Here's the live version of a classic that Bob Dylan hasn't included in his setlists since 2016.
Bob Dylan opened his concert at Tampa's Ford Amphitheater this week by launching into “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35.” The song hadn't been performed live since the second weekend of the Desert Trip in 2016.
“Rainy Day Women #12 & 35” is a Blonde on Blonde classic, and was their second single. It reached number two on the Hot 100 (the number one spot was taken by “Monday, Monday” by the Mamas & The Papas, preventing it from becoming Zim’s only number one). It was first performed live at the Isle of Wight Festival in 1969, before being dropped from setlists for seven years, until its return in 1976. It was also a classic on the 1978 tour.
The Tampa concert also featured Dylan's first performance of “Spirit on the Water” since 2018. To perform it, he pulled out “Scarlet Town.” Earlier this week, Bob Dylan performed “A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall” for the first time since 2016. It may have been inspired by the track's appearance in the trailer for his biopic A Complete Unknown.
The Outlaw tour kicked off on June 21 in Alpharetta, Georgia. The one-off show featured Little Walter's “My Babe” and Lee Hazzlewood's “The Fool.” The setlist remained largely unchanged from the second date, with Chuck Berry's Little Queen and Grateful Dead's Stella Blue covers each night.
The tour will then continue in the United States, before Bob Dylan returns to Europe. On this occasion, Zim will give two concerts at La Seine Musicale (Boulogne-Billancourt) on October 24 and 25.
