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Last Update: 08/01/2026 at 3:01 PM EST
Bob Dylan’s Long Hot Summer Tour
Coverage from Flagging Down The Double E's, Mojo, and others
Articles
39
Active Days
1720
The Topic
Bob Dylan is touring the United States in 2026 under the Long Hot Summer banner, following spring performances connected to the Rough and Rowdy Ways era. The shows feature substantially rearranged songs, a shifting guitar lineup, returning catalog material, and occasional rarities such as the first reported live performance of Baby, Won't You Be My Baby. The reporting presents a flexible live format that remains centered on Dylan's piano-led performances, long-standing rhythm section, and reinterpretation of familiar material.
First Article: 11/06/21
Latest Article: 07/22/26
Summary
- The 2026 U.S. run is presented as the 35-date Long Hot Summer Tour.
- Sets combine Rough and Rowdy Ways material with older songs, covers, and deep cuts rather than relying primarily on Dylan's best-known hits.
- Recent performances are described as more energetic and unpredictable, with new instrumental passages and altered arrangements.
- The reported Portland show included the first live performance of Baby, Won't You Be My Baby and the return of Rainy Day Women #12 and 35.
- Tony Garnier and Anton Fig remain central to the touring band, while the guitar positions have changed repeatedly.
- I Shall Be Released replaced Every Grain of Sand as the closing song in some reported shows.
- The available reviews differ on vocal clarity, pacing, and the effectiveness of the rearrangements, underscoring the variability of Dylan's concerts.
History
The main update is a reframing of Dylan’s 2026 run around ongoing lineup changes and setlist variation, with a new closing-song swap and a slightly sharper emphasis on the live format’s flexibility. The core story remains the same, but the current version adds a concrete change in how some shows are ending and highlights the band’s evolving personnel more explicitly.
The story is now framed less as a list of notable setlist surprises and more as an ongoing pattern of deliberate, sustained experimentation across the 2026 tour. The updated version also adds broader context from Dylan’s 2021 Rough and Rowdy Ways touring, making the current run look like a continuation of an established live approach rather than a standalone shift.
Featured
04-11-2026
Bob Dylan performed during the Rough and Rowdy Ways tour in Cleveland at Playhouse Square, featuring Tony Garnier on electric bass and an early-set highlight for To Be Alone With You.
06-05-2026
Bob Dylan performed at Edgefield Amphitheater in Portland on June 4, 2026, highlighting Rainy Day Women 12 and 35 and the first live performance of Baby, Won't You Be My Baby.
04-17-2026
Bob Dylan delivered a higher-tempo Rough and Rowdy Ways performance in Bowling Green, Ohio, using an all-acoustic guitar band and new drum-driven arrangements.
Timeline: 1720 Days
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Additional Articles
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On November 3, 1992, Bob Dylan performed at Cincinnati's Music Hall during the Never Ending Tour, coinciding with U.S. presidential election night and the release of Good as I Been to You.
Bob Dylan performed at Macon, Georgia’s City Auditorium on April 22, with a restrained set described as calm and emotionally weighted.
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Bob Dylan performed a 17-song concert at KeyBank State Theatre in Cleveland, his third show on the new tour, featuring songs from Rough and Rowdy Ways and deep cuts.
Bob Dylan performed at Leader Bank Pavilion in Boston on July 16, 2026, mixing Rough and Rowdy Ways material and blues covers with an 85-minute 16-song set.
Bob Dylan staged a sold-out June 21 San Diego concert at the Rady Shell at Jacobs Park with a dim, low-volume 16-song set and continued Never-Ending Tour reinvention.
Bob Dylan played Mystic Lake Amphitheater in Shakopee, Minnesota, on July 6 with enforced bans on cellphone photography and a set anchored by Rough and Rowdy Ways.
Bob Dylan performed July 6 at Mystic Lake Amphitheater in Shakopee, Minnesota, enforcing recording bans while featuring Rough and Rowdy Ways material.
In July 1999 in Cincinnati, Bob Dylan performed a Never Ending Tour concert at Bogart's with David Kemper, Larry Campbell, Charlie Sexton, and Tony Garnier.
Bob Dylan performed April 17 in Chattanooga on the Rough and Rowdy Ways tour with an acoustic, restrained set focused on late-career songs.
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Bob Dylan performed an 80-minute Long Hot Summer Tour concert at TD Pavilion at the Highmark Mann in Philadelphia after a 10-year absence, featuring rotating guitarists and a closing switch to I Shall Be Released.
Bob Dylan performed at Santa Barbara Bowl in Santa Barbara, California as Long Hot Summer dates began, mixing Rough and Rowdy Ways songs with classics and adding Julian Lage after Doug Lancio.
