Bob Dylan - Bob Links - Cincinnati, Ohio - Reviews - 07/10/26

= Bob Dylan - Bob Links - Cincinnati, Ohio - Reviews - 07/10/26


Reviews Cincinnati, Ohio PNC Pavilion At Riverbend July 10, 2026

[Don Ely], [Elizabeth Branch], [Joe Hollon], [Kevin Waters], [Adam Setzer]

Review by Don Ely


My stats:  110 shows, 23 states, since 1981, travellin' since 2000

As I surely stated already, this was my 110th opportunity to see  Bob
Dylan and his Band work their onstage magic. I don't see Bob quite as
often as I used to, and I was disappointed in myself for having skipped
the hometown Detroit stop in April. When I took notice of Friday night in
Cincinnati: Road Trip!! This was my first since Tinley Park 9/7/24 as part
of WillieFest.

The venue was PNC Pavillion on the grounds of Riverbend Music Center. I
was first here for the AmericanaRama Tour in 2013, which matched Dylan
with Wilco, My Morning Jacket and the Richard Thompson Electric Trio. Wish
I could have attended a few more of those! Walking around the complex
tonight I talked to one of the RMC personnel who informed me that
Riverbend accommodates 22,000, while PNC seats 4500. And yes, the
Riverbend lawn remains Astroturf... nothing like melting to the ground
sitting on plastic grass in the blistering heat!

This evening we faced no such challenges, though I had concern PNC
Pavillion would be an indoor concert hall. Essentially it's a summer shed
minus the lawn. Only about a week before our show I scored tickets in Row
A, the front row unless you count the fifteen or so aisles of folding
chairs unfolded in the pit. Stretch-out-and-relax leg room and great sound
set up a memorable evening of music.

First up, the John Doe Folk Trio: at the dawn of the 1980's I paid no
attention to the Los Angeles Punk scene, thumbing my nose in favor of New
York and London. But of course I've expanded my musical tastes
exponentially since then, and a few years ago we caught X at El Club in
Detroit. Great! Great! Great! Even better I would imagine than they were
in the Reagan era, 'cause they've expanded their experience too. The Folk
Trio performed an inspiring opening set, borrowing the bass player from
Lucinda's band. " Thank you John for the Wild Gift! ", I yelled out,
referring to the second X album title but meaning the songs rendered in
this moment. Three X numbers saw daylight: " Burning House Of Love " and "
See How We Are ' were played but the best of the three had to be " The New
World " with its repeated lyric " Don't forget The Motor City/ This was
supposed to be the new world "! And don't forget Flint Ford Auto! Written
during Reagan but perfect during Trumpty Dumpty. The sweetness of "
Somewhere Over The Rainbow " offered Aspirations of Hope.

Next up, Lucinda Williams: I don't believe I'd seen her since Bonnaroo
2003 or '04, whichever year it was. I know she'd had health issues
recently and taking that into account I felt she was vibrant and
energetic. I'm not familiar with her entire catalog but I have acquired
Lu's Jukebox Vols. 3 and 4, the Dylan and 1960's country covers
collections. Taking a peek at her discography she has released many more
albums than I realized, going all the way back to 1979. She and her band
tore through a fiery selection that included perhaps her best-known song "
Joy " and the title track to her latest, " World's Gone Wrong ". They
closed with a standout rendition of Neil Young's " Rockin' In The Free
World " to remind us all of what we'd been a-missin'. Might have to catch
her again soon before it's all over!

