Alpine Valley Hosts the Outlaw Tour: Dylan, Willie, Sheryl and Gang

Friday evening, Alpine Valley in East Troy, Wisconsin hosted the final stop on the Outlaw Tour before Saturday's Minneapolis Farm Aid show. The Alpine Valley event featured sets by Madeline Edwards, Waxahatchee, Sheryl Crow, Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson. It seems that the best way to begin is to describe the venue, and I doubt I can improve on the description provided by Adam Selzer from Bill Pagel's BobLinks.com:

I've been to a lot of characterless amphitheaters in horrible outer
suburbs lately. After all of those, Alpine Valley was a sheer delight.
It's genuinely in the middle of nowhere - farmland stretches a while from
there before you get to the town of East Troy, a tiny town that's too far
from any other town to count as a suburb.  Behind the venue is a ski slope
and rolling hills covered in lush trees as far as the eye can see. It's a
beautiful view.

Madeline Edwards

The concert opened at 4:00 p.m. with Madeline Edwards singing "Amazing Grace." It was easy to see why the 29-year-old singer songwriter is considered a rising star of the country scene. She showed noteworthy vulnerability as she shared her personal story about losing her brother to suicide afer a battle with schizophrenia. Months later, she was dropped by her label, management, and most of her team. What followed was FRUIT—a record born from grief but rooted in hope.

Of Waxahatchee, Sheryl Crow and Willie Nelson there is more to say but here I am going to drill down into a few thoughts and observations about the Dylan set. First, I wanted to draw attention to a small detail about the next stop for Willie and Bob. On Saturday the two were heading to Minneapolis for the 40th Anniversary of Farm Aid. What interesting is the surprising role Dylan played in the birth of Farm Aid. According to Ray Padgett, Bob performed at the "famously chaotic" Live Aid concert in the summer of 1985. It was a concert for Africa, and we all remember the stars there singing "We Are the World," which was written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Ritchie.

Well, when Dylan was onstage, he made an offhand remark that Willie Nelson caught and couldn't let go of. Dylan asked, "Wouldn't it be great if we did something for our own farmers right here in America?" Willie thought, "Yeah, it would be great."

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As David Kinney detailed in his book The Dylanologists, there are many categories of Dylan fans. The Pilgrims, those who make the pilgrimage Dylan's home town and other touchstones of his career. There are Dylan Scholars, Collectors, Lyrics Dissectors, Tapers (collect bootleg recordings of all his concerts), Religious/"Saved," Crazies (who sift his garbage) and the "Front Rowers." And there has to be the wide net of fans who fit no category other than that they have been touched in some deep way by his songs.

Many of the die-hard front rowers have attended not just dozens but hundreds of concerts. They notice every detail of every concert, especially when Bob deviates from expectations.

Friday night was my first concert since his fabulous show in Mankato back in 2019. We had seats in the first section behind the VIP seats.  

There were some significant contrasts between Bob's set and the others. It was daylight when the first two acts performed. During Sheryl Crow's set dusk yielded to darkness outside the amphitheater. Her performance was brightly lit throughout. The lights went out and one could see indistinct movement taking place as gear was removed and pianos rolled into place, along with other elements. The large backdrop became a deep red, but the darkness onstage remained. There was a pause as stillness came over everything, then silhouettes of musicians taking their places could be seen. 

No spotlights popped on. The only lights appeared to be the vases with white "nightlight-like" displays on the two ends of Bob's piano and four lanterns. It was just enough to give a glow to the faces of the band, and Bob, who sat center stage behind his piano wearing a block hoodie and what appeared to be a white T-shirt. 

One had to wonder how much to read into the red and yellow backdrop. I wondered if there were apocalyptic intentions here. Nuclear wasteland? (Naturally quite incongruous against the fisherman in nature setting.) "Not Dark Yet" came to mind... "but it's getting there." Which fits with the set's opening salvo, "Masters of War."

Was there an intentional link, then, to this background and "Under the Red Sky" as well? "All Along the Watchtower" is likewise associated with apocalyptic themes. 

As for the concert itself, I'll confess that I did not come with high expectations. I watched YouTube videos of this year's concerts and was there to pay tribute to a legend. I will happily say I was more than satisfied, toward the end I was wearing a smile from "Blind Willie McTell" through to the end. 

Here a few highlights. (I'm not going to detail the setlist, which you can find here at BobLinks.)

Dylan gets criticized for his lack of audience engagement, but it is what it is. His songs have something to say and he's certainly not striving to become a Vegas entertainer like Elvis, Sinatra or Wayne Newton. Opening with "Masters of War" is more than a song. It's a statement. I can't imagine it being an arbitrary inservtion.

"To Ramona" (from Another Side of Bob Dylan) has a special place for me in the Dylan catalog. "Everything passes, everything changes..." He's played this song more than 400 times in concert, and still seems to convey something heartfelt in his delivery. This was the fifth song of this set, punching out the lyrics in a memorable manner that sticks with you. He finished with a few flourishes on his harp, which his fans always seem to get a rise from.

"Early Roman Kings" followed with that slow da-dum-de-dump progression that carries everything forward. In Mankato Bob stood center stage with his arm outstretched, a hanky in hand, if memory serves me well. Even sitting behind he piano shrouded it darkness, he still seems to enjoy delivering that line, "My bell still rings."

"Under the Red Sky" was another that included some harmonica riffs in previous shows but not tonight. It's a song he's played over 200 times, from the album of the same name.  I've always enjoyed it, light-hearted fare when compared to his more sharp-edged songs.    Someday little girl, everything for you is gonna be new / Someday little girl, you’ll have a diamond as big as your shoe

"All Along the Watchtower" and "Desolation Row"are iconic, and both were performed with a measured energy. The lyrics to Watchtower are woven in a circular construction like a Mobius strip, which has no beginning or end, so it was not surprising to hear Dylan repeat the first verse again as if it flowed out of the last.  

Though Bob remained hidden behind the piano much of the night, he did stand a couple times and on another song shuffled over to Tony Garnier, perhaps to suggest something about the tempo. Between songs you could see Bob's hand flipping pages to the next song and I was curious what was there, chords or lyrics, or something else. 

A solid rendition of "Blind Willie McTell" foreshadowed the last songs of the set. "Soon After Midnight" followed, from his Tempest album, which many (incorrectly) thought would be his last. Over the last dozen years he's played this song over 450 times, which ends with this appeal, which is pure Bob: It’s now or never, more than ever / When I met you I didn’t think you would do / It’s soon after midnight and I don’t want nobody but you

"Highway 61 Revisited" and "Don't Think Twice" were showstoppers and a fitting climax for a set like this. 

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Related Links

Willie's Setlist

Bob's Setlist

Reviews from others who were there 

Willie and Bob: A Little History

Great performance by Sheryl Crow and her band

Katie Crutchfield of Waxahatchee

The inimitable Willie Nelson