Dust of Rumor: Dylan's Last Live Show

NOTE: Don’t miss the update at the end.

Bob moves in mysterious ways, but things seem particularly unusual:

• Dylan announces a multi-year tour around one album and then delivers exactly that (with a wacky summer tour as intermission).

• After the tour is completed, a single show is announced for 2025 using the same (now date-range-free) tour name.

• That single show is in Tulsa OK, a place that has become a spiritual home via The Bob Dylan Center (which offers a ‘members only presale’).

• Tulsa is not a place tours usually start (although it wasn’t claimed as such).

Initially, fans were excited that touring was resuming. We all know that Dylan’s touring days are numbered and many have assumed or speculated that those last London shows late last year were the swan song.

Then another thought started creeping into people’s heads.

Even The Nobles Get Properly Handled

By my count there are four levels of Bob Dylan insiders, all sitting ‘above’ three levels of outsiders (casual fans, hardcore fans, and the media) in terms of having access to timely and accurate information (and more importantly the details around and behind that information) and access to the ‘genuine rarities’.

One of the perks of doing a project like this has been getting to know more of the insiders and seeing how it all operates (and occasionally sampling those rarities).

Let Me Ask You One Question

Just before the Tulsa tickets went on sale I thought it was worth asking someone that might know: “Is there any special reason I should be sure to be in Tulsa for that show?”

The answer came back: “No reason I’m aware of”. Fine then I don’t need to go to Tulsa.

A Simple Twist of Fate

A few hours later I’m standing in a locker room, when a guy walks in and says a friendly hello. We start talking, Dylan comes up, he asks if I got Tulsa tickets.

“Nope” says I. Tell him I backed off.

“You know what I heard?” he says.

Three Angles

After logging on to buy a ticket, I txt a friend and ask what they’ve heard: yes, they had heard.

Next, I phone two more Dylan friends, but this time more to tell (with caveats) than to ask; don’t want my pals to miss out. One has a scrap of possible confirmation.

One more conversation, which could have been a confirmation, knocks the whole thing back. The words say ‘that’s not true’ but the body language says ‘I can’t believe that would be true’. That may be right or it may be the information streams didn’t flow that way this time.

Interestingly, five hours after going ‘on sale’ a few seats remain available for the show.

Take What You Have Gathered From Coincidence

Over the next few hours I find out one-by-one that nearly a dozen of the most dedicated (and connected) fans from around the country and world have all grabbed tickets and plan to be in Tulsa on March 25th.

Who knows how and on what grounds each made that decision, but they did.

On A Night Like This

Is the one currently announced Bob Dylan show in Tulsa OK on March 25 the only show of this year and the last Bob Dylan concert ever? Maybe.

Maybe Not.

It wouldn’t be the first Dylan ghost we’ve chased. It’s part of the fun.

NOTE: A dozen more tour dates may have been announced by the time you read this, or could be coming soon. Do not take this as investment or travel advice. At this moment nothing is confirmed, but the sign on the window says “Lonely”.

Update: