Two days after stunning his hardcore fans by playing the extreme deep cut “Baby, Won’t You Be My Baby” on the opening night of his summer tour, a song he hasn’t touched since recording it 59 years ago, Bob Dylan again revisited the Basement Tapes on the second evening of his tour in Woodinville, Washington, by opening up the show with “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere.”
This wasn’t quite as surprising as “Baby, Won’t You Be My Baby,” since “You Ain’t Going Nowhere” is a famous song covered by everyone from the Byrds to Tom Petty and the Heartbreaks, but it’s still the first time that Dylan has played it in concert since 2012. He also let guitarists Doug Lancio and Bob Britt add light harmony vocals to the song. It was common for Dylan’s bandmates to sing with him in the Larry Campbell/Charlie Sexton period of the late 1990s and early 2000s, but this was completely phased out well over 20 years ago.
The rest of the set was very similar to night one, though he dropped his cover of Bo Diddley’s “I Can Tell,” added in “Love Sick,” and slightly adjusted the order of a few other songs. The bill also included Lucinda Williams and the John Doe Folk Trio. On night one, Doe played a few tunes by his band X (“See How We Are,” “Burning House of Love,” ” and “The New World”), and sang the Judy Garland standard “Over The Rainbow.” Williams, meanwhile, broke out “Car Wheels on a Grave Road,” “Joy,” and other classics.
This tour was nameless when originally announced, but t-shirts for sale at the merch stand call it the Long Hot Summer Tour 2026. We like to think this is Bob Dylan’s way of commemorating the 25th anniversary of the 2001 cult comedy Wet Hot American Summer, but it’s obviously just a coincidence. (If you actually want to celebrate that Wet Hot anniversary in a musical manner, Ken Marino and David Wain’s Middle Aged Dad Jam Band are touring for the 25th. They put on a truly sensational evening of music and comedy.)
Dylan’s tour continues June 7 with a second show at Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery in Woodinville, Washington. It wraps up August 1 in Nashville. When we posted about “Baby, Won’t You Be My Baby,” we joked about Dylan continuing the explore The Basement Tapes on this run, and requested “I’m Not There,” “Goin’ to Acapulco,” “I’m Your Teenage Prayer,” and “Sign on the Cross.” The odds against him playing any of those songs are astronomical, but prior to the other day, we would have said a live “Baby, Won’t You Be My Baby” was a one in a 10 million scenario, and it somehow happened.
There seems to be something about The Basement Tapes in the air because on June 5, when Dylan took a night off between his first two shows, Bruce Springsteen played “I Shall Be Released” with Sheryl Crow at a special concert in Long Branch, New Jersey, commemorating the opening of The Bruce Springsteen Center. It was the first time he’d ever played the Basement Tapes standard. Maybe this will keep happening, and Ariana Grande will play “Yea! Heavy and a Bottle of Bread” on the second night of her tour, Rush will do “Open the Door Homer” at the L.A. Forum this week, and Gracie Abrams will trot out “Tiny Montgomery” later in the year.
We’ll happily settle for Dylan simply keeping “Baby, Won’t You Be My Baby” in his set throughout the year. His band recreated practically every nuance of the original recording. It deserves to be heard all summer long.