And then there's Bob... I really don't follow His Every Move in the
present as in the past, but apparently His Band is in flux... it's the
Parade of the Revolving Guitarists! This tour commenced with Bob Britt and
Doug Lancio, who'd been around since Milwaukee '21. Then Julian Lage
stepped in, sometimes they were a quartet, then they added Joel Paterson
from Chicago and now enter Jad Tariq from Memphis, who made his major
league debut this very Friday night. Add drummer Anton Fig, who, according
to his bio was in the South African band Spider, whom I remember seeing in
1980-81 with Alice Cooper and the Joe Perry Project in Detroit. So the
current line-up is Paterson, Tariq, Tony Garnier and Fig. Can't speak to
individual performances but the band was really tight, especially with a
couple guys who were almost born yesterday And the electric guitars vs
acoustic really ups the ante. Dylan wore a gray hoodie the entire show,
reminding me of when he would wear such outfits in an effort to evade the
public... maybe he still does. Ah, the Quirks of Bob! Apparel aside, he
was in the best voice I think I've heard in ages, clearly singing so songs
could be recognized almost instantly. The material always develops from
tour to tour and that's part of the fun of attending so many shows. The
five numbers from " Rough And Rowdy Ways " are leagues away from their
debuts five years ago. " Crossing The Rubicon " was the only one I had yet
to experience. The three interpretations of songs of others were new to me
as well: " I Can Tell ", recorded by Bo Diddley in 1962; " Share Your Love
With Me ", recorded by Bobby " Blue " Bland in 1963 and Aretha in 1970; "
I'll Make It All Up To You " cut to wax by Jerry Lee Lewis on Sun in 1958.
Also, I thought Dylan was playing his best keys in I don't know how long -
no klunky notes at all! Momentarily a refreshing light rain blew in from
the open air.

A quality setlist that flowed especially well, everybody onstage on their
best behavior, two excellent bands to complement the headliner... need I
say it? A superlative night of American Music! Don't you DARE miss it!

Don Ely
Rochester, MI

Review by Elizabeth Branch


Is it too much to demand?
No! 
She wanted "a full house and a rock and roll band" and she got it!

Lucinda Williams didn't sing Passionate Kisses tonight but her new song
"World's Gone Wrong" (2026) was incredible. As was her closer, the
house rocker Neil Young's "Rockin' in the Free World" a sing along
with everyone she encouraged to sing along with her. What a special
performance I was privileged to witness. She thanked Bob Dylan, as did The
John Doe Trio preceding her onstage and I thank Bob Dylan, too. What a
night!

Fireflies glowing as they glided upwards "trying to get to heaven"
during the show.

A steady downpour of heavy rain didn't dampen any spirits of the crowd,
all under cover, appreciative of the promise the rain brought of cooling
us off, but it just made it very humid with the heat of the day lingering
on.

Bob Dylan and the band took the stage and I saw two new faces downstage on
guitars, when I got home I got to see their names listed here, thank you
Bill Pagel! The band was in fine form, joyous, and many smiles were
exchanged up there, even Bob was laughing and dancing and nodding
encouragement to his left and right for more guitar playing.

I was not able to purchase a show concert poster but I did get the
t-shirt! As the old posters used to say: "Don't You Dare Miss It!"

Thank you, Bob, for coming to my town and celebrating live music from real
musicians with a love of performance. I hope you felt our love for you
during the oh, so brief, bows center stage at the end of the night.

And thank you, Bill Pagel, for this magnificent archive of American music
history in the making.

Keep on keepin' on!

Review by Joe Hollon


This was my 35th Dylan concert and my wife's 6th.  It was definitely a hot
summer night (as the tour shirt declared) in Cincinnati.  These were the
best seats I've ever had at a Dylan show: 5th row, dead center.  Lucinda
Williams and the John Doe Trio were about 20 feet in front of us when they
were performing.  Both opening acts were very good and well received by
the audience.  Dylan's keyboard was set back a bit further from the stage
so when he came out I'd estimate he was 30 feet in front of us.  Even with
the hoodie, we were close enough to clearly see his facial expressions and
nods to his bandmates during the show.  This tour has been receiving a lot
of negative chatter online for some reason (Bob Dylan doesn't play his hit
songs...he doesn't sound like he did x years ago...the same tired, lazy,
criticisms that have been around for 50 years...where have these people
been?).  Anyway, everyone around us was into it and seemed to love every
minute of the show.  "Black Rider" has become a crowd favorite and it was
during this song the sky opened up and a burst of rain mercifully cooled
things off.  Highlights for me were "Soon After Midnight", "Under the Red
Sky", "I've Made Up My Mind to Give Myself to You", and "I Shall Be
Released".

