Those who are not lucky enough to be on the Empire Polo Club grounds in Indio, California this weekend for the epic Desert Trip Festival will be pleased to know some pretty decent crowd footage has surfaced of Bob Dylan’s Weekend 2 Friday night performance. Without further ado, check out the above clip of Dylan, performing his beloved classic “Like a Rolling Stone” for the first time in almost three years.
Dylan’s set from last night included a number of classics including “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35,” “Tangled Up in Blue,” “Simple Twist of Fate” and “Desolation Row.” While there was no shortage of fan favorites, the setlist was fairly identical to his performance at Weekend 1 of Desert Trip… with the exception of “Like a Rolling Stone,” which hadn’t been played live by the musician since a show in Rome in 2013.
Dylan opened this weekend’s encore with the aforementioned surprise track before closing things out with a cover of the Cy Coleman tune “Why Try to Change Me Now” from his Frank Sinatra cover album Shadows in the Night. Alternatively, his encore performance at Weekend 1 was made up solely of “Masters of War,” a track he played onstage for the first time in approximately six years.
In other Dylan news, the musician became the latest recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature earlier in the week. Though there was no mention of the award during last night’s performance, fans were reportedly pleased with the singer’s “unfamiliar energy” and lyrical “clarity,” suggesting a possible link between his good spirits and his recent honors.
Weekend 2 of Desert Trip continues tonight with performances by Paul McCartney and Neil Young. Roger Waters and The Who are scheduled to close out the historic festival on Sunday night.