The spring edition of Bob Dylan’s "Rough and Rowdy Ways 2025" tour rolled into Kalamazoo, Michigan, on a Wednesday evening in mid-April. Earlier in the month, the tour had visited places like Eau Claire, Wisconsin; Davenport, Iowa; and Omaha, Nebraska.

Dylan does not need to tour. He will be 84 years old in May, has recently sold his songwriting catalog to Universal Music for a rumored $300 million, and if he felt the need to play in front of a live audience, could easily set up shop for a couple of weeks in places like New York, Chicago, or Los Angeles and let the fans come to him — and they happily would.

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The only answer to why Dylan is in Kalamazoo (or something similar) is that he wants to be there, playing small to mid-sized audiences in cities and towns that don’t usually get concerts by someone of his stature. The audiences have reciprocated the gesture by filling the theaters more than they usually do. Outside of the major cities, it’s usually not all that hard to find a good ticket to see Dylan.

But this time out — possibly because of a wave of both renewed awareness and maybe some general goodwill thanks to "A Complete Unknown," the film based on Dylan’s early days in New York City — the shows sold briskly and the Bobcats (yes, that is a name used to describe the diehard fans) had to hustle to get into the building.

The only answer to why Dylan is in Kalamazoo (or something similar) is that he wants to be there.

When I arrived around 2:30 p.m. to collect my ticket from will call, I overheard someone in the box office inform a caller that there were only about 30 tickets left, and as I stood waiting my turn, two of those were sold, one to a university student and another to a gray-haired gentleman who arrived on his bike.

Dylan’s been to Kalamazoo six times since 1978 and was........

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