The air was brisk in Mankato on Friday night, but the mood was electric. The city had waived all public parking fees. Volunteers in bright, high-visibility gilets offered directions and answered questions. On Front Street, every tavern's table was occupied, the taqueria was packed, and the pizza-by-the-slice place was out of slices. Outside the Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center, music fans lined up in anticipation.

Bob Dylan had come to town. 

Mankato marked the sole Minnesota stop to date on leg 10 of Dylan’s Rough and Rowdy Ways World Wide Tour. This ongoing global tour launched in 2021 in support of Dylan’s 39th album, Rough and Rowdy Ways. (He released a 40th, Shadow Kingdom, in 2023.)

Mark from St. Paul said it was his first time seeing Dylan live, and he was there “Just to see an icon, absolutely. It's gonna be an amazing show, I think.”

Inside the arena, Andrew and Sara from Rosemount, Minnesota, were there with their daughters, Greta, 14, and Elise, 12. Andrew and Sara said they had seen Dylan perform 27 and 21 times, respectively, but Friday would mark concert No. 1 for the girls. Elise was hoping to hear something from Blood on the Tracks, her favorite album, while Greta said she was eager to “see him in person for the first time.”

Andrew wore a green-with-white-polka-dots hoodie purchased specially for the night. Its fabric matched Bob Dylan’s onstage attire at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965 and Timothée Chalamet’s outfit as Saturday Night Live host and musical guest (covering Dylan) in January. “I hope Bob matches his Somerset concert [from September 2024],” Andrew enthused. “That’s the best Bob Dylan show I’ve ever seen.”

Mike Henderson of Deephaven, Minnesota, a veteran of seven Dylan concerts, said his most memorable experience to date was seeing Dylan in Singapore. “It was a very cool crowd, where they clapped very quietly, and everybody's very mannered, so quite different than here,” he recalled. “But [Dylan] didn't say a word. He just sang his songs, and they clapped, and that was it.”

Asked if he expected something different in Mankato given Dylan would be performing in his home state, Henderson was skeptical. “I've seen him [in Minneapolis] a couple times, and he didn't really mention Minnesota much, or talk too much, so I’m not expecting a lot of chatting.”

Henderson’s observations proved accurate forecasts of what unfolded in Mankato on Friday night.

Perhaps apropos for his birth state, Dylan’s stage was set up at the north end of a hockey rink, its simple set enclosed by a tall curtain on three sides, with a half-dozen Fresnel lights positioned along the perimeter. The arena went dark at 8:07 p.m., immediately met by an enthusiastic cheer from the crowd. When the lights came up, Dylan was seated at a piano at stage left, his bandmates slightly upstage forming a semicircle around him, and they launched into “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight” from Dylan’s 1967 album, John Wesley Harding. The set’s second song was an understated take on “It Ain’t Me, Babe.” Next, Dylan played “I Contain Multitudes,” the first of the night’s nine tracks from Rough and Rowdy Ways.

Dylan stuck to vocals, piano and harmonica, leaving the guitar duties to Doug Lancio and Bob Britt. The rhythm section comprised Anton Fig on drums and longtime Dylan bassist Tony Garnier, who played electric and double bass — notably laying down a lovely arco texture on “Mother of Muses.”

The audience greeted Dylan with pronounced cheers several times through the night, often for beloved lyrics but also for particularly strong showings of piano expressiveness or harmonica solos. About midway through his set, Dylan performed “Desolation Row.” Its more propulsive tempo, not to mention its recognition from Highway 61 Revisited, elicited a big applause. Then, a song from Rough and Rowdy Ways, “Key West (Philospher Pirate),” which includes the couplet “Key West is the place to go / Down by the Gulf of Mexico,” and the latter geographic reference — contrary to a recent White House executive order re-naming it — drew more cheers. Dylan’s nearly spoken-word rendition of “It Ain’t Me, Babe,” stirred another big outpouring.

The lighting onstage was minimal, and a spotlight was never cast on Dylan. The stage, softly lit and wrapped in a gold curtain, subtly suggested the cover art of Rough and Rowdy Ways. (Inadvertently, it evoked the stage at the Berlin nightclub in the North Loop of Minneapolis.) And that’s what made Friday night’s Mankato show so memorable: Dylan, his band and his crew were able to take a sold-out, 6,000-seat arena and make it feel like an intimate, listening-room experience.

The music did all the talking. The only time Dylan spoke was between “I’ve Made Up My Mind to Give Myself to You” and “Mother of Muses,” when he introduced his band. The performances were understated and mellow, yet it all felt very personal. Dylan’s band stayed in a tight pocket for every song, navigating Dylan’s rubato vocal delivery and piano riffs like seasoned sailboat pilots riding gently rolling waves.

Dylan concluded his set with “Every Grain of Sand,” punctuating the coda with a generous helping of harmonica, which the audience applauded heartily. The song ended, and Dylan and his bandmates left their instruments and stood together upstage. The lights went out and the audience gave an extended applause, calling for an encore. After a few minutes, however, the house lights filled the arena. At 9:53 p.m., the stage crew emerged and immediately began striking the set.

Bob Dylan had left the building.

The music had concluded, and an ever-enigmatic persona remained intact. What's not mysterious is the fact that Bob Dylan, even at 83, is still a working musician. He's on tour supporting an album, and played nine out of its 10 tracks. (The only exclusion was the 17-minute epic, “Murder Most Foul,” inspired by the JFK assassination.) The concert was not intended as a career retrospective; it's called the Rough and Rowdy Ways Tour, so the package contained exactly what’s on the label. He brought the show to Eau Claire on Saturday and Green Bay on Sunday.

Based on nearby reactions and facial expressions when the lights came up in Mankato, it’s fair to say some audience members appeared a little unpleasantly surprised, perhaps underwhelmed at the show’s abrupt ending. Dylan had delivered a special evening, nevertheless.

Set List

I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight

It Ain’t Me, Babe

I Contain Multitudes

False Prophet

When I Paint My Masterpiece

Black Rider

My Own Version of You

To Be Alone with You

Crossing the Rubicon

Desolation Row

Key West (Philospher Pirate)

Watching the River Flow

It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue

I’ve Made Up My Mind to Give Myself to You

Mother of Muses

Goodbye Jimmy Reed

Every Grain of Sand