Photo Credit: William Claxton
On Tuesday evening, Bob Dylan continued his part in Willie Nelson’s Outlaw Music Festival Tour, appearing on stage for his own 15-song set at Darien Lake Performing Arts Center, approximately 30 miles from Buffalo, N.Y. During the show, Dylan, who has made a habit of revisiting choice songs while on the festival-style run, dusted off “Desolation Row” for the first time since 2018. Last night’s rendition involved added percussion from the musician, who used a metal wrench to tap on his microphone and piano.
“Desolation Row” was originally recorded on August 4, 1965, and later released on Dylan’s sixth studio LP, Highway 61 Revisited. A song celebrated for its length, the composition is widely considered one of the artist’s best works, performed frequently through 2017 and 2018 before its final live run-through, up until last night, August 26, 2018. The re-emergence of the number bore similarity to Dylan’s Madrid 2018 performance, during which he integrated clapping, keeping the beat, and inviting the audience to join in.
The latest take on “Desolation Row” got a bit more abstract. During yesterday’s performance, Dylan used his fist to tap the piano and a small metal wrench to create a beat on the microphone, layering the tune with percussive elements that filled the number with added rhythm. In a fan-shot video, which can be viewed below, Dylan seems rather amused by actions, at one point mimicking his beat with head movement in acknowledgment of the musical oddity.
Scroll down to view a fan-shot video from last night’s rendition and the aforementioned Madrid
View this post on Instagram
View this post on Instagram
Bob Dylan
Darien Lake Performing Arts Center – Darien Lake, N.Y.
Sept. 17, 2024
Set: All Along the Watchtower, Rainy Day Women #12 & 35, Little Queenie, Mr. Blue, Early Roman Kinds, A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall, Under the Red Sky, Things Have Changed, Stella Blue, Six Days on the Road, Desolation Row+, Soon After Midnight, Simple Twist of Fate, Ballad of a Thin Man
Notes:
+ Last played on Aug. 26, 2018
No Comments comments associated with this post