Joe Hollon

Comments by Kevin Waters


It was a great show.
Both guitarists are excellent.
Bob sounded good.
Tony Garnier is rock solid.
Anton Fig is superb.

Highlights include
Man in the Long black coat
It ain't me, babe
Tryin' to get to heaven
Black rider
I can tell
I made up my mind to give myself you
Soon after midnight
I shall be released

Review by Adam Setzer


At one of my first shows, we could see a bit of backstage through a crack
in the fence. Right as the show ended we could see Bob stepping down the
steps off the stage. As he did, someone said something, and he looked up
with a jack-o-lantern grin. I haven't seen that grin on his face in a
while; starting with the first Outlaw tour he's generally been moody and
hooded. But tonight in Cincinnati he was all smiles, bopping to the beat,
and even dancing around behind his piano. It was probably the best show
I've seen since Austin a couple of years ago. After the show everyone
was just jubilant (as in the picture above).

This day didn't start out promising promising. I hadn't planned to do
this one - a five hour drive is in that dead zone where it's too close
to want to fly, but really too far to drive. But Henry had a spare ticket,
and the evolving band has been exciting to follow, so I decided there was
just too much happening to miss the chance. All my friends would be here,
after all. Of course, then I started my day getting a huge bill, being
unable to find parking by Henry's place (street sweeping day), and kind
of feeling crappy. I had a weird whistle in my ear and didn't know why.
My back was sore. It was hot out. And, of course, there are wars on and
stuff. I wasn't in a great place when I left the house.

But we drove off to Ohio ("Where America's From"), passing through
Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio all in ten minutes, and met up with Mike and
Kait. Ben showed up and we did some tailgating. It was sweaty out and I
didn't seem to feel the beer at all. Something there is in Ohio that
always makes it hard for me to breathe there.

But Cincinnati is my favorite part of Ohio, and the outdoor arena turned
out to be covered, which was a relief. Shade! The whole vibe of the place
was "Theme Park that Remodeled in 1990 and Hasn't Changed a Bit." It was
like an ampitheater, only with no lawn and everything was covered. We took
our seats, down at the front stage left, just before John Doe Folk
Trio's excellent set. John came out and said "You thought you came out
for a night of good music. But you're getting a night of GREAT" music.
Mike shouted his approval and John said "That guy gets it." Later Henry
shouted out a request for his cover of "Pressing On." John smirked and
said "'Pressing On?'...No."

Lucinda Williams, post-stroke, has to be helped onto the stage. She stands
a bit weak on her feet and her singing probably isn't as dynamic as
she'd like. But her focus is visible, and her sheer resilience shines
through. What a badass! Her set was terrific again, with the crowd
high-fiving, and the guy who helped her out throwing devil horns offstage,
during her closing cover of "Rockin' in the Free World." John Doe
reminded us that we are all worthy of love, and can love whoever the hell
we want. And despite both of their digs at "What's-His-Name," Lucinda
reminded us that we can keep on rocking.

My mood had lifted. In fact, about halfway through her set, I realized
that I felt fantastic. Calm. Happy. Sweaty, and glad I was wearing my neon
headband (it's Neon Magic Summer '26), but just plain happy. I was
with friends; we'd hung out with Gordon and his son Jude, and Heather
had shown up with pics of me from Atlanta 2004, and Dan K from Chicago was
right in our row. The weather cooled to one of those hot, brown,
midwestern nights that I always mention when I'm tasting Heaven's Door
Rye and saying what it tastes like to me, pretending I have much of a
palette. I felt so good I wondered if Mitch McConnell had died somewhere
out there and made the world a bit of a happier place.

Now, there'd been much discussion of who would be in the band tonight.
With Julian Lage probably on a plane for his gigs in Europe, the best
guess was that Joel Paterson would go back to holding it up himself on
guitar, as he's quite capable of doing. We saw a hollow body Gibson,
like Joel played, over stage right, where Julian had been before. But then
we saw another hollow body guitar on the other side, where Joel had been.
Two guitarists?

