Bob Dylan Throws A ‘Garden Party’ Among Other Setlist Shakeups At 2nd Outlaw Fest Stop

Bob Dylan’s approach to writing setlists following the first two stops of Willie Nelson's 10th Anniversary Outlaw Music Festival has been anything but predictable. After loading his first Outlaw tour performance with bust outs, cover debuts and other rarities, Dylan followed with more setlist surprises last night at North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre in Chula Vista, California, including a debut cover of Rick Nelson’s “Garden Party.”

Dylan opened his set with “Things Have Changed” and “Simple Twist Of Fate.” Next came “Forgetful Heart,” which came off the shelf on night one in Phoenix. The second “Axe and the Wind” — after the George “Wild Child” Butler cover’s debut on Tuesday — followed, ahead of the recently dusted off “To Ramona,” and “Early Roman Kings.”

Carry-overs from the first tour stop, “Under the Red Sky” and “I’ll Make It All Up To You,” “All Along the Watchtower” and “It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry” filled in the middle portion of the set. The performance progressed with “Desolation Row” and “Love Sick.”

Dylan then played the Love And Theft song, “Lonesome Day Blues,” for the first time since 2017. The 83-year-old followed with a cover of the Aretha Franklin-popularized “Share Your Love With Me,” which the BobDylan.com setlist database indicates was performed by Dylan once before, with The Band in 1974.

Another song overlooked since 2017, “Blind Willie McTell,” kept the unexpected song selections rolling. Dylan’s set concluded with his first public attempt at “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” in six years. The final song of Dylan’s show was the previously mentioned debut cover of Rick Nelson’s “Garden Party,” whose lyrics mention Dylan.

Dylan and the Outlaw Music Festival Tour head tonight to the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. View audience-captured video of Dylan’s “Garden Party” premiere and more from the Outlaw Fest stop in Chula Vista below: