Last Night in Davenport (by Travis Vogan)

2025-04-08, Adler Theatre, Davenport, IA

Photo via @billyplatt

Last night, Bob Dylan played Davenport, his second tour stop in Iowa (I was at the first, in Sioux City). The big news last night can be summarized in the three words that pop up repeatedly on the Boblinks setlist:

“Bob on guitar”

For most of this tour, he has played guitar once per show, to open “It Ain’t Me Babe.” When he was still playing “All Along the Watchtower,” that got a little guitar intro as well. But last night, out of nowhere, Dylan played guitar on four songs. I believe that’s a Rough and Rowdy Ways Tour record. For two of the songs, this is his first time playing guitar on them the entire three-year-and-counting tour, and for one, it’s his first time playing guitar on it ever.

Author and academic Travis Vogan was on the scene to report in for us on what I’m dubbing Bob Dylan Shredfest 2025™. Over to Travis!

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Like many heartlanders, I am thrilled by Bob’s decision to play mid-sized midwestern cities this spring. I have been just as happy to discover that these shows are selling out. I don’t think they sell out by relying on folks like me who are willing to drive in from places like Iowa City. And I don’t think it’s the Chalamet bump either. In fact, the crowds I witnessed in Davenport seemed to be mostly locals who were generally willing to accept Dylan on his own terms. This is not to say that the audience was filled with die-hards who were singing along to “Mother of Muses,” but the attendees did not seem too surprised that Bob was (mostly…) behind the baby grand.

The world is messed up and scary right now. It’s comforting to witness a living embodiment of imperfect American greatness. And it’s nice to see someone who has done their thing no matter what is going on. Maybe we’ll be able to keep doing our things too. (And the way things are going, many of us will be working well into our eighties just like Zimmy).

Bob is stopping at a specific type of midwestern town. Some of these places have colleges, but they aren’t college towns like Madison, Urbana-Champaign, or Bloomington. College towns are a little soft. Don’t get me wrong, I love them. I moved to Iowa City from Bloomington, Indiana. I’m a wreck if my Saturday morning doesn’t include an eight-dollar coffee and an orange cranberry scone.

But college towns don’t have the edge of places like Davenport and Peoria. Bob appreciates this edge, I think. He frequently covers Johnny Cash’s “Big River,” which features the narrator’s muse cavorting in Davenport. One can certainly cavort in Iowa City, but I would wager that Davenport provides a slightly more dangerous flavor of cavorting. And the perceived banality of this drive-by town in flyover country makes its actual edges even a bit sharper. You can probably still find a good card game in Davenport. Carry a box cutter. You likely won’t need it, but you’ll be glad you have it if things go sideways.