The Rough and Rowdy Ways World Wide Tour was a concert tour by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan in support of his 39th studio album Rough and Rowdy Ways (2020). The tour began in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on November 2, 2021, and was originally billed as ending in 2024 but was extended several times and concluded in Abilene, Texas, on May 1, 2026. It is regarded by some journalists as part of the Never Ending Tour.
Background Dylan's 39th studio album was released in June 2020. The release was originally set to coincide with Dylan's 2020 Never Ending Tour with Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats and The Hot Club of Cowtown. The 'Never Ending Tour 2020' was then postponed and later cancelled entirely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Shadow Kingdom: The Early Songs of Bob Dylan, a live-streamed concert film, was later released in July 2021 in lieu of any live performances. Shadow Kingdom showcases Dylan in an intimate setting as he performs songs from his extensive body of work, created especially for this event. It marked his first concert performance since December 2019, and first performance since his universally acclaimed album Rough and Rowdy Ways. The earliest composition in the set list was "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" from the 1965 album Bringing It All Back Home and the most recent composition was "What Was It You Wanted" from 1989's Oh Mercy.
The Rough and Rowdy Ways World Wide Tour (2021–2024) was announced in September 2021. The shows were announced as the first leg of a world tour in support of Dylan's album Rough And Rowdy Ways, set to run until 2024. It was the first time he had played to a live audience since December 2019, with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic forcing Dylan to pause his decades-long 'Never Ending Tour'.
In Milwaukee, Wisconsin on November 2, 2021, the first show of the first leg of the tour, Dylan introduced two new members of his touring band: drummer Charley Drayton, replacing Matt Chamberlain, and guitarist Doug Lancio, replacing Charlie Sexton. Dylan played eight of the 10 songs from Rough and Rowdy Ways at every show on this leg of the tour, which was acclaimed by critics, some of whom noted that it was rare for a "legacy artist" to focus so extensively on recent material in live performance.
On January 24, 2022 a further twenty-seven concerts were announced taking place in the Southern United States, beginning in Phoenix, Arizona in early March and ending in Oklahoma City in mid-April. On April 18, 2022, Dylan announced, via his website, the third consecutive U.S. leg of the tour, this time covering the Western United States and running from May 28 to July 6.
On July 13, 2022 Dylan announced the fall leg of the Rough and Rowdy Ways World Wide Tour, encompassing the first dates outside of the United States. This European leg kicked off in Oslo, Norway on September 25 and ended in Dublin, Ireland on November 7.
On February 8, 2023 Dylan announced the first Asian dates of the tour. These first 2023 concerts took place in Japan, beginning on April 6 and concluding on April 20, and comprised multiple shows in Osaka, Tokyo and Nagoya. Starting with the first show of the leg, drummer Jerry Pentecost replaced Charley Drayton.
On March 10, 2023 Dylan announced European tour dates in June and July. This leg of the tour began in Porto, Portugal on June 2 and ended in Rome, Italy on July 9.
On August 21, 2023 Dylan announced North American fall dates for the tour. The first date for this leg was October 1 in Kansas City, MO and the last date was in Evansville, IN on December 3.
On January 22, 2024 Dylan announced the spring leg of the tour, encompassing dates in the American South. The first date for this leg was March 1 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and the last date was April 6 in Austin, Texas.
On February 27, 2024 it was confirmed that Dylan would appear at Willie Nelson's Outlaw Music Festival Tour, which did not use Rough and Rowdy Ways branding in its advertising and saw Dylan drop all of the Rough and Rowdy Ways songs from his setlists. On July 15, however, Dylan announced that he would be bringing "the Rough and Rowdy Ways tour to Europe and the UK this fall". This leg of the tour began in Prague, Czech Republic on October 4 and ended at the Royal Albert Hall, London, on November 14.
