The final in our trio of reviews this week—first Luxembourg, then Zurich, now Milan—comes from Tim Edgeworth. Tim writes the excellent Substack Tell Me About It about music and movies. He is also the copy editor for this very newsletter!
Take it away Tim…
Incredibly, it’s been almost a full two years since I last attended a Bob Dylan concert (I know! Can I even call myself a fan?). The show in question was the final show of Bob’s three-night residency at the Royal Albert Hall in 2024, and I walked away that night fairly sure that I had seen my final Dylan show.
Let me explain: way back in 2013, in the early days of my Dylan fandom, I missed the opportunity to see Bob at the Albert Hall, having bought into the conventional wisdom of Dylan being a, shall we say, unpredictable live performer. I made the same mistake in 2015, and—although I eventually began my live Dylan journey at the London Palladium in 2017—missing those Albert Hall shows had always haunted me. Finally being able to put that right felt like a wonderful full circle moment, and since it was also the final night of the Rough and Rowdy Ways World Wide Tour (ha!) I figured it might be an appropriate time for me to bow out.
Observing the 2025 touring year from afar did little to make me reconsider. The Rough and Rowdy Ways tour continued, with much the same energy as a TV show that has been renewed for one season too many. There were other concerning developments too: Dylan’s appearance onstage in the late summer, essentially hidden behind a pile of furniture and swathed in a hooded raincoat, was not something I wanted to risk experiencing in person. Although I did enjoy some 2025 moments—“Garden Party”, “Mr Tambourine Man”, the two “Rainy Night in Soho”s—my mind was made up, and when Dylan returned to the UK at the end of last year, I stayed at home. My Dylan journey was over.
Or so I thought. In sharp contrast to a fairly uneventful 2025, 2026 has been intriguing: the all-acoustic concerts in the spring, the return of some truly inventive rearrangements, and of course the gripping guitarist drama that unfolded throughout the summer. Additionally, the Rough and Rowdy Ways Tour finally appeared to end for good (???), while songs from the neglected corners of Dylan’s songbook began to re-emerge. It was the return of seldom-seen “Not Dark Yet” that ultimately sealed my decision to return, and, in need of a holiday anyway, I booked a flight to Milan.