LIVE REVIEWS
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.
LIVE REVIEWS
Slayyyter played her take on Turnstile’s ‘Birds’ onstage for the first time in Atlanta. You can watch footage of the performance below.
Slayyyter is currently touring with her ‘Wor$t Girl In The World’ show. She added the cover to her set at The Eastern on Monday night (September 21).
She sang ‘Birds: Slayyyter Version’ near the end of the main set, following ‘Brittany Murphy’. She then came back for an encore featuring ‘Brand New Chanel$’ and ‘Beat Up Chanel$’.
It was her first live performance of the song. She originally recorded it for Turnstile’s ‘Never Enough: Versions’, a collection of reworked tracks released on August 28.
The 22 track release brings together new interpretations of songs from Turnstile’s fourth album. Contributors include Elton John, Hayley Williams, Blood Orange, A. G. Cook, Faye Webster, Four Tet, Oklou, Floating Points, Nourished By Time, Alex G, Julien Baker and Mustafa.
Panda Bear recorded a new take on ‘Magic Man’, while Dying Fetus gave ‘Birds’ another interpretation rooted in death metal.
See Slayyyter perform the track live and listen to her studio recording here:
Slayyyter trades the original song’s hardcore intensity for a bigger electronic sound that feels at home alongside her latest album, ‘Wor$t Girl In America’.
Turnstile first released ‘Birds’ on their 2025 album ‘Never Enough’. The song won Best Metal Performance at the 2026 Grammy Awards, where the album also won Best Rock Album.
In its five star review of ‘Never Enough’, NME pointed to ‘Birds’ and ‘Sole’ as reminders of Turnstile’s hardcore beginnings. It also praised the album for “furthering their unique, pop-facing take on hardcore”.
Slayyyter will join Turnstile on another stage next month. She and Die Spitz are set to support the band at the University of Kansas in Lawrence on October 6 for the ‘Never Enough Tour Pt. 2’.
It has been a big year for Slayyyter. Her third album, ‘Wor$t Girl In America’, came out in March, and NME’s review highlighted its mix of “brash, sleazy pop” and late 2000s indie sleaze sounds.
Last month, she performed Hole’s ‘Violet’ for triple J’s Like A Version. Courtney Love called the cover “a delight” and encouraged Slayyyter to “keep wiping the floors with us”.
A few weeks later, Slayyyter took ‘Wor$t Girl In America’ to Reading Festival. NME’s live review declared that there was “undoubtedly a star before us on stage” and praised her “rasped, rocked-up delivery” and growing confidence as a performer.
