Bob Dylan Stuns at 2025 ‘Rough and Rowdy Ways’ Tour Kickoff

Bob Dylan Stuns Fans and Critics Alike at the Opening Night of His 2025 ‘Rough and Rowdy Ways’ Tour With a Hauntingly Powerful Setlist, Unexpected Song Choices, and a Voice That Sounds More Timeless Than Ever—Here’s What Really Happened During the First Show of His Latest Musical Journey—Click the Link to Read More

Bob Dylan returned to the stage on a cool July evening in Milan, Italy, kicking off his 2025 leg of the “Rough and Rowdy Ways” world tour with a performance that left fans and critics stunned. At 84 years old, Dylan showed no signs of slowing down. In fact, his voice, stage presence, and musical choices suggested an artist still evolving, still refining his craft, and still full of surprises.

The concert took place at the historic Teatro degli Arcimboldi, a venue more accustomed to operas than rock legends. Yet the setting proved to be the perfect backdrop for Dylan’s stark and intimate performance. As the lights dimmed and the audience hushed, Dylan emerged from the wings—not with fanfare or introduction, but quietly, moving straight to his piano, where he would remain for much of the evening.

Opening with “Watching the River Flow,” Dylan immediately established the tone of the night: bluesy, meditative, and unmistakably his. Backed by a tight five-piece band—guitar, upright bass, drums, pedal steel, and violin—he delivered each song with a deliberate intensity that drew the audience in rather than overwhelming them.

What followed was a carefully curated mix of material, with heavy emphasis on Rough and Rowdy Ways, his critically acclaimed 2020 album. Tracks like “I Contain Multitudes,” “False Prophet,” and “My Own Version of You” were given new energy on stage. Stripped of their studio polish, the live versions revealed different emotional hues—sometimes darker, sometimes more playful. Dylan’s phrasing shifted subtly from line to line, as if he were still testing how each lyric might feel in the moment.

Fans who came expecting a greatest-hits concert were met instead with a journey through Dylan’s current artistic preoccupations. There was no “Blowin’ in the Wind,” no “Like a Rolling Stone.” Instead, Dylan pulled deep cuts from across his catalogue—“When I Paint My Masterpiece,” “Early Roman Kings,” and “Crossing the Rubicon” stood out as highlights. Each song was transformed by Dylan’s gravelly, weathered voice, which has settled into something between a whisper and a growl—more expressive than ever, if unconventional.

Perhaps the most unexpected moment of the night came midway through the set when Dylan performed a reimagined version of “Not Dark Yet,” his somber 1997 meditation on mortality. Accompanied only by sparse piano and bowed bass, the song felt like a confession—quiet, vulnerable, and utterly mesmerizing. The audience sat in complete silence, as if afraid to break the spell.

In another surprise, Dylan included a haunting cover of Leonard Cohen’s “You Want It Darker,” which he has never previously performed live. The song, delivered with aching sincerity, drew comparisons between the two poets—both of them grappling with the weight of time, belief, and regret. The gesture felt like a nod from one great artist to another.

Visually, the stage remained minimal throughout. Low lighting bathed the band in golds and ambers, and there were no video screens or projections. Dylan remained seated at the piano or standing with a microphone at the edge of the shadows, rarely addressing the crowd directly. But it didn’t matter. The silence between songs only amplified the power of the music itself.

Audience reactions ranged from awe to near disbelief. “It felt like he was singing from some ancient place,” said one longtime fan. “It’s not entertainment—it’s something deeper.” Another added, “He doesn’t give you what you want. He gives you what you didn’t know you needed.”

Critics, too, were impressed. Early reviews praised the setlist’s boldness, Dylan’s enigmatic charisma, and the band’s restraint. “At a time when most legacy acts are content to lean on nostalgia,” one critic wrote, “Dylan remains fiercely present, more interested in exploring new emotional terrain than reliving the past.”

And that seems to be the defining quality of this tour. Dylan isn’t looking back. He’s not coasting. If anything, he’s still searching—for meaning, for connection, for the next lyric that might unlock another door. Each performance feels like an act of discovery, not repetition.

The 2025 leg of the “Rough and Rowdy Ways” tour will continue across Europe before heading to North America in the fall. Fans are already scrambling for tickets, knowing that each show might be different, and none of them will offer a predictable experience. Dylan, as always, is in motion.

In a musical landscape dominated by spectacle and repetition, Dylan’s quiet refusal to play by the rules remains radical. He isn’t nostalgic for who he was. He’s curious about who he still might become. And on this opening night in Milan, that curiosity was contagious. The audience didn’t leave humming the hits. They left with something more lasting—a sense that they had witnessed something living, something rare.

And perhaps that’s the greatest gift Dylan continues to offer: not answers, but the enduring thrill of mystery.