Bob Dylan Revives “Million Miles” at Bremen’s OVB Arena

By Tom Whitfield

Bob Dylan played “Million Miles” at the OVB Arena in Bremen, Germany, on October 25, his first performance of the Time Out of Mind song since 2014. It came near the end of his set on the Lights of Autumn tour.

Fans had to place their phones in pouches for the duration of the show, so no video of the performance exists. An audience recording has surfaced and captures the song in unusually clear sound. That recording supplies the evidence for the performance, but no details about the recorder, the recording’s completeness or the room itself. It documents the music without documenting the occasion.

How much has the set list actually changed?

“Trying to Get to Heaven,” also from Time Out of Mind, has appeared regularly in Dylan’s set during recent months. In Bremen, he unveiled a new arrangement that the account describes as evoking the Desire classic “One More Cup of Coffee.” He had played the same song two days earlier in Flensburg, Germany, but it sounded nothing like the Bremen version.

The report gives no instrument-by-instrument breakdown of the rearrangement and no formal comparison with the Flensburg performance. The audible contrast, however, supports a narrower conclusion than wholesale reinvention. Dylan’s repertoire remains largely familiar, while his performances within that repertoire change substantially.

The Lights of Autumn tour began on October 19 in Oslo, Norway. Dylan surprised the audience that night with several departures from his established set:

• He debuted covers of Randy Newman’s “Louisiana 1927” and Guy Clark’s “Dublin Blues.”
• He performed “Crash on the Levee (Down in the Flood)” for the first time since 2005.
• He played “Tangled Up In Blue” for the first time since 2018, adding two new verses and accompanying himself on piano with minimal support.

The Oslo-only choices soon disappeared. The Newman and Clark covers left the set after the opening night, as did “Crash on the Levee (Down in the Flood).” The new “Tangled Up In Blue” remained. Dylan also brought back a tender take on “Girl From The North Country.”

These changes show that Dylan’s printed set list captures only part of his touring practice. A song can remain in rotation for months while its arrangement shifts between shows. The Bremen and Flensburg versions of “Trying to Get to Heaven” offer the clearest example. A list of titles cannot tell concertgoers what they will hear once Dylan and his band start reworking those songs.

Why is the band lineup unsettled?

Mike Seal made his debut as a guitarist during Dylan’s European shows. His arrival followed a series of personnel changes that began in June, when longtime members Doug Lancio and Bob Britt left the group without warning.

Several musicians have since filled their places in different combinations:

• Julian Lage
• Joel Paterson
• Jad Tarik
• Mike Seal

Paterson and Seal currently share the guitar duties. Nothing in the current touring setup indicates how long that division of work will last. The lineup can change without notice, which makes any prediction about the guitarist at the next show unreliable.

The evidence for Dylan’s constant revision comes from a small run of concerts rather than a documented plan for the entire tour. No tour-wide set list or personnel schedule appears in the account. The observations establish a pattern of alteration, not a promise of permanence.

What does this change for concertgoers?

For concertgoers, a familiar title does not guarantee a familiar arrangement. The Bremen version of “Trying to Get to Heaven” differed from the Flensburg version played two days earlier. The current pairing of Paterson and Seal can also end without advance warning.

The practical answer is that Dylan is working with well-known material while changing how it sounds. Fans should read set lists as a starting point rather than a description of the performance. Neither the Bremen arrangement nor the present guitar pairing has a stated lifespan, so both remain provisional.