That singer-songwriter who for Bob Dylan is "indefinable"

Still surprising at 85? Bob Dylan takes care of it

ByJohn

Bob Dylan kicked off its 2026 summer tour in Troutdale, Oregon, providing an unforgettable moment for die-hard fans – and probably leaving the rest of the audience perplexed. Towards the end of the concert, he performed live for the very first time Baby, Won’t You Be My Babya very rare gem dating back to the sessions of Basement Tapesrecorded in 1967 in the basement of the famous Big Pink together with The Band.

The song wasn’t never been included in the historic official publication of The Basement Tapes of 1975. For decades it remained an exclusive for bootleg collectors, until officially seeing the light only in 2014, within The Bootleg Series Vol. 11: The Basement Tapes Complete. Surprisingly, this new and previously unreleased live performance remained faithful to the original recording.

Although Dylan regularly draws from the repertoire of Basement Tapes this for several decades it’s the first time ever which features a song excluded from the ’75 collection. This event establishes two records noteworthy for the singer-songwriter: it is the longest period of time ever spent in his career between the recording of a song and his live debut (without there being a remotely comparable “second place”); it is the first time in recent years that he has made his live debut with an original song that is not part of the 2020 album, Rough and Rowdy Ways.

With the exception of this huge surprise, the rest of the setlist offered a familiar pattern to those who have followed the singer-songwriter’s recent concerts. This is the lineup:

  1. To Be Alone With You
  2. I Can Tell
  3. Forgetful Heart
  4. Ax and the Wind
  5. When I Paint My Masterpiece
  6. Early Roman Kings
  7. Under the Red Sky
  8. I’ll Make It All Up to You
  9. All Along the Watchtower
  10. I Contain Multititudes
  11. Rainy Day Women #12 & 35
  12. Share Your Love With Me
  13. Baby, Won’t You Be My Baby
  14. Soon After Midnight
  15. Man In the Long Black Coat
  16. Crossing the Rubicon
John
John

With an untamed passion and deep, eclectic knowledge of music, John is the soul of RadioWise UK. Having worked in the music industry for over two decades, his vision was to create a platform that embodies the love and respect for music. John is known for his great attention to detail and insatiable thirst for discovering new talents and music genres.