Last Night in New Braunfels (by Jon Lasser)

2026-06-30, Whitewater Amphitheater, New Braunfels, TX

Photo by Jonah Tarver

Last night, Bob Dylan’s Long Hot Summer Tour came to New Braunfels, Texas, outside San Antonio. This was the second show after Austin’s dramatic lineup shakeup. New guitarist Joel Paterson returned, though now standing on the other side of the stage. Bob Britt, Doug Lancio, and Julian Lage remain absent.

Here to tell us what went down is Jon Lasser. Lasser is a psychology professor at Texas State University who teaches a class called “The Art of Bob Dylan.” He’s spent time researching in the Bob Dylan Archive and is currently working on a project about Sam Shepard and Dylan’s collaborations. But today he’s our man in New Braunfels reporting in on Bob’s second show with his new band lineup!

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When asked to report on a Dylan show, that old, familiar “book report due tomorrow feeling” resurfaced, but this time the book was a concert and I was prepared to take really good notes. In my role at the university, I’m the one who gives assignments to students, so Ray’s request turned this self-ordained professor into a student.

First, some context. I’ve been fortunate enough to see Dylan three times this year: Tyler, TX (April 29), Austin, TX (June 29), and New Braunfels, TX (June 30). That’s one Rough and Rowdy show followed by two Long Hot Summer shows back-to-back. Doug Lancio and Bob Britt were there in April, and Joel Paterson played his first two shows with Dylan in June.

April’s show was indoors at a university performance hall with a seated, listening room vibe (and Yondr pouches), whereas the June shows were outdoors (hot in Texas!), Yondr-free but still a no-phone policy* and a mixture of GA lawn/dirt and some reserved seats. I thought the Austin show was weird, with too much bass in the mix and buried vocals, and perhaps an off vibe on stage.

* Weird thing about phones at this show: security staff were armed with (possibly seizure-inducing) strobe flashlights that were directed at anyone taking pictures, which was a bit of a distraction during the show.

Photo by @danielp.nikolic

Let’s focus on New Braunfels, which was my current assignment. New Braunfels was course correction, and all seemed well again. The venue (Whitewater Amphitheater) is a permanent venue that has a temporary feel to it. Parking is a nightmare, with basically one entrance to a lot on a busy road with a long car queue, traffic cops with very little patience for the flow of pedestrians and cars, and a patchwork of what seemed to be official, unofficial, and questionable parking options. Also, lots of modular railings set up to partition the cars, pedicabs, and foot traffic. All of this meant too much time arriving and resulted in us missing a good part of John Doe’s set. Once we were in, the stage was at the bottom of a gentle hill that allowed for the big GA section to work well with unobstructed views of the relatively small stage, even with those tall fans wearing cowboy hats.