Bob Dylan Throws a Wrench Into ‘Desolation Row’
Bob Dylan isn’t one to rest on his creative laurels. Where other artists his age have long ago decided to shut up and play the hits, the mercurial 83-year-old is using his recent tour dates to cover songs from the ’50s and play tracks off his middling 2012 album Tempest, with only the occasional scrap of red meat thrown to audiences. (Curiously, some of his song choices seem to be in response to recent pop-culture developments, like performing “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” for the first time in six years, two weeks after Timmy Chalamet sang it in the trailer for A Complete Unknown.) Anyway, the guy remains as predictably unpredictable as ever — a quality reflected in his recent choice of instrument.
Toward the end of his set in Darien Center, New York, on Tuesday, Dylan broke out 1965’s “Desolation Row” for the first time since 2019, with the help of … a miniature wrench.
closer view pic.twitter.com/0mkGJn6ke9
— mac (@batsdune) September 18, 2024
Now, this raises a few questions: Did some roadie just leave the wrench there and accidentally inspire the singer to improvise, or did Dylan dispatch someone to Home Depot before the show to acquire it? If so, what specifications did he offer them, and were they nervous about picking out the right one? (Wrench Guy, if you’re reading this, I just want to talk!) Did Dylan, impish as ever, troll his own band by literally throwing a wrench in their plans? As is often the case with the singer’s inscrutable choices, we’ll likely never know. In fact, he might already be plotting how to incorporate more household tools into his sets. If so, a few humble suggestions, for Mr. Zimmerman:
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