During Bob Dylan’s last song at Mystic Lake Amphitheater on Monday night, a man in a broad-brimmed hat turned to his friend and said, “This is a life moment.” Under an endless Minnesota sky, the two — together with thousands more — basked in the moment as the sound washed out over them and out across the prairie.

Over the past year and change, Minnesotans have been lucky when it comes to Bob Dylan visits. Since April 2025, Dylan has returned to play shows in the state of his birth four times.

He performed on April 4, 2025, in Mankato, as part of his Rough and Rowdy Ways Tour; on Sept. 20, 2025, for Farm Aid at Huntington Bank Stadium in Minneapolis; on March 4, 2026, in Rochester, another Rough and Rowdy Ways date; and Monday night as Dylan brought his Long Hot Summer ’26 Tour to the sparkling new Mystic Lake Amphitheater in Shakopee.

It’s a schedule that allowed many in the audience, including Wilson Zellar of St. Paul, to get to see Dylan live for the first time. “I do love Bob Dylan,” Zellar said before the show. “I wouldn't say I'm a super fan, but I'm excited to see versions of songs that I know, but I won't recognize. Obviously, he's a legend, and it'll just be cool to see Bob Dylan, no matter what happens [onstage]. I'm just excited to see someone like that in person.”

The same was true for Laurie from Chippewa Falls. “I have been a Bob Dylan fan since I was a teenager,” she said, “and I wanted to see him in person before there was no longer an opportunity.”

When Dylan took the stage, despite there being just a few wispy clouds in an otherwise clear sky, he appeared wearing a white hooded raincoat and took his spot behind the keyboard at center stage. The stagecraft appeared to be the same Dylan used during his Rough and Rowdy Ways Tour, a simple copper-colored curtain enclosure illuminated by LED lights on stands. Surrounding Dylan were Anton Fig on drums; Tony Garnier on bass; and guitarists Julian Lage and Joel Paterson. (Guitarists Doug Lancio and Bob Britt had recently departed the band.)

The typically taciturn Dylan let the music do the talking. Onstage, he uttered not a single word that wasn’t a song lyric. And it seemed as if he was choosing to step back and let his band take the spotlight, led most prominently by the masterful guitar playing of Lage and Paterson. One of the highlights was “It Ain’t Me Babe,” originally off Dylan’s 1964 album Another Side of Bob Dylan. It had a punchy, yacht-rock groove punctuated by a choral double-stop guitar interlude from Lage and Paterson, which elicited appreciative applause.

Another fresh take came with “When I Paint My Masterpiece” from 1971’s Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits Volume II. The band seemed to lock into a borrowing of the riff from the 1950s novelty song “Istanbul,” popularized in recent years by They Might Be Giants. On a cover of Jerry Lee Lewis’ “I’ll Make It All Up to You,” Lage and Paterson’s warm, single-note sequences lent a Santo & Johnny air to the piece. And for “Goodbye Jimmy Reed” from 2020’s Rough and Rowdy Ways, the band kicked up the Johnny Rivers quotient with a propulsive train-beat rhythm and another instrumental guitar break that drew cheers.

Dylan received the most applause for his harmonica on “Under the Red Sky,” and again during “I Shall Be Released,” his final song of the evening.

Monday night’s concert featured a pair of formidable opening acts. Jake Rudh — host of Transmission, heard Saturday mornings on The Current — introduced both openers, starting with the John Doe Folk Trio. Gazing up into the expanse that is the magnificent Mystic Lake Amphitheater, Doe said, “It’s good to see you all here, I see all the cheap seats are here early. … I compliment you on your excellent taste in music.”

Doe, flanked by bassist David Sutton and drummer Conrad Choucroun (who, coincidentally, somewhat resembles a Street-Legal era Dylan) kicked of his set with a cover of The Flatlanders’ “Tonight I Think I’m Gonna Go Downtown.” Naturally, Doe also showcased his X roots with performances of “Burning House of Love,” “4th of July,” and “See How We Are.” The last of those three featured really strong vocals from Doe.

