The Politics and Power of Bob Dylans Live Performances

Ephemeral by nature, the concert setlist is a rich, if underexplored, text for scholarly research. How an artist curates a show is a significant aspect of any concerts appeal. Through the placement of songs, variations in order, or the omission of material, Bob Dylans setlists form a meta-narrative speaking to the power and significance of his music. These essays use the setlists from concerts throughout Dylans career to study his approach to his material from the 1960s to the 2020s. These chapters, from various disciplinary perspectives, illustrate how the concert setlist can be used as a source to explore many aspects of Dylans public life. Finally, this collection provides a new method to examine other musicians across genres with an interdisciplinary approach to setlists and the selectivity of performance. Unique in its approach and wide-ranging scholarly methodology, this book deepens our understanding of Bob Dylan, the performer.