On January 21, 2025, Dylan announced dates for a new U.S. spring tour that was billed as a continuation of the Rough and Rowdy Ways World Wide Tour. This leg of the tour commenced in Tulsa, Oklahoma on March 25, and ended in Williamsport, Pennsylvania on April 22. As in 2024, Dylan dropped the Rough and Rowdy Ways songs from his setlists when playing on Willie Nelson's Outlaw Music Festival Tour during the summer. On July 10, however, Dylan announced a new fall European leg of the Rough and Rowdy Ways World Wide Tour beginning in Helsinki, Finland on October 16 and concluding in Dublin, Ireland on November 25.
On December 8, 2025, Dylan announced dates for a new U.S. spring tour in 2026 that was again billed as a continuation of the Rough and Rowdy Ways World Wide Tour. This leg consisted of 27 dates, beginning in Omaha, Nebraska on March 21 and ending in Abilene, Texas on May 1.
Set list List of songs performed
Tour dates + List of 2021 concertsDate (2021)CityCountryVenueNovember 2MilwaukeeUnited StatesRiverside TheaterNovember 3ChicagoAuditorium TheatreNovember 5ClevelandKeyBank State TheatreNovember 6ColumbusPalace TheatreNovember 7BloomingtonIU AuditoriumNovember 9CincinnatiProcter & Gamble HallNovember 10KnoxvilleKnoxville Civic AuditoriumNovember 12LouisvillePalace TheatreNovember 13CharlestonCharleston Municipal AuditoriumNovember 15Moon TownshipUPMC Events Center November 16HersheyHershey TheatreNovember 19New York CityBeacon TheatreNovember 20November 21November 23Port ChesterCapitol TheatreNovember 24November 26ProvidenceProvidence Performing Arts CenterNovember 27BostonWang TheatreNovember 29PhiladelphiaThe MetNovember 30December 2Washington, D.C.The Anthem + List of 2022 concertsDate (2022)CityCountryVenueMarch 3PhoenixUnited StatesArizona Federal TheatreMarch 4TucsonTucson Music HallMarch 6AlbuquerqueKiva AuditoriumMarch 8LubbockHelen DeVitt Jones TheaterMarch 10IrvingToyota Music FactoryMarch 11Sugar LandSmart Financial CentreMarch 13San AntonioMajestic TheatreMarch 14March 16AustinBass Concert HallMarch 18ShreveportShreveport Municipal Memorial AuditoriumMarch 19New OrleansSaenger TheatreMarch 21MontgomeryMontgomery Performing Arts CenterMarch 23NashvilleRyman AuditoriumMarch 24AtlantaFox TheatreMarch 26SavannahJohnny Mercer TheatreMarch 27North CharlestonNorth Charleston Performing Arts CenterMarch 29ColumbiaColumbia Township AuditoriumMarch 30CharlotteOvens AuditoriumApril 1GreensboroSteven Tanger CenterApril 2AshevilleThomas Wolfe AuditoriumApril 4ChattanoogaTivoli TheatreApril 5BirminghamBJCC Concert HallApril 7MobileSaenger TheatreApril 8MeridianRiley CenterApril 9MemphisOrpheum TheatreApril 11Little RockRobinson CenterApril 13TulsaTulsa TheaterApril 14Oklahoma CityThelma Gaylord Performing Arts TheaterMay 28SpokaneFirst Interstate Center for the ArtsMay 29KennewickToyota CenterMay 31PortlandArlene Schnitzer Concert HallJune 1SeattleParamount TheatreJune 2June 5EugeneSilva Concert HallJune 7ReddingRedding Civic AuditoriumJune 9OaklandFox Oakland TheatreJune 10June 11June 14Los AngelesPantages TheatreJune 15June 16June 18San DiegoSan Diego Civic TheatreJune 20Long BeachTerrace TheaterJune 22Santa BarbaraSanta Barbara BowlJune 23Santa CruzSanta Cruz Civic