Last Night in Saginaw (by Adam Selzer)

2026-04-03, Dow Events Center, Saginaw, MI

All photos via Adam Selzer

Things have seemingly settled in on the spring tour. The setlist hasn’t changed in a while, and the constant microphone issues that plagued the early dates seem to have finally subsided. Last night the tour came to Saginaw, Michigan, Dylan’s first show ever in the city. Adam Selzer has seen three shows this tour, and reports that this—his 100th Dylan show ever!—was the best one. (Though I gotta say, compared to the last two we saw here, that theater marquee leaves something to be desired).

Here’s Adam:

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Even the message board signs are missing a few letters around here. Whole town seems like it needs a new coat of paint and a couple of consonants. As we rolled into town, a skunk was running past the Welcome to Saginaw sign. The locals told us “it’s kind of crusty here,” but we found out it was the good kind of crust. We often say the best shows are in the most unlikely places.

This held true tonight. My 100th show was an absolute banger. I got to meet up with my Wales road buddy Graham and my longtime partner in crime Michael Glover Smith. I got to ride in an Uber with a guy talking about Alice Cooper and then step into a “Mar ini Bar” where more people were talking about Alice Cooper. I heard tales of Question Mark, the Saginaw-based garage rock icon (“96 Tears”) wandering around the theater tonight telling people he died on the Titanic in a previous life (he met with Bob after the show). I’m just saying: all the pieces were in place.

Once again Anton Fig kicked off the show with a drum beat, Tony joined on bass, and soon Bob was aboard in his white hoodie, wailing a “To Be Alone With You” worthy of a Question Mark and the Mysterians garage-rock single. In Grand Rapids, I felt this was a high-octane opener to a generally laid-back show, but tonight this simply wasn’t the case. The crowd was very responsive; Bob took note of the people dancing up front and fed off their energy. I could see it from the balcony. I couldn’t sit still, even though the woman behind me said that my head-nodding was giving her an anxiety attack. Now, I’ve been bugged by people standing and blocking my view in the past, I admit. Usually I’m on the “sitting” side of the sit-vs-stand debate. But I think it’s a fact that Bob likes to see people up and responding, and tonight that was clear. As they say to rock and roll crowds: “You drive us wild, we’ll drive you crazy.” The crowd tonight was destined to drive Dylan wild, and he in turn drove us crazy.