Bob Dylan: “Masters of War” returns to the lineup after almost 10 years

Bob Dylan is on tour in America, and on Friday 8 August, at the Darien Lake Performing Arts Center, in New York state, he changed the lineup by opening with “Masters of War”.
Dylan’s setlist changes are relatively rare and in itself a news, at least for fans. But the addition of the classic is a real news: the last time he played the song had been at the Desert Trip Festival – the Coachella of the Classic Rock “of nine years ago. That time had been performed after 6 years, and had closed the set.

Written between 1962 and 1963 and included in the album “The Freewheelin ‘Bob Dylan”, “Masters of War” is one of the most explicitly political songs of the singer -songwriter, inspired by the folk tradition: born as a protest against the rush to the armaments during the Cold War, the song was often interpreted as an accusation act against the managers of the conflicts. Dylan, as known, does not speak during concerts and rarely makes public statements – his account on X/Twitter, used for some time to celebrate colleagues, has been stopped since last June 26th. The context in which Dylan plays the song – remained in the lineup also on the subsequent dates of the tour – is that of the wars in progress in Ukraine and Gaza, and it is not the first time he used “Masters of War” in moments of international tension: in 1991, at the beginning of the Gulf War, he played it during the Grammy Awards ceremony, shortly after receiving the career award.

In reality, on this tour Dylan was more variable than usual and has included in the scaletta at the concerts of the outlaw music festival different classics rarely played as “Mr. Tambourine Man” (not performed since 2010), “To Ramona” (not performed since 2017), and “Positively Fourth Street”, together with lesser known cover and songs and covers in usual, such as “Rain Nigt In Soho “of the Pogues. The Outlaw Music Festival will continue until September 19, and then leave room for a European tour in the autumn – there are no Italian dates (Dylan has played Lnel 2024 in our country).