Rough and Rowdy Ways Tour Finale II: The Arrangements

Nine different "Gotta Serve Somebody"s! Seven different "Key West"s!

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Photo by Paolo Brillo

“It used to go like that, and now it goes like this.” That was Bob Dylan’s famous line introducing a dramatically revamped full-band “I Don’t Believe You” on the 1966 going-electric tour. That energy pervaded the entire 2021-2024 run of the Rough and Rowdy Ways World Wide Tour. Though it was more like “It used to go like that, and now it goes like this…and in another week it’ll go like something else entirely.”

Today, for part two of our Rough and Rowdy Ways Tour wrap-up series (part one is here if you missed it), I’m tracking the many (many!) different arrangements the songs got as the tour continued.

It’s a funny thing, Bob used to be known for mixing up which songs he played every night. He doesn’t do that any more. He plays the same songs (mostly) every night. What he does do is mix up how those same songs are played. He did “When I Paint My Masterpiece” 201 times on this tour. But on some legs, even on some specific nights, it sounded very different than on others. Same words, different music. It used to go like that…

This is a long one. Real long. Probably the longest post I’ve ever run that wasn’t an interview. Because the deeper I ventured into this endeavor, the more arrangements I found. Some were immediately obvious. The leg he sang “Masterpiece” over the riff of “Puttin’ on the Ritz.” The era where “Watching the River Flow” had long instrumental intros (or, once, was entirely instrumental). The time the band played “Goodbye Jimmy Reed” like “Cold Irons Bound.” Those I could name off the top of my head. But there were more. So many more.

Other songs shifted gradually, speeding up or slowing down—usually slowing down—over a period of weeks or months. I mostly ignored those changes. There were simply too many. In this post, I wanted to highlight the “wow” moments, where suddenly a song sounded entirely different than it did one show before, beyond just “10% slower” or “louder violin” or “Bob didn’t forget the third verse this time.” I also defined arrangements as being a full-band phenomenon. Something that sounded like they rehearsed to make different, rather than just whether Bob did or didn’t pick up the harmonica or Doug Lancio switched from electric to acoustic guitar.

Even with those limitations focusing us on the major changes, there were still many throughout the 2021-2024 tour. Not for every song, but for most. I’ve embedded a lot of short audio clips so you can easily hear the changes yourself. Settle in. This is gonna take a while.

Watching the River Flow

“Watching the River Flow” has begun almost every night of the Rough and Rowdy Ways Tour (it was skipped a few times in Chicago when he opened with “Born in Chicago”—we’ll get to that in part three’s covers recap). Roughly 200 times. For all those performances, it hasn’t had as many different arrangements as some of the other songs. It was often more of a warmup song, where Bob and the band got their groove going. The vocals were sometimes rough, and early on there was some weird problem where he kept singing into a microphone that wasn’t turned on. Generally one of the least interesting songs of the night.

But there are a couple notable exceptions.

In May of 2022, Dylan began opening the song by playing guitar, which he continued to do throughout the summer. Yes, you read that right: Bob played guitar! No video sadly, but he would jam instrumentally for a few minutes with the band, then switch to piano. Except for one night in Redding, where he played guitar for the entire song (albeit while still sitting behind the piano). Figures that’s one of the few shows where no recording has surfaced.

You can hear Bob’s distinctive guitar soloing on this Oakland version four nights later for the first couple minutes before he starts singing:

(He then reportedly repeated the trick a few times in Spring 2024, playing guitar offstage while the band played onstage. By the time he came into sight, the guitar was gone, so this is more informed supposition than confirmed fact—but that noodling you hear sure sounds like him.)

A notable one-off version occurred a summer later in Spain during the 2023 summer tour: an entirely instrumental version! Though, as one attendee noted, it’s not entirely clear whether it was planned or some sort of tech glitch.

When Bob came on stage and approach[ed] the piano he lowered the microphone so that he can sing while seated. Thus he intended to sing on that song. He and the band played what seemed be a very long intro. Then the band began to look somehow confused because Bob didn't start to sing. So they played on and on and on. And then the song was over. 