On Nov 5, 2021, Bob Dylan performed a 17-song concert at Cleveland's KeyBank State Theatre, mixing Rough and Rowdy Ways tracks and deep cuts.
Bob Dylan delivered a sold-out, 16-song San Diego show at the Rady Shell at Jacobs Park, blending stripped-down arrangements with constant onstage reinterpretation.
Bob Dylan delivered a phone-restricted live concert in the 2020s featuring multiple Rough and Rowdy Ways songs amid a stripped-down band sound and harmonica-led moments.
Bob Dylan performed at Forest Hills Stadium on July 21 during tornado and flash flood warnings in Queens, New York, with Lucinda Williams as opener.
On July 6, 2026, Bob Dylan performed at Mystic Lake Amphitheater in Shakopee, Minnesota, delivering a 16-song set featuring multiple Rough and Rowdy Ways selections under a no-phone and no-press-access policy.
Bob Dylan performed a sold-out 16-song set at San Diego's Rady Shell at Jacobs Park on Sunday, featuring rearranged songs and guitar work by Julian Lage.
Bob Dylan headlined Mystic Lake Amphitheater in Shakopee, Minnesota, on the Long Hot Summer '26 Tour with reshaped classics and new guitarists.
Bob Dylan performed July 6, 2026 at Mystic Lake Amphitheater in Shakopee, Minnesota, delivering a 16-song Never Ending Tour set heavy with Rough and Rowdy Ways material.
Bob Dylan performed at Acrisure Arena in Palm Desert on the Long Hot Summer '26 tour, emphasizing Rough and Rowdy Ways and adding Julian Lage to the band.
Bob Dylan headlined a Summer Solstice concert at The Rady Shell in San Diego on a minimally lit, intentionally opaque staging.
Bob Dylan performed in San Diego at The Rady Shell on the Long Hot Summer 26 tour, featuring Rough and Rowdy Ways songs and guest Julian Lage.
A 1974 Dylan and The Band ROIO review assesses a soundboard-recording stadium show with alternating ensemble, band-only, and Dylan-acoustic segments.
Bob Dylan performed at Starlight Theatre on a Fourth of July concert date, with fireworks repeatedly interfering as When I Paint My Masterpiece drew attention.
Bob Dylan performed July 6, 2026 at Mystic Lake Amphitheater in Shakopee, Minnesota, presenting a 16-song set centered on Rough and Rowdy Ways amid no-recording and no-banter rules.
Bob Dylan performed at Mystic Lake Amphitheater in Shakopee, Minnesota, on the Long Hot Summer '26 Tour, featuring Rough and Rowdy Ways songs and reworked classics.
Bob Dylan performed July 6 at Mystic Lake Amphitheater in Shakopee, Minnesota, enforcing a no-phone media policy while presenting a set weighted toward Rough and Rowdy Ways.
A Ljubljana concert review of Bob Dylan reports sparse attendance and a detached performance style, with the encore including Blowin' in the Wind generating the strongest audience response.
Bob Dylan performed a 90-minute set at Stage AE in Pittsburgh during Long Hot Summer Tour '26, blending classics, Rough and Rowdy Ways songs, and covers.
Bob Dylan played the Santa Barbara Bowl on Wednesday, presenting Rough and Rowdy Ways selections alongside older songs and covers with Julian Lage replacing Doug Lancio.
In 2002, Bob Dylan performed Neil Young's Old Man live with restrained instrumentation and close adherence to the original arrangement.
Bob Dylan performed Monday night at Mystic Lake Amphitheater in Shakopee, blending Rough and Rowdy Ways songs with reworked classics and blues covers.
Bob Dylan performed on the Long Hot Summer Tour at TD Pavilion at the Mann in Philadelphia, returning to Fairmount Park after 10 years.
Bob Dylan performed at TD Pavilion at the Highmark Mann in Philadelphia on July 14, 2026, returning to Fairmount Park area after 10 years with I Shall Be Released as the closer.
Bob Dylan returned to Philadelphia at TD Pavilion at the Highmark Mann Tuesday, performing the Long Hot Summer Tour with Lage and Paterson and closing with I Shall Be Released.
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A 1996 Magdeburg audience recording captures Bob Dylan and his band reinventing hits on the Never Ending Tour in Germany.
Bob Dylan's Cleveland 1996 audience recording documents a 1996 Cleveland concert featuring energized rearrangements and guest Roger McGuinn.
Dylan's 1963 Carnegie Hall performance is reviewed in relation to the Live at Carnegie Hall 1963 release and its incomplete archival presentation.
Bob Dylan's Pittsburgh 1966 live recording from the 1966 Live collection is reviewed, highlighting the electric shift and crowd reaction.
On Oct 31, 1964, Bob Dylan performed at Philharmonic Hall in New York City, documented in The Bootleg Series Vol. 6 release.