Bob Dylan at the Palace Theatre in Columbus
Live Concert Review – April 9th, 2026
by Bill Kurzenberger
Thirty years after first witnessing Bob Dylan performing live at the Palace Theatre in Columbus, Ohio, the ebullient bard returned to the same venue this spring on his extended Rough and Rowdy Ways Tour to perform a genteel concert for the books.
Mr. Zimmerman and friends started the show promptly just a few minutes after the scheduled 8PM start time, sending several concertgoers scurrying for their seats before the house lights dropped. Dylan’s opening number “To Be Alone With You” was a lively show starter with an extended introductory section; the arrangement resembled the version from his 2021 film Shadow Kingdom, but more raucous and up-tempo. Bassist Tony Garnier temporarily played an electric Fender for the opener, before retrieving his acoustic upright bass for the duration of the show.
The unassuming Dylan donned a grey long-sleeved hoodie at center stage illuminated by peach lighting, hovering over his keyboard in alternating standing and sitting positions. From a moderate distance the hooded poet laureate resembled an aging Eminem or as a friend later joked, “the Unabomber.” Fans who have seen the bard perform over the past couple decades are no stranger to Bob’s recent preference of keyboard or electric piano instead of guitar. However, his casual-wear appearance and choice of instrument were somewhat jarring and contrary to uninitiated attendees’ preconceptions of a Bob Dylan concert.
Rounding out his 2026 Rough and Rowdy Ways touring ensemble are Anton Fig on drums, as well as guitarists Doug Lancio and Bob Britt. As both Britt and Lancio curiously played interchangeable acoustic guitars rhythmically with minimal actual leads, their playing was indistinguishable from the other. While their acoustics were audibly louder than Dylan’s keys, the twin guitarists together were less impactful than the more accomplished Larry Campbell had been during his extensive touring with Dylan. The selection of backing musicians and instrumentation was perhaps an odd choice, in a tour dominated by odd choices.
After opening with “To Be Alone With You,” Dylan and the band proceeded with “Man in the Long Black Coat” in a staccato waltz arrangement, as drummer Fig punctuated his snare drum at the start of each measure. Without pause, Dylan led the group from “Man in the Long Black Coat” into “All Along the Watchtower,” one of the evening’s highlights. Once immortalized by Jimi Hendrix, this vintage song started as standard Dylan fare for the first part of the verse before taking a left turn. Ever since its 1967 debut this familiar rocker – whether performed by Dylan himself, Hendrix, the Grateful Dead or any number of cover bands – has only ever included three chords, which musicians recognize as A minor, G and F, reversed then repeated for the duration.
However for this tour six decades later, the master songwriter turned “Watchtower” on its head and changed the arrangement mid-song. “Businessmen they drink my wine, plowmen dig my earth,” he crooned, with the group suddenly veering into the C chord and alternating between C and F before the return to A minor at each verse’s conclusion. It was a delightful adaptation as remarkably, only Bob Dylan himself could subtly reinvent his classic rocker from the sixties, sixty years later. “There must be some kind of way out of here,” Bob repeated as he reprised the first verse in entirety to end “Watchtower.”
“I Contain Multitudes” followed as a quasi-ballad inspired by Walt Whitman’s quote set to Dylan’s wit, referencing everyone from Beethoven and Edgar Allen Poe to Indiana Jones and “them British bad boys the Rolling Stones.” Dylan and band presented it with a tempo and cadence recalling “Shooting Star” as the “Multitudes” studio version was recorded sans rhythm section. Continuing in the Rough and Rowdy Ways album selections, “False Prophet” was highlighted by Dylan’s bluesy piano hooks, and sung with a wink and a sneer.
A moody “Black Rider” entered the proceedings with a dramatic Mediterranean flair, while perhaps lyrically evoking the ‘man in black’ Johnny Cash, or a sinister aperture akin to J.R.R. Tolkien’s Nazgûl. Up next was “Love Sick” from Time Out of Mind, one of Dylan’s more prominent singles in recent decades following its live debut at the 1998 Grammy Awards. Dylan’s animated enunciations were prominent as he sang “Love Sick.” “Goodbye Jimmy Reed” followed as the five-piece got the crowd’s toes tapping to this bouncy blues shuffle from the bayou, receiving thorough and due applause.
Bob Dylan confounds and subverts expectations to no end without disappointment, continually rearranging and reinventing his original songs written a lifetime ago rather than being confined to his own previous decisions.
Bob and his four-piece kept the blues rock theme flowing with “I Can Tell” as the evening’s first cover originally recorded by B.B. King, who once shared the stage with The Band at The Last Waltz in 1976 along with Dylan. Following “I Can Tell” the bard took a moment to introduce his backing group. Though Anton Fig performed on drums on this night in Columbus, Dylan has rotated five different drummers on his neverending Rough and Rowdy Ways multi-year tour: Fig, Matt Chamberlain, Charley Drayton, Jerry Pentecost, and Jim Keltner.
