Bob Dylan will be in KC on the 4th of July. Tickets go on sale soon
Some Independence Day plans may have changed with the latest news from Starlight Theatre.
The outdoor Kansas City theater announced that legendary American folk singer and songwriter Bob Dylan will take the stage Saturday, July 4, as a part of a spring and summer tour. It’s an extension of what fans have called The Never Ending Tour, named after his relentless tour schedule that saw him perform hundreds of shows every year since 1988.
Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, April 7, at kcstarlight.com. Joining Dylan on tour is three-time Grammy winner Lucinda Williams and her band, and John Doe Folk Trio.
Dylan has stopped at Kansas City numerous times throughout his six-decade long career, most recently in October 2023 for two shows at The Midland Theatre.
“I keep touring because: it is a perfect way to stay anonymous and still be a member of the social order,” Dylan told The Wall Street Journal in 2022. “You’re the master of your fate. But it’s not an easy path to take, not fun and games.”
The 84-year-old artist is often cited as one of the most influential songwriters of all time, pushing the folk genre to unseen limits through his lyricism. The Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Dylan in 2016 for having “created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.”
He was also included in the Time 100: “The Most Important People of the Century,” for the 20th century. His life and early career was recently the subject of the 2024 film “A Complete Unknown,” starring Timothée Chalamet. The film earned eight nominations at the 97th Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor, and earned Chalamet a Best Actor award at the 31st Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards.
The History Channel credits Dylan with popularizing the protest song, although many before him were speaking out on social issues. He was in favor of the civil rights movement in songs like “The Times They Are a-Changin’” and “Only a Pawn In Their Game,” discussed the threats of nuclear war in “Masters of War” and “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall,” and called for peace in “Blowin’ in the Wind.”
With over 600 songs written, it’s a mystery as to what songs he plays every show. Recent concerts have avoided some of his biggest hits, like “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Doors,” “Like a Rolling Stone” and “Hurricane.”