As the band came out, Joel was right near us, so we shouted "Yeah, Joel!
Chicago! Chicago!" He looked down, motioned to us, and mouthed "You?
Chicago?" Then smiled and put a finger to his lips before we could get him
in trouble with the boss.

Behind him, a new guitarist had come out, putting on another hollow-body
Gibson. He was a younger guy with great hair and a World War 2 allied
pilot mustache. With the large guitar and suit, he was giving "member of a
jazz band at the officer's club in 1944 playing tasteful jazz and making
all the women go crazy by curling his lip every now and then." None of us
knew who he was. Now and then a guy would poke his head from behind the
curtain backstage and look at him, and I started to imagine he was a
character in a screwball comedy who was on the run, ended up backstage,
and someone said "Thank Gd you're here! You're on!" and now he was
onstage, with the guy who was chasing him stuck backstage. 

"To Be Alone With You" showed Bob in good voice, Joel going right to town,
and the new guitar fitting right in, playing a lot of staccato rhythm with
jazz voicings of the chords. He did a few solos, and he was great, but the
night would belong to Joel on guitar.

Bob was in his hoodie, but was grinning and bopping along, in a better
mood than I'd seen him in (at least visibly) in a long, long time. Tony,
too, was grinning (the ultimate barometer). "Man in the Long Black Coat"
was perfect for the weather.

"It Ain't Me Babe" was a big crowd pleaser, and the two guitars were
really adding to it. Joel and the new guy (revealed well after the show to
be 29 year old Jad Tariq of Memphis) were watching each other, giving each
other looks like "you play a solo" or "now I'll play a solo." It was
Joel's first time up as the guitarist with seniority. "Trying to Get to
Heaven" was perfect for these two; Henry pointed out that the song seemed
to fit very well with "Man in the Long Black Coat." Other than having the
same producer on the album tracks it's hard to see why, but it works.
Maybe the Man in the Long Black Coat is trying to get to heaven, and Miss
Mary Jane went with him without leaving a note.

"False Prophet" began very leisurely, lacking the evil bite of earlier
versions. It was jarring, really. It was like a walk in the garden, and
not like Bosch's garden of earthly delights, but a pleasant garden
someplace. But then the guy walking with you is still saying all this
dark, vaguely threatening stuff, which made it a whole different kind of
unsettling, akin to "Soon After Midnight" when the gentle lilt suddenly
becomes a song about dragging Two-Timin' Slim's corpse through the
mud. The song featured some dueling guitars, which broke up the "pleasant
stroll" vibe with some biting blues; by this time Bob was often nodding at
Joel. Usually you can't tell what a nod from Bob might mean; tonight it
was very clearly "Take a solo." Or "Keep soloing." He occasionally nodded
the new guy's way, but most of the looks were going to Joel. And they
all seemed good and encouraging, sometimes even punctuated by a smile.

"I Can Tell" featured Joel on slide, which has really brought that song to
life. The covers in the set generally feel like filler - Mike said after
Chicago that this show alternated between the last song you hear before
you go to hell and a 1950s high school dance. But the new band is really
lifting them up.

Things began to go to another level with "Black Rider." A bit less
sinister than in Chicago, vocally. This time he seemed like the guy who
appears to the Black Rider every couple of miles, uttering vague warnings
and threats, in a gentle, "I've been warning you..." tone that you know
the Black Rider isn't going to heed. One day I'll wave his hand and
the Black Rider will turn to dust. Maybe he used to be the Black Rider
himself. Maybe the Black Rider is like the Dread Pirate Robert; there've
been many over the years. You can tell a show is good when I find myself
going into these weird raptures of fantasy from them. It doesn't always
happen. It didn't happen much the other night in Chicago.

And best of all, it started raining - hard - outside of the stadium in the
middle of the song. We could hear it on the roof, and sometimes the wind
would even blow a mist in from the wings. It was like the song summoned a
storm. Damn, Bob - what else can you do?

