Bob Dylan kicked off the new leg of his Rough and Rowdy Ways tour Saturday night in Omaha, with a heavily revamped setlist, an all-acoustic set and a previously unreleased Eddie Cochran cover.
Bob Dylan returned to the stage Saturday March 22 at the Orpheum Theater in Omaha, Nebraska, to inaugurate the 2026 leg of his tour Rough and Rowdy Ways. And the least we can say is that the legendary songwriter had decided to shake up his habits.
A radical acoustic shift
Gone is the grand piano that has been enthroned on stage for months: Dylan has installed himself behind a small keyboard placed in the center of the stage. Its guitarists Bob Britt and Doug Lancio swapped their electrics for acoustics, giving the whole thing a stripped-down folk color. An electric guitar sat on Dylan's amp all night — he never touched it.
On the setlist side, another upheaval: only six titles from Rough and Rowdy Ways compared to nine usually. The evening started in a classic way with “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight”before immediately branching off with “The Man in the Long Black Coat”from the album Oh Mercyplayed for the first time since 2013. Tracks like “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” And “I Can Tell” by Bo Diddley — reserved in recent years for Outlaw Festival concerts — also made an appearance.
The Eddie Cochran Surprise
But the biggest surprise of the evening came at the end of the concert: Dylan performed “Nervous Breakdown”Eddie Cochran's rockabilly classic from 1958, for the very first time in his stage career. Since phones were prohibited in the room, no video was leaked, but fans managed to capture quality audio recordings.
The Shadow of the Outlaw Festival
Dylan's last appearance on American stages dates back to September 2025, as part of the Outlaw Festival. These concerts were remembered for their strangeness: the singer wore a hoodie pulled tightly over his head, had installed a music stand and bright lights near his piano, making his face almost invisible to the audience. Dylan never explained this choice, but it was almost certainly a reaction to the ubiquity of smartphones in outdoor amphitheaters, where it is impossible to impose the Yondr sleeves used in theaters.
In Omaha on Saturday evening, spectators could see this clearly throughout the concert. But not everything was perfect.
A reluctant microphone
Despite these technical hazards, witnesses say that Dylan's voice sounded good when he found the right distance from the microphone.
The rest of the tour
The spring tour continues Sunday evening at Mary W. Sommervold Hall in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and concludes May 1 at Abilene Auditorium in Texas. Dylan also announced summer dates: June 6 and 7 at Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery in Woodinville, Washington, and July 2 at WinStar World Casino and Resort in Thackerville, Oklahoma. Other dates should follow.
