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by: Adam Graham
Their combined age is 176 and their combined impact on music and culture is immeasurable.
And when Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan joined forces Friday night at Pine Knob, the crowd of more than 13,000 fans was treated to two American musical icons, two undisputed living legends, sharing their gifts and their artistry during the local tour stop of the Outlaw Music Festival, now in its 10th year.
It was the second year in a row that Dylan and tour founder Nelson shared a billing together at Pine Knob, so if you thought last year was the final chance to catch these two on a local stage, guess again. And given their respective indestructibility, you’d be foolish to think Friday’s show was any sort of a farewell.
Still, Nelson is 92 and Dylan is 84, and they likely have more Outlaw Fests behind them than they do in front of them.
But he powered through the performance, the capper of the tour’s first show after a nearly month-long break following a May West Coast run. The tour has 27 more stops before wrapping in September in East Troy, Wisconsin.
Nelson, his long braids falling from underneath his red bandana, pulled from his massive songbook, singing songs imbued with faith and wisdom from a life lived on the road (again), exactly the way he wanted to live it.
“I’m the last leaf on the tree,” Nelson sang faintly in the middle of his set during “Last Leaf,” the opening track from 2024’s “Last Leaf on the Tree,” his 76th solo studio album. That’s right, 76 albums, dating back to his 1962 debut “…And Then I Wrote,” released when he was all of 29 years old.
“Last Leaf” is a Tom Waits song but Nelson made it fully his own, singing “I’ve been here since Eisenhower, and I’ve outlived even he” to whoops and cheers from the crowd. (Willie’s actually been here since FDR, but who’s counting?)
The solemn, wistful song was a moment of reflection in an hour-long set full of them, but this was a time to celebrate, not mourn. So when Nelson followed it immediately after with “Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die,” it instantly lightened any lingering heaviness in the air, and reminded everyone who they were dealing with.
Earlier in the night, Dylan played for 70 minutes in the evening sun, blasted by sunlight as he took the stage at 8 p.m.
Dylan and his four-man band performed a 15-song set that included several crowd favorites (“All Along the Watchtower,” “Desolation Row”), delivered in a manner that was much more palatable than his often craggy live performance reputation. You could follow and even understand him, and the crowd sat still, in appreciative silence, through songs like “Forgetful Heart” and “’til I Fell in Love With You.”
The sun was still out when he wrapped his set — Friday was, after all, the longest day of the year — with “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right,” which drew cheers from the crowd and ended with Dylan posing briefly his bandmates before exiting the stage.
Nelson, one of the few living entities who can perform after Dylan, was already seated on stage when his performance began. He was situated behind a large piece of Outlaw signage that lifted to the rafters and revealed the sparse stage set-up, showing off the giant American flag that acted as his backdrop. (Dylan, along the rest of the day’s performers, all played with an Outlaw banner behind them.)
Nelson often spoke-sang his lyrics as he strummed his well-worn guitar, which looks to have seen as much life as he has. His set was more readily accessible and hits-friendly than Dylan’s, kicking off with “Whiskey River” and winding through crowd pleasers such as “Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys,” “On the Road Again” and “You Were Always On My Mind.”
Those were songs that seemingly everyone in the crowd either grew up with or has memories attached to, showing the depth and span of his reach. And with him constantly drawing parallels to his own mortality during songs like “Die When I’m High (Halfway to Heaven)” and set-closer “The Party’s Over,” you couldn’t help but think about his legacy, his stature, and the strength of his spirit.
He proved that strength at the end of his show, when after remaining seated the entire 20-song set, he got up on his own, walked to the foot of the stage and tossed a couple bandanas into the crowd, including the one from his own head.
He then walked to the back of the stage, where he raised his hands in triumph, before turning around and walking into the back. Willie Nelson may be the last leaf on the tree, but that tree is still plenty strong.
Earlier in the day, Nathaniel Rateliff, Trampled by Turtles and Myron Elkins, who hails from the greater Kalamazoo area, performed spirited sets of rootsy folk and Americana.