Maybe that night Bob really didn’t have much to say.

“Watching the River Flow” instrumental—Seville, Spain, July 11 2023

The only other rearrangement (albeit a minor one) came in the first show of 2024. The first half was quieter, more muted, with little drums. Tony Garnier’s plucked bass is carrying the primary rhythm. But it was back to normal by the next show. Compare the slight difference here:

“Watching the River Flow” first verse—Ft. Lauderdale, FL, March 1 2024

“Watching the River Flow” first verse—Orlando, FL, March 9 2024

That’s pretty much it. As I said, not a song that had many huge rearrangements (even that last one is pushing it). Though—and this goes for every song here—throw any others I might have missed into the comments!

PS. The best “River Flow” might be this one from Milwaukee 2023. Not really a new arrangement, but a new vocal approach, much more committed and less throat-clearly than this opening number often was.

Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I Go Mine)

Alright, now we get to a song with some more dramatic rearrangements.

The first came in Summer 2022, six months into the tour. Up until then, they’d been playing something fairly close to the Blonde on Blonde version, using the album’s signature guitar riff. But on the summer tour, they dropped the trademark riff, and slowed it down a bit. Compare the spring and summer here:

“Most Likely” first verse—New Orleans, LA, March 19 2022

“Most Likely” first verse—Santa Clara, CA, June 23 2022

A bigger change came the following year. Starting the second night of Dylan’s Japan 2023 tour (the source of a lot of sudden new arrangements, perhaps due to incorporating new drummer Jerry Pentecost), the song began much differently. From kicking in hard one night—and every night prior—it suddenly began slow, led by Dylan on piano. Only after the first verse would the full-band arrangement begin, and that was tweaked a bit too.

Compare this first verse to the two embedded above. This is by far the biggest change we’ve seen thus far. This sort of thing makes it worth paying attention to rearrangements in the first place. And to think this came just one night after he played the usual full-band version!

“Most Likely” slow first verse—Osaka, Japan, March 7 2023

A very cool way to start the song, and indeed my favorite version from the entire tour. Alas, a few months later, Bob’s slow piano intros were gone and they had reverted to the old arrangement.

I Contain Multitudes

Our first actual Rough and Rowdy Ways song of the show, and another that had a couple quite dramatic changes. It, like most of the new album’s songs, started out sounding fairly similar to the recorded version, almost ambient in its slow pace with very little rhythm. Then, a year and a half in—that Japan ’23 tour again—he debuted this new version. Compare the “pink pedal pushers” verse in both versions to hear the difference:

“Multitudes” one verse—Dublin, Ireland, November 2 2022

“Multitudes” one verse—Osaka, Japan, March 6 2023

Alas, that bouncier new version wouldn’t last. This is a trend we’ll see often: Dylan debuts a fun new arrangement one night, then the next night he goes…naaah.

After reverting back to the usual slow ambient meditation for a while, that fall, “Multitudes” took on another new arrangement. More upbeat, with the band trotting along. It doesn’t have the strut of that Japan version, but still moves along at a much quicker pace than the album-ish version. Compare this “pink pedal pushers” verse to that first one above.

“Multitudes”—one verse, Indianapolis, Indiana, October 17 2023

Love the way the drums kick in hard leading into the title line (“I’m a man of contradictions”…). Who would have expected “Multitudes” to ever become one of the harder-rocking song of the night? It’s continued in this vein ever since.

False Prophet

“False Prophet” started its live life as a loud rocker—I remember drummer Charley Drayton’s playing seemed like it would peel the paint off the walls a few nights. Over time, though, Dylan gradually pared it back in both volume and tempo. By the Summer 2022 tour, it lost its main guitar riff—both the opening lick, and the Billy “The Kid” Emerson chord progression that underpinned the verses. Compare an album-ish early version to one six months later:

“False Prophet”—guitar intro and first verse, Washington DC, December 2 2021

“False Prophet”—guitar intro and first verse, Boise, ID, June 26 2022

One night on that summer tour, “False Prophet” gained a new guitar part though—and a new guitar player! In Portland, Dylan picked up his guitar halfway through and jammed for a couple minutes. I bet that was a thrill to see in person, though it sounds a little aimless on the tape. No video, but you can hear exactly when Bob picks up the guitar by the sudden audience cheer around 5:15 below—and by the somewhat random notes that follow, which eventually coalesce into some cool little riffing.

