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Before Bob Dylan even walked onstage Friday night to kick off the summer Outlaw Music Festival tour at Ameris Bank Amphitheater in Alpharetta, Georgia, word circulated through the fan community that big changes were afoot in Dylan World. Super fan Ray Padgett was on site with early reports that gospel-era drummer Jim Keltner was taking over from Jerry Pentecost, and pedal steel player Donnie Herron was out after a 19-year stint in the band.
But nobody was prepared for the remarkable show that followed, which was one of the most surreal and unpredictable nights in the 36-year history of the Never Ending Tour. After three years of playing a static set built around his 2020 LP, Rough and Rowdy Ways, and select deep cuts from the past, Dylan presented a completely new show heavy on Fifties covers and his original tunes from the past two decades. The only songs recorded prior to the turn of the millennium were 1990’s “Under the Red Sky” and 1975’s “A Simple Twist of Fate.”
The tone for the night was set when he opened with a cover of Willie Dixon’s 1955 blues standard “My Babe.” Later in the evening, he broke out Chuck Berry’s 1959 classic “Little Queenie,” the Fleetwoods’ 1959 hit “Mr. Blue,” the 1951 Hank Williams masterpiece “Cold, Cold Heart,” and Sanford Clark’s 1956 rockabilly hit “The Fool.”
There’s no record of him playing any of them throughout the course of his career. There wasn’t a single selection from Rough and Rowdy Ways, but he did break out four songs (“Early Roman Kings,” “Long and Wasted Years,” “Pay in Blood,” and “Scarlet Town”) from 2012’s Tempest.
Willie Nelson is headlining every night of the Outlaw tour, but hours before showtime, news hit that that he was under the weather and would be missing the first four shows “per doctor’s orders.” Lukas Nelson and the Family Band subbed in. That meant fans who bought tickets hoping to see the elder Nelson and hear their favorite Dylan Sixties tunes were in for a long evening. They did, however, get to see Robert Plant and Alison Krauss cover Led Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll” and “The Battle of Evermore,” along with “Gone Gone Gone,” “Please Read the Letter,” and “Rich Woman” from their own albums. Celisse took the stage first.
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Ronnie Radke has claimed that Max Georgiev was dismissed from Falling In Reverse due to allegations of sexual misconduct, accusations that Georgiev has firmly rejected.
Georgiev exited the Las Vegas metalcore group in 2024. Last week, the band’s frontman Ronnie Radke shared an Instagram post stating that the guitarist was removed after allegedly admitting to a sexual relationship with an underage girl.
“For those that are wondering why I fired the guitarist,” Radke wrote, according to Lambgoat, “it’s because he admitted to sleeping with a minor ten years before he [was] in my band [when] he was 27 years old. Have fun with that.”
Georgiev, who joined Falling In Reverse in 2018 and now performs with metal outfit Vio-lence, responded shortly after, denying the allegations. “To the fans, I have never done anything illegal with a minor,” said Max Georgiev. “Fifteen years ago, when I was 23, I still lived in Quebec, Canada.”
“Since then, I have played for several bands who never mentioned inappropriate behavior on my part,” he continued. “I have always had great respect for the fans. I have strived to play my heart out for you.”
Radke’s Instagram account has since appeared to be removed, something he addressed during a livestream. “Maybe me talking about my old guitar player getting fired for finding out he was hooking up with minors, I think that AI might’ve caught that and was like, ‘You gotta go’,” he suggested, as reported by Loudwire".
“This man not only did that, [but] the parents of the minor ten years before he was in my band found out, they confronted him, he lied about his age so he could continue doing that with her. He wasn’t 23, he was older. He’s lying about that,” Radke went on to claim.
In a subsequent statement shared on Thursday January 8, Georgiev again rejected Radke’s accusations, calling them “delusional”. “I met someone who turned eighteen a few months later while I occasionally dated her,” he said. “This was fifteen years ago, when I was 23 in Quebec, Canada.”
“Her parents never confronted me because the girl only had a mother. I never lied to her or her daughter about anything.”
Georgiev later suggested that his departure from Falling In Reverse may instead have been linked to him “taking the initiative to learn nine songs of another band”, which he identified as Disturbed.
Elsewhere, Radke has reportedly filed a temporary restraining order against Brittany Furlan, citing alleged harassment connected to a catfish controversy from last year.
He has repeatedly alleged that Furlan, the estranged wife of Tommy Lee, was involved with someone impersonating him online. The filing asks that she be required to remain at least 100 yards away from him. Representatives for Furlan have said they are “aware” of the request and maintain that the allegations are “not accurate”.
Radke also saw his defamation lawsuit against Anthony Fantano of The Needle Drop dismissed last year.