Looking cool in a crisp, light-blue suit with embroidered arrow details that matched the arrow on his guitar strap, Doe told the crowd, “It’s no secret that we’re living in a world of s**t right now … We started playing this song a few months back, and it seemed to bring people some hope and solace, and we hope it does for you, too,” before playing a cover of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” originally written for Minnesota-born Judy Garland in her role as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz.

Doe shared more positivity with the crowd. “Each and every one of you deserves love,” he said, “and to love whoever the hell you want. June was Pride month; it should be Pride eternity.

“This song is about love,” he said before he and his band launched into “The Golden State,” another song featuring particularly strong vocals from Doe.

The next opener was Lucinda Williams, whom Rudh made sure to introduce as a “three-time Grammy-winner.” Williams and her band came out flying with the title track from her landmark 1989 album Car Wheels on a Gravel Road.

Backing Williams onstage were bassist Sutton (fresh off playing with the John Doe Folk Trio), Brad Pemberton on drums, guitarist Marc Ford, and guitarist, pedal-steel player, and harmonica player Doug Pettibone (who had also accompanied Williams during her March 13 Microshow in the Forum at MPR).

Williams treated the audience to three songs from her latest album, World’s Gone Wrong, noting the titular similarity to Dylan’s song “World Gone Wrong” and acknowledging that she and Dylan share similar ideas. “The world has gone wrong,” Williams said, “but we’re gonna fix it, though,” drawing cheers from the audience.

Among the songs Williams played from World’s Gone Wrong was “Low Life,” a song she said was inspired by the idea of a welcoming bar in New Orleans with a good jukebox and a bartender who mixes a drink called a hurricane. Williams’ performance showcased how well her lyrics create a vivid sense of place and invite us right into the scene.

Williams also took the prize for most volume among the evening’s performers, in particular during her band’s scorching cover of Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World,” which she belted with fervor.

Williams’ set brought the audience to their feet, and she expressed her love for the city of Minneapolis. She thanked the huge crowd in Shakopee for being “a wonderful, awesome audience.”

Certainly the assembly would have looked awesome from the Mystic Lake Amphitheater Stage. It truly is a dazzling structure, with its vast, sloped general-admission area called “The Lawn” — a steep yet comfortable slope quilted in padded artificial turf. The sheer scale of the place is something to behold, as was the stunning July sky under which the music took place. It being July, the sun still provided substantial light when Dylan began his set at 9 p.m.

And while Dylan certainly delivered the goods, the articulate guitar playing of Lage and Paterson definitely bubbled to the top, their richly layered textures providing a gorgeous frame for Dylan’s vocals and lyrics. Following the performance of “I Shall Be Released,” Dylan walked downstage and took a bow. The audience roared their approval and clamored for an encore to the darkened stage, but the house lights eventually came up. The crowd members were released into the night. But there seemed to be no disappointment.

“Pretty good turnout here tonight,” said Michael from Victoria, a fan of Dylan since the 1960s who was seeing Dylan live for the very first time. “It's just fun, you know. He's so talented. I just love it.”

Set Lists*

Bob Dylan

To Be Alone With You

Man in the Long Black Coat

It Ain't Me, Babe

Tryin' to Get to Heaven

False Prophet

I Can Tell (Bo Diddley cover)

Black Rider

Share Your Love With Me (Bobby “Blue” Bland cover)

When I Paint My Masterpiece

I'll Make It All Up to You (Jerry Lee Lewis cover)

Crossing the Rubicon

Soon After Midnight

Under the Red Sky

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

Goodbye Jimmy Reed

I Shall Be Released

Lucinda Williams

Car Wheels on a Gravel Road

Fruits of My Labor

Low Life

The World's Gone Wrong

You Can't Rule Me (Memphis Minnie cover)

How Much Did You Get for Your Soul

Joy (with "Heartbreaker" outro snippet)

Rockin' in the Free World (Neil Young cover)

John Doe Folk Trio

Tonight I Think I'm Gonna Go Downtown (The Flatlanders cover)

Never Coming Back

Burning House of Love (X song)

Get on Board

4th of July (X song)

See How We Are (X song)

Somewhere Over The Rainbow (Judy Garland cover; written by Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg)

My Darling, Blue Skies

The Golden State

The New World / Revolution (Beatles cover)

*confirmed via Setlist.fm