Performance comes days after he resurrected “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall,” possibly due its appearance in the A Complete Unknown trailer
Bob Dylan kicked off his Outlaw Music Festival set at the Ford Ampitheater in Tampa, Idaho, Wednesday night by breaking out “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35” for the first time since the second weekend of Desert Trip in 2016.
“Rainy Day Women #12 & 35” is the leadoff track on Blonde on Blonde, and it was the second single released from the album, peaking at #2 on the Hot 100. (“Monday, Monday” by the the Mamas & The Papas stood in the way of it becoming the only #1 hit of Dylan’s career.) He first played it live at the Isle of Wight festival on August 31, 1969. It didn’t return to his live show until the Rolling Thunder Revue hit Austin, Texas, on May 12, 1976. It became a staple on the 1978 world tour.
The Idaho stop of the Outlaw tour also featured the first performance of “Spirit on the Water” since 2018; he dropped “Scarlet Town” to make room for it. Earlier this week, he played “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall” for the first time since 2016, possibly due to its appearance in the trailer for A Complete Unknown. The 1963 classic made a second appearance in the show at the Idaho gig.
The Outlaw tour kicked off June 21 in Alpharetta, Georgia. That was a unique show where he played “Little Walter’s “My Babe” and Lee Hazzlewood “The Fool.” The setlist remained pretty static from the second show onwards, with covers of Chuck Berry’s “Little Queen” and the Grateful Dead’s “Stella Blue” making appearances every single night.
The Outlaw tour continues Friday night in Spokane, Washington. It wraps up September 20 in Gilford, New Hampshire. Dylan heads over to Europe for his own tour in early October.