“False Prophet” got another new arrangement that fall, mostly new in the instrumental riff. Eagle-eared fans noticed that, just like the original version borrowed a lick from that old Billy “The Kid” Emerson song, this new arrangement borrowed its riff from a Little Walter song. Compare:

By 2023, it reverted closer to the original (albeit more subdued), but with the addition of a new instrumental break. Like “Rubicon,” which we’ll get to, it became a song where all the singing portions were pretty quiet, then it got loud during one wild instrumental bit. Just after the 2:30 mark here:

When I Paint My Masterpiece

Compared to “False Prophet,” which mostly got slower and quieter, “Masterpiece” sped up in its first year. Compare the tempo of the Fall ’21 version to this Spring ’22:

“Masterpiece” opening—Knoxville, TN, November 10 2021

“Masterpiece” opening—New Orleans, LA, March 19 2022

Okay, so they sped it up. Big deal. It’s still the same basic arrangement. This must be another song where the shifts are gonna be pretty subtle right?

Not a chance.

The first of a few giant reimaginings came in the Fall of 2022, at the first show in Oslo. For the first and only time of the entire tour—on any song—several band members left the stage. Dylan performed a slow, intimate trio version accompanied only by Donnie Herron on violin and Bob Britt on acoustic guitar (one report says Tony remained too, but more say he didn’t). Dylan’s vocal delivery or the lines the remaining band members played didn’t seem wildly different, but simply having fewer people on stage changed the tone entirely.

It turned out to be a one-off. Bob decided he didn’t like it, or maybe waiting for a couple guys to get on and offstage wasn’t worth the hassle, and he reverted to full-band the next show in Stockholm. But that wouldn’t be the last of the song’s dramatic changes.

Did you catch the near-solo piano opening of that Oslo one-off? It didn’t stick—that time. But one tour later, in Japan 2023, Dylan made it a regular thing. He loved those near-solo piano openings in Japan (we already saw another with “Most Likely”). And nowhere did it work better than “Masterpiece.” He should have performed the whole song like this. Hell, he should have performed the whole show like this!

“Masterpiece” slow opening—Tokyo, Japan, April 14 2023

That continued through the fall, with an additional tweak later in the song. He suddenly began a dramatic crooned breakdown on the “crimson and clover” bridge, the rhythm dropping out while he took his time, before the band kicked back in on the next verse. Extremely effective. Compare the old bridge to the new one:

“Masterpiece” bridge—Tokyo, Japan, April 14 2023

“Masterpiece” bridge—St. Louis, MO October 4, 2023

There was still one more new arrangement to come, the most dramatic change yet. Just last month, March 2024, Dylan debuted an entirely new version that had little in common with the two years that came before. They Might Be Giants fans immediately recognized the riff he was borrowing: “Istanbul (Not Constantinople).” While I’d love to think that was a deliberate—and extremely unexpected—TMBG nod, the song’s origins go back decades before they covered it (it’s a Four Lads novelty song from the ‘50s). The distinctive riff Bob borrowed goes back even further, to “Puttin’ on the Ritz” from the ‘20s.

Dylan could have been nodding to any of those versions (perhaps it’s his homage to Taco?), or all of them, but the “Istanbul”/“Ritz” riff made the song something else entirely. The only bit he kept from the prior version was that breakdown on the bridge.

As you’ve surely noticed, this is really in-the-weeds stuff. If you want more—hell, if you’ve even made it this far!—you’re exactly the sort of real deep Dylan-head who should subscribe. Anyone who does so will find similar arrangement breakdowns on the other 11 songs (we haven’t even gotten to “Key West” or “Gotta Serve Somebody” yet, when things get REAL wild) below the jump.