Bob nodded for Joel to keep going a bit during the intro to "When I Paint
My Masterpiece," and when he did, Bob's face broke into a huge smile and
what appeared to be a delighted chuckle. He sang like he was having a
blast up there. "Crossing the Rubicon" gives Bob a lot of great
opportunities vocally - a lot of lines that he seems to like playing with.
Tonight he seemed to be really telling the story of the song more than he
usually does to me, not just leaning into the vocal gymnastics, but really
living inside of the song, telling us how he crossed the Rubicon. Joel
played some wicked guitar. As we always do, we all shouted "Woo!" in the
seconds when the band pauses during the instrumental breaks, and Tony was
so amused that people who'd been in the back came up after and asked if
we'd noticed Tony reacting to us. Heather said "Tony thinks you guys are
funny!"

"Soon After Midnight" is a song I could generally skip, if it was long
enough to make into bathroom break, but the two guitars are really pushing
it forward, with Bob again seeming absolutely delighted in Joel's work.

The two guitars are also adding a look of good shading and texture to
"Under the Red Sky," which is probably the song that comes closest to the
album version. Fireflies were lighting up the stage. There was a harp solo
here tonight, and a great one. The crowd went nuts for it.

"I've Made Up My Mind..." is another that I sometimes think I've heard
enough, but it was particularly lovely and heartfelt tonight. "Goodbye
Jimmy Reed," which is sometimes known to limp along, is back to being an
uptempo bop.

Now, this had been a hell of a show. Bob seemed to be having a blast,
something that I don't think I've seen in a long time. The two new
guitarists were playing like they'd been playing together for ages and
really elevating the set, clearly inspiring Bob. Just one wild card
remained: would the closer be "Every Grain of Sand" or "I Shall Be
Released?" Henry has been wanting to see "I Shall Be Released" live for
twenty years. As noted in Steven Ring's review of Chicago, when Bob
closed with "Every Grain of Sand" there, Henry had thrown up his hands in
despair. Today he was still bugged by it, even though he knew in his heart
that you can't get your hopes up about a setlist surprise. He'd been
telling himself not to get his hopes up again all day.

But then Bob leaned over towards Joel and said "Shall be Released" with a
little nod. When Bob sang the first line, Henry broke down. I was cradling
him for much the song as he ugly-cried with joy. He later said he felt
like he'd been released. The version Bob brought in also happened to be
gorgeous - well arranged, beautifully sung, and with a benedictory harp
solo to close out the evening. The whole show was a triumph.

Sometimes you wonder if it's just your own mood. If you just have a
better time than normal because you have seats with friends or simply have
a great view. What you get out of a concert definitely reflects what you
put into it. But everyone else we knew was just aglow after the show. We
buzzed around the seats and the parking lot for a long time, trying to
find out if anyone knew who the new guy was and rehashing favorite
moments. There were a lot of them. This is the kind of show you chase. The
reason we travel around. One of them, anyway. You get a lot of adventures
and make a lot of friends along the way, but you're always hoping for
one of those shows that just seems to rise from A+ to something more. That
lifts you out of yourself. What if there's a show like this and you miss
it because you didn't want to take a five hour drive? It's a nice ride
with a friend and if you take a slightly scenic route you'll probably
see some interesting stuff. Word around Chicago was that Joel was going to
be out for 2-3 weeks, but that was probably before Bob Britt had left the
band, and he just expected to fill in for dates when Julian had prior
commitments. I wonder if Bob is going to make him an offer he can't
refuse. 

Now it's morning. I'm in a blue light cheap hotel in some speed trap
town in Indiana, eating a hotel breakfast that doesn't include any eggs
while the Hallmark Channel plays Hallmark Christmas movies on the TV
screen, even though it's July. The whistle in my ear is a bit worse. If
Mitch McConnell kicked it, it hasn't been announced yet. But I'm
feeling great, still buzzing from the show. I'm taking comfort in
knowing that Mitch will probably be out of my hair pretty soon, anyway,
and that I still have the Forest Hills show ahead in a couple of weeks.
Hallelujah, I'm ready to go.

Adam Setzer
adamchicago.com

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