cover of Bo Diddley's "I Can Tell," added "Love Sick," and slightly rearranged a few other songs. The set also featured Lucinda Williams and the folk trio John Doe. On the first night, Doe performed several songs from his band X ("See How We Are," "Burning House of Love," and "The New World") and sang the Judy Garland classic "Over the Rainbow." Williams performed "Car Wheels on a Grave Road," "Joy," and other classic hits.
The tour originally had no name, but the T-shirts sold at the merch kiosk bear the title "Long Hot Summer Tour 2026." We'd like to think it's Bob Dylan's way of celebrating the 25th anniversary of the iconic 2001 comedy. «Wet Hot American Summer» , but that's obviously just a coincidence. (If you really want to celebrate the anniversary of "« Wet Hot» In a musical twist, Ken Marino and David Wain's Middle Aged Dad Jam Band are hitting the road for their 25th anniversary. They're delivering a truly sensational evening of music and comedy.
Dylan's tour continues on June 7 with a second show at Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery in Woodinville, Washington. It concludes on August 1 in Nashville. When we wrote about "Baby, Won't You Be My Baby," we joked about Dylan continuing to explore «The Basement Tapes» on this tour, and were asked to perform "I'm Not There," "Goin' to Acapulco," "I'm Your Teenage Prayer," and "Sign on the Cross." The odds of him playing any of those songs are astronomically small, but until recently, we would have said that performing "Baby, Won't You Be My Baby" live was a one-in-ten-million chance, and somehow it happened.
There seems to be something in the air related to «"Recordings from the basement", because on June 5, while Dylan was taking a day off between his first two concerts, Bruce Springsteen performed "I Shall Be Released" with Sheryl Crow at a special concert in Long Branch, New Jersey, to celebrate the opening of the Bruce Springsteen Center. It was his first performance of the song from« Recordings from the basement »" Perhaps this will continue, with Ariana Grande performing "Yea! Heavy and a Bottle of Bread" on the second night of her tour, Rush singing "Open the Door Homer" at the LA Forum this week, and Gracie Abrams performing "Tiny Montgomery" later this year.
We'd be perfectly happy if Dylan simply included "Baby, Won't You Be My Baby" in his repertoire all year long. His band has recreated virtually every nuance of the original recording. It deserves to be heard all summer long.
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