Bob Dylan has been enjoying his latest tour leg, busting out live rarities like "Baby, Won’t You Be My Baby" and "I Shall Be Released," and frequently performing with his face obscured by the hood of a North Face jacket. But something is happening with his band and we don't know what it is.
Guitarist Doug Lancio, who replaced Charlie Sexton in Dylan's band in 2021, was absent at the June 17 show in Santa Barbara, CA, replaced by jazz virtuoso Julian Lage, and it's been that way ever since. Dylan said nothing the entire night at that show, and The Los Angeles Times reported in a review a few days later that a rep "had no word on whether Lage was a permanent addition to the band." Incidentally, that was one of this month's shows where Dylan played the aforementioned "I Shall Be Released" — now a part of his set for the first time in 18 years.
On June 24 in Tucson, AZ, Dylan even played some guitar himself — a rarity these days — when he opened with "Watching The River Flow." On Saturday (June 27), guitarist Bob Britt (who had been with Dylan since 2019) posted "Sayonara Bobby" on Facebook with an image of a flight plan from Austin, TX to Nashville, TN, where he lives. In case it wasn't clear, Britt responded to a commenter's "Ruh roh" with "I quit."
Dylan's Long Hot Summer Tour '26 is scheduled to hit Austin's Moody Amphitheater tonight. Band members TBD!
