Live Review: Bob Dylan - 4/27/26 River Center Theatre for the Performing Arts, Baton Rouge, LA

Bob Dylan

4/27/26 River Center Theatre for the Performing Arts

Baton Rouge, LA

For ten plus days during the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival at the end of April/beginning of May, hundreds of thousands of music fans flock to southern Louisiana for one of the most diverse and unique modern day, large scale American music festivals. Bob Dylan hasn't played the festival in twenty years, but decided to make a tour stop on Monday night, between major weekends, an hour and twenty minutes north of the city.   

The quaint, two thousand seat River Center Theatre for the Performing Arts in Baton Rouge was sold out with the no phone policy in full effect for the performance. Promptly the band took the stage at 8pm with the supporting cast this tour being Tony Garnier (bass), Anton Fig (drums), Bob Britt (acoustic guitar), and Doug Lancio (acoustic guitar). Fig got the group going as they dropped into an extended intro for the Nashville Skyline song "To Be Alone With You" as Dylan took the stage clad in black pants and a white zip up hoodie that remand on, covering his head the full show. 

The opening number was a blast as Dylan was in a strong voice, bringing in new couplets to the classic tune as the group bobbed and weaved. For those who have not seen Dylan live it can be disorientating, as his current tour is about as far from a greatest hit show as you can get. Even an effort like the well known, "All Along The Watchtower" is revamped into a jazzy jaunt, far from electric guitars, which there were none of on this night. 

He brings new arrangements to songs and currently those mostly fall into two categories, 1940's inspired leisurely blues vamps and more theatrically sparse mood pieces. These newer musical constructions can miss the mark at times, "I Can Tell" felt very sleepy while the one note "Crossing The Rubicon" was a tedious journey all around. However, when a gem of a rendition like tonight's "When I Paint My Masterpiece" rolls out with it's Latin inspired groove, harmonica (which got the biggest cheer of the night) and gorgeous guitar work from Lancio and Britt, you can see why the experimenting continues. 

Playing a piano at the center of the stage the hooded Dylan focused heavily on his most recent studio effort, Rough and Rowdy Ways, with the mellow "I Contain Multitudes", the stark "Black Rider" and the lightly bopping "Goodbye Jimmy Reed" continuing that records intimate sound, all playing well in the small theatre. 

When he expanded from that album excellent results followed, such as on the haunting version of "Man in the Long Black Coat" and the stinging "Love Sick". The most rock focused effort was the outfits cover of Eddie Cochran's "Nervous Breakdown" before ending the night with a hymn-like rendition of "Every Grain of Sand" which found Dylan returning to the harmonica for rapturous applause to close the set.

The hour and a half show found Dylan leading the group on piano with the players interweaving wonderfully in restrained fashion. No spotlights, no chatter, no encore, no frills, just an 84 year old artist who is still creating music his own particular way at a high level. Bob Dylan rolls on and it is a joy to be able to see him live.  

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Support the artists,  since there were no phones, no videos, but here is audio from a March version of Watchtower: