Bob Dylan Announces Tour Dates, Sells Album Masters To Sony

Bob Dylan is set for a 27-date spring tour this March and April. The run starts in the Southwest with a March 3rd concert in Phoenix, Arizona's Arizona Federal Theatre, making its way up through the South, and finally wrapping on April 14th in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma at the Thelma Gaylor Performing Arts Theatre.

JUST ANNOUNCED: Bob Dylan tour dates (subject to change):

March 3 – Phoenix, AZ – Arizona Federal Theatre
March 4 – Tucson, AZ – Tucson Music Hall
March 6 – Albuquerque, NM – Kiva Auditorium
March 8 – Lubbock, TX – Buddy Holly Hall of Performing Arts & Sciences
March 10 – Irving, TX – Toyota Music Factory
March 11 – Sugar Land, TX – Smart Financial Centre
March 13, 14 – San Antonio, TX – Majestic Theatre
March 16 – Austin, TX – Bass Hall
March 18 – Shreveport, LA – Municipal Auditorium
March 19 – New Orleans, LA – Saenger Theatre
March 21 – Montgomery, AL – Montgomery PAC
March 23 – Nashville, TN – Ryman Auditorium
March 24 – Atlanta, GA – Fox Theatre
March 26 – Savannah, GA – Johnny Mercer Theatre
March 27 – North Charleston, SC – North Charleston PAC
March 29 – Columbia, SC – Township Auditorium
March 30 – Charlotte, NC – Ovens Auditorium
April 1 – Greensboro, NC – Steven Tanger Center
April 2 – Asheville, NC – Thomas Wolfe Auditorium
April 4 – Chattanooga, TN – Tivoli Theatre
April 5 – Birmingham, AL – BJCC Concert Hall
April 7 – Mobile, AL – Saenger Theatre
April 9 – Memphis, TN – Orpheum Theatre
April 11 – Little Rock, AR – Robinson Center
April 13 – Tulsa, OK – Brady Theatre
April 14 – Oklahoma City, OK – Thelma Gaylor Performing Arts Theatre

IN OTHER DYLAN NEWS

Sony Music Entertainment (SME) has fully acquired Bob Dylan‘s entire back catalog of recorded music, as well as the rights to multiple future new releases.

The deal rumored to be worth up to $200 million, “comprises the entirety of Bob Dylan’s recorded body of work since 1962, beginning with the artist’s self-titled debut album and continuing through 2020’s highly acclaimed and successful Rough And Rowdy Ways.”

Bob Dylan said in an official statement:

Columbia Records and (Sony Music Group chairman) Rob Stringer have been nothing but good to me for many, many years and a whole lot of records. I’m glad that all my recordings can stay where they belong.

Rob Stringer, Chairman, Sony Music Group added in part:

Columbia Records has had a special relationship with Bob Dylan from the beginning of his career and we are tremendously proud and excited to be continuing to grow and evolve our ongoing 60-year partnership. . . We’re thrilled he will now be a permanent member of the Sony Music family. We are excited to work with Bob and his team to find new ways to make his music available to his many fans today and to future generations.”

The label will carry on with Dylan's groundbreaking and celebrated Bootleg Series, which over the past 30 years has issued 16 historic vault releases.

Back in 2020, Bob Dylan sold his entire music publishing catalogue to Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) for an estimated $300 million — although the tally could be as high as $400 million. The catalogue of over 600 songs spans a full 60 years up through Dylan's most recent album, 2020's Rough And Rowdy Ways.

It's safe to say that among all of the rock legends still walking this Earth, Bob Dylan has historically been the one least concerned with the cult of celebrity and keeping up public appearances. A while back he admitted that he's clueless to all of that type of business: “I don’t know what people think of me, see, I only know about what record companies say to you and managers and people like that; y’know, people watching’ you do things. I only know. . . I only hear about that stuff.”