Bob Dylan Kicks Off 2026 Tour With New Cover, Oh Mercy Rarity

The latest chapter of Bob Dylan's open-ended Rough And Rowdy Ways Tour, an outing theoretically in support of an album that came out way back in 2020, kicked off Saturday in Omaha. At the Orpheum Theater, Dylan played keyboard rather than his usual piano, and in another surprise his guitarists Bob Britt and Doug Lancio played entirely acoustic — the first time on the Rough And Rowdy Ways Tour, according to the Flagging Down newsletter. Per Matt Simonsen's report there, it sounds like there were issues with microphone placement:

We should all say a prayer for the roadie who placed Bob’s microphone tonight, because Bob was too far from it when he sat, uncomfortable when he leaned into it, and picked it up and plopped it down about 10 times throughout the night (each time it emitted a louder boom than the time before). In fact, the loudest instrument of the night was the microphone stand as it hit the stage floor! Bob’s voice may sound weak on the recordings when they come out, but he sounded really good when he was comfortable with the microphone. At other times we couldn’t hear him well due to the distance between him and the mic.

The setlist in Omaha featured Dylan's first performance of Oh Mercy highlight "Man In The Long Black Coat" since 2013, per setlist.fm. It was a phone-free show, but someone posted full audio of the performance on YouTube. Here it is cued up to "Man In The Long Black Coat":

Dylan also debuted a new cover of Eddie Cochran's "Nervous Breakdown." Here's audio of that:

If setlist.fm is to be believed, Dylan repeated the exact same setlist Sunday in Sioux Falls. It will be interesting to see if he plays the same set again Tuesday night in Rochester, MN. Check out the list below.

SETLIST:
"I'll Be Your Baby Tonight"
"Man In The Long Black Coat"
"All Along The Watchtower"
"I Contain Multitudes"
"False Prophet"
"Black Rider"
"Love Sick"
"Key West (Philosopher Pirate)"
"I Can Tell"
"I've Made Up My Mind To Give Myself To You"
"Crossing The Rubicon"
"When I Paint My Masterpiece"
"Don't Think Twice, It's All Right"
"Soon After Midnight"
"Nervous Breakdown"
"Every Grain Of Sand"