The best of the best (including soundboards!) from another year of Rough and Rowdy and Outlaw
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With Bob Dylan’s setlists fairly (though not entirely!) static, I imagine most of you do not listen to every single tape of every single show. I admit, I don’t either—but I do listen to quite a few. So, like I did last year, I’ve pulled out my ten personal favourites to share. If you need a primer, or want to experience some of Dylan’s best live moments this year in one place, here it is.
My criteria were simple: Great show, great recording. Most of the tapes I selected offer both in spades. However, a good-enough tape of a highly notable show could slip in, whereas I wouldn’t bother including a sterling tape of a crummy performance (though getting a few of Bob’s shall-we-say-eccentric electric guitar intros in soundboard quality might qualify).
Yes, that is the big word for this year: Soundboards! The first since 2009, covering both the Outlaw and Rough and Rowdy Ways tours. Half the tapes below are audience recordings—which have their own special magic, presenting the experience as it would have felt in the room—and half are soundboards.
I’ll be going chronologically through the year’s three big tours: Rough and Rowdy: U.S. in the spring, Outlaw Tour in the summer, and Rough and Rowdy: Europe in the fall. (Funny: I wrote that exact same sentence to introduce LAST year’s list. He’s a man of habit—and 2026 seems to be off the same start again.) Each show includes a download link. Thanks as always to the tapers, the secret heroes without whom none of this would be possible!
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