AuditoriumJune 25SacramentoSacramento Memorial AuditoriumJune 27BendHayden Homes AmphitheaterJune 28BoiseMorrison CenterJune 30Salt Lake CityEccles TheaterJuly 1Grand JunctionAmphitheater at Las Colonias ParkJuly 3DillonDillon AmphitheaterJuly 5DenverBuell TheaterJuly 6September 25OsloNorwayOslo SpektrumSeptember 27StockholmSwedenAvicii ArenaSeptember 29GothenburgScandinaviumSeptember 30CopenhagenDenmarkRoyal ArenaOctober 2FlensburgGermanyFlens-ArenaOctober 3MagdeburgGETEC ArenaOctober 5BerlinVerti Music HallOctober 6October 7October 9KrefeldYayla ArenaOctober 11ParisFranceGrand RexOctober 12October 13October 15BrusselsBelgiumForest NationalOctober 16AmsterdamNetherlandsAFAS LiveOctober 17October 19LondonEnglandLondon PalladiumOctober 20October 23October 24October 26CardiffWalesCardiff International ArenaOctober 27HullEnglandBonus ArenaOctober 28NottinghamMotorpoint Arena NottinghamOctober 30GlasgowScotlandSEC ArmadilloOctober 31November 2ManchesterEnglandO2 Apollo ManchesterNovember 4OxfordNew Theatre OxfordNovember 5BournemouthBournemouth International CentreNovember 7DublinIreland3Arena + List of 2023 concertsDate (2023)CityCountryVenueApril 6OsakaJapanOsaka Festival HallApril 7April 8April 11TokyoTokyo Garden TheatreApril 12April 14April 15April 16April 18NagoyaAichi Prefectural Arts TheaterApril 19April 20June 2PortoPortugalColiseu do PortoJune 4LisbonCampo Pequeno BullringJune 5June 7MadridSpainReal Jardín Botánico Alfonso XIIIJune 8June 10SevilleAuditorio FibesJune 11June 13GranadaTeatro del GeneralifeJune 15AlicantePlaza de Toros AlicanteJune 19San SebastiánAuditorio KursaalJune 20June 21LogroñoPalacio de los Deportes de La RiojaJune 23BarcelonaGran Teatre del LiceuJune 24June 26CarcassonneFranceThéâtre Jean-DeschampsJune 27Aix-en-ProvenceAréna du Pays d'AixJune 29LyonL'Amphithéâtre LyonJune 30July 1MontreuxSwitzerlandAuditorium StravinskiJuly 3MilanItalyTeatro degli ArcimboldiJuly 4July 6LuccaPiazza NapoleoneJuly 7PerugiaArena Santa GiulianaJuly 9RomeSala Santa CeciliaOctober 1Kansas CityUnited StatesMidland TheatreOctober 2October 4St. LouisStifel TheatreOctober 6ChicagoCadillac Palace TheatreOctober 7October 8October 11MilwaukeeRiverside TheaterOctober 12October 14Grand RapidsDeVos Performance HallOctober 16IndianapolisMurat TheatreOctober 17October 20CincinnatiAndrew J. Brady Music CenterOctober 21AkronAkron Civic TheatreOctober 23ErieWarner TheatreOctober 24RochesterAuditorium TheatreOctober 26TorontoCanadaMassey HallOctober 27October 29MontrealSalle Wilfrid-PelletierOctober 30SchenectadyUnited StatesProctor's TheatreNovember 3BostonOrpheum TheatreNovember 4November 5November 7Port ChesterCapitol TheatreNovember 8November 10ProvidenceProvidence Performing Arts CenterNovember 11WaterburyPalace TheaterNovember 12SpringfieldSymphony HallNovember 14New York CityKings Theatre BrooklynNovember 15November 16Beacon TheatreNovember 19PhiladelphiaFillmore PhiladelphiaNovember 20NewarkPrudential HallNovember 21November 24BaltimoreJoseph Meyerhoff Symphony HallNovember 25November 27RichmondAltria TheaterNovember 29RoanokeBerglund Performing Arts CenterNovember 30HuntingtonKeith-Albee TheatreDecember 2RichmondEKU Center for the ArtsDecember 3EvansvilleOld National Events Plaza