Last Night in Montreal

2023-10-29, Place Des Arts, Montreal, QC

Photo from Toronto a few nights prior (but he did wear the same hat)

Should we start with the headline?

Bob Dylan covered Leonard Cohen’s “Dance Me to the End of Love”

Hmm, that doesn’t look right. Let me try again.

BOB DYLAN COVERED LEONARD COHEN’S “DANCE ME TO THE END OF LOVE”!!!

That’s better.

If you don’t know, Dylan has been doing a lot of regionally-specific covers this tour. I wrote about three of them in Chicago (Paul Butterfield, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf). In Indiana, he covered local boy John Mellencamp. In Cincinnati, he covered “South of Cincinnati,” a Dwight Yoakam song. But it’s not an every-night thing. He hadn’t bothered in the last few towns—including over two nights in Toronto, where there would be some obvious tribute contenders (Robbie Robertson, Gordon Lightfoot). So I figured the odds of a Cohen cover had dipped from “maybe” to “no way.”

Then, after “That Old Black Magic,” in the slot where the surprise covers have recently gone, the band started playing some familiar chords. It took me a second to place it. Once I did, once we all did, the place erupted.