“I’ve Made Up My Mind To Give Myself To You,” Dylan tenderly pledged during the song of the same name, the evening’s second sedated waltz. The catch-and-release romp “Crossing the Rubicon” got the crowd clapping along, as Dylan crooned the song’s title concluding each verse. With a middle section briefly recalling “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35” (which he had encored with much revelry thirty years prior at this elegant Palace), “Rubicon” was the sixth and final song from Bob’s 2020 album Rough and Rowdy Ways performed this night.
“Istanbul (not Constantinople)” was heavily teased in the next number, which kept the audience guessing even as the lyrics began to ring a familiar bell. “The streets of Rome are filled with rubble, ancient footprints are everywhere.” Is this… “Masterpiece?!?” Astounding.
Traditionally performed in what musicians refer to as a 1-4-5 chord pattern, “When I Paint My Masterpiece,” was reinvented here to the melody of They Might Be Giants’ “Istanbul” in E minor, presented as a merengue more closely evoking Seville or Mallorca than the Turkish or Roman metropolis. Editing his own lyrics live as he’s prone to do, Bob abruptly amended the bridge of “Masterpiece” (omitted from his own studio version but included on The Band’s version) from “sail around the world in a dirty gondola, bound to be in the land of Coca-Cola” to “the crimson and clover, sometimes I feel as my cup is running over.” It was a fascinating reimagining of this cherished song, long a favorite of mine to perform as well.
“Forgetful Heart,” co-written with Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter for the 2009 joint album Together Through Life, was fraught with musical tension on this night, complete with dramatic triplets, as guitarist Lancio effectively intertwined with Dylan’s notes on the keyboard in the instrumental sections. Dylan’s piano proclivities were a highlight of “Soon After Midnight,” another brief waltz reminiscent of “Twilight Time” and adolescent sock-hop slow dances.
“I’m having a nervous breakdown,” Bob proclaimed to kick off the Eddie Cochran tune “Nervous Breakdown” (not to be confused with the Stones’ “19th Nervous Breakdown”) which Dylan had never played live before this spring tour. Performed in a surf-rock arrangement very similar to Cochran’s “Summertime Blues,” the penultimate song was appropriately the most up-tempo of the night, with much fervor and gusto.
“Every Grain of Sand” concluded the concert on a sentimental note, and yes… yet another waltz. While it was the most notable of the show’s waltzes, it was the fourth of the setlist’s sixteen songs played in this repetitive three-beats-per-measure wistful waltz format. In the show’s final minute and proverbial eleventh hour Dylan finally played his harmonica to embellish the song, leading fans to a cheer while wishing he had busted out the portable reed instrument sooner. “Every Grain of Sand” rose in dynamics while benefiting from Bob’s harp, leading to a rousing finale and appropriately feverous applause to match.
All in all, it was a memorable sui generis performance by the master songwriter of our times, complete with histrionics and immediate nostalgia upon its conclusion. Bob Dylan confounds and subverts expectations to no end without disappointment, continually rearranging and reinventing his original songs written a lifetime ago rather than being confined to his own previous decisions. Each experience seeing Dylan live is resultantly unique, albeit with minimal variations during his 2026 spring outings.
Notably throughout this tour no cellphones (let alone cameras) were permitted inside the venues with attendees required to place phones in Yondu pouches prior to the concert, which were then quickly unlocked by venue staff outside the Palace immediately following the show. As a result very few photos, videos or audio exist from the tour, aside from rogue recordings, screenshots and/or snaps by others during the spring tour, some of which are reproduced here.
Today, May 24th 2026, Bob Dylan celebrates his eighty-fifth birthday during a month-long break in his five-year-long Rough and Rowdy Ways excursion. In many respects there are signs it might possibly be his last extensive worldwide tour, with due reflections on life’s impermanence. However knowing Bob Dylan, the most indelible and prolific songwriter of the ages, with his serendipity he will surely subvert that expectation as well.
– Bill Kurzenberger
Bob Dylan ~ Rough and Rowdy Ways Tour
April 9th, 2026 at The Palace Theatre, Columbus, Ohio
Setlist:
To Be Alone With You
Man in the Long Black Coat
All Along the Watchtower
I Contain Multitudes *
False Prophet
Black Rider
Love Sick
Goodbye Jimmy Reed
I Can Tell (Bo Diddley cover)
I’ve Made Up My Mind to Give Myself to You
Crossing the Rubicon
When I Paint My Masterpiece
Forgetful Heart
Soon After Midnight
Nervous Breakdown (Eddie Cochran cover)
Every Grain of Sand
* absent from official setlist on BobDylan.com
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