Dylan in Alpine Valley (East Troy WI, Sept 19, 2025)

I’ve been to a lot of characterless amphitheaters in horrible outer suburbs lately. After all of those, Alpine Valley was a sheer delight. It’s genuinely in the middle of nowhere - farmland stretches a while from there before you get to the town of East Troy, a tiny town that’s too far from any other town to count as a suburb. Behind the venue is a ski slope and rolling hills covered in lush trees as far as the eye can see. It’s a beautiful view. An announcer on our way in warned us not to bring “any of your neighbor’s renaissance fair weapons” inside, and a sign on the lawn warned us that “moshing may take place.” They had bratwurst at the concession stand, which was run by volunteers from the school. You can count on Wisconsin for food.

Also, the vibes from the crowd were far more chill than they were last night in Indiana. I know from door-knocking in this county that there’s an element in town that’ll threaten to stab you with a rake if they don’t like you, but no one seemed like they were going to stab me with anything tonight. The crowd largely seemed like hippies who might be English professors. Warren Payne joined Sheryl Crow for “Strong Enough” and I didn’t worry that anyone would act up when he sang “Are you man enough to be my man?” I would have last night in Indiana.

Crow played the same set as the other nights, but with Warren Payne on “Strong Enough” (he had done “Every Day is a Winding Road” in Hartford), but with slight variations in her stage patter, with some nice words about Bob and Willie. She was enjoyable every night, and tonight Waxahatchie joined on “Every Day is a Winding Road.” No “Mississippi,” though.

Anyway, I rode up to the show with Mike and Henry, the usual Chicago crew, listening to last night’s bootleg and trying to make out the organ sound in the mix. Our best guess was that Matt Katz-Bohen was going to be augmenting the band at Farm Aid and basically rehearsing onstage, with the volume low so there wasn’t much pressure.

We camped out on a lawn spot behind the soundboard that offered only a partial view, where no one was likely to complain that they couldn’t see Bob in his North Face Sith Lord disguise, since no one could expect to see much anyway. The last couple of weeks have been a rash of people insisting that it wasn’t really Bob onstage at all, just an AI imposter or something. The hiding out will only add to the legend in the long run.

Naturally, as soon as Sheryl Crow was offstage we started watching for the keyboard, and they wheeled it out to a position notably closer in than last night, probably even close enough to the rest of the band to be in frame for the static shot on video screens. Matt, the mysterious player, was seen helping to get it set up.

After another dark, straightfoward “Masters of War” opener, Katz-Bohen to his spot for “I Can Tell,” where he was faintly audible but honestly would have been upstaged by Bob’s “no more, no more” coda. Bob’s singing by this point was clearly on point. Moreso than some nights, throughout the night he really seemed focused not just on interesting ways to sing the lines, but on what the lines meant. He was really telling the stories of the songs tonight.

Vocals were particularly great on “Forgetful Heart,” calling to mind that Hebraic cantillation of “One More Cup of Coffee,” and augmenting by a piano solo that sounded like the guitar solo in “Hotel California.” It was possibly the best “Forgetful Heart” I’ve heard this tour, and the best piano solo I’ve ever seen Bob do on anything.

Organ was back, faintly but there, on “To Ramona.” Often this song has just been a fun vocal playground for Bob to bounce around and experiment, but tonight it seemed a bit more heartfelt. It flowed right into an absolutely transcendent “Under the Red Sky,” with Bob playing some of the album guitar riff on piano at the end.

At this point, I was just overtaken by what a lovely night it was. The sun had set over the rolling hills, and there night was cool. The sound was great. The static view on the video screens was tighter, and from a higher angle, than usual, and actually showed Bob’s face fairly well. I was out with friends in a crowd of friendly strangers. It was a beautiful night.

“All long the Watchtower” continues to be a highlight in its 2025 arrangement, with Katz-Bohen adding a bedding of organ underneath and Bob leaning into the vocals - “The hour is getting layyyy ay ay atteeee.”

“Til I Fell in Love With You” is missing some of the sheer thunder from a couple of weeks ago, but stripping it back give Bob a bit more room to improvise in this “no time signature” set up, with a particularly biting staccato “Til! I! Fell! In! Love! With! You!” on the last chorus. Anton Fig’s drumming is perfect for this sort of “free time” arrangement.

A brief conference with Tony before “Desolation Row” showed that Bob had his hoodie unzipped, with a white shirt beneath it. With it open, he looked less like a sith lord, and more like a normal guy who was afraid it might rain on his shuffleboard game. “Desolation Row” dialled the Chuck Berry vibes back slightly from previous nights, having almost more of a surf vibe. The “Dr. Filth” verse was back. In the aisle in front of me, a couple swing danced through the entire song. It was awesome.

“Love Sick” included just a suble bit of echo effect on the vocals, and this spooky take might have been the best version of the tour - a note-perfect rendition of the song, with a shredding electric guitar solo from Doug Lancio. It led into a lovely “Share Your Love,” with Bob doing some of the most “conventional” singing he ever does, just in case anyone out there didn’t thing he could sing a straight up ballad and basically stick to the sheet music.

“Blind Willie Mctell,” like “Love Sick,” seemed tonight to be nothing interesting or exciting, just simply perfect. Straightforward reading with just a hint of private eye swagger; the best version I’ve seen this tour.

Matt Katz-Bohen was back on organ for excellent takes on “Highway 61” and “Don’t Think Twice’ to close out the set. By this point it was generally agreed that he was probably rehearsing for Farm Aid, and that Bob’s Farm Aid set the next night would be the five songs he’s played on. I wouldn’t bet twenty bucks on it, but I’d at least bet ten.

I chatted a bit with one of the video monitor guys, who had the Brewers game on in the booth. He noted that some people who don’t believe Bob is onstage have been accusing him of being complicit in the conspiracy, but noted that he’d seen Bob backstage and it was definitely him. He also noted how much better Bob is sounding that he did ten or twenty years ago.

I strolled out into the parking lot in a lovely haze, like the guy at the end of Springsteen’s “County Fair” who hopes he can remember where he parked and wishes he never had to let this moment go. It was a perfect, beautiful night, and a fine close to the 2025 Outlaw tour. There was certainly no bar nearby this venue (or anything other than farmland at all), so there weren’t many options for an afterparty, but on the way back we stopped at a Kwik Trip, where I snacked like a damn hell ass king for less than I’d paid for last year’s donuts last night in Indiana. Good old Wisconsin.

It’ll be interesting to see now if he mixes up the “Rough and Rowdy” setlist post Outlaw, like he did last year, and of course it’s great to wonder what in the world he’ll do next (the hoodie seems to indicate to me that he’s had it with this sort of tour). I’ve got my busy season in October, but I’ll catch up in the UK this November. See you all down the line! Special “Big 5-0” shout-out to Henry; it was his 50th show!