Bob Dylan will return to the Twin Cities for the first time in three years when he headlines St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center on Oct. 25 with support from gospel singer Mavis Staples.

Tickets are priced from $129.50 to $52.50 and go on sale at noon Friday through Ticketmaster.

The perpetually touring Minnesota native, who turned 76 in May, has also been active in the studio in recent years. He surprised followers with 2015’s “Shadows in the Night,” a collection of pop standards closely associated with Frank Sinatra. At the time, he said: “Frank sang to you – not at you. I never wanted to be a singer that sings at somebody. I’ve always wanted to sing to somebody.”

“Shadows” turned out to just be the start of Dylan’s exploration of the Great American Songbook. In 2016, he released the similarly themed “Fallen Angels” and followed that up in March with “Triplicate,” a triple album featuring his takes on such classics as “Stormy Weather,” “Sentimental Journey” and “Stardust.” In the news release announcing the record, Dylan explained: “I am finding these great songs to be a tremendous source of inspiration that has led me to one of my most satisfying periods in the studio. I’ve hit upon new ways to uncover and interpret these songs that are right in line with the best recordings of my own songs, and my band and I really seemed to hit our stride on every level with ‘Triplicate.’”

Dylan also has a long-standing relationship with his opening act, Mavis Staples. He first heard her family’s gospel group, the Staple Singers, in 1953. As he told AARP Magazine: “It was the most mysterious thing I’d ever heard. It was like the fog rolling in … I knew who Mavis was without having to be told. Her singing just knocked me out.”

The pair met in the early ’60s and Dylan was so smitten, he asked Staples to marry him. She turned him down, saying she was too young, They remained friends and she sang “Gonna Change My Way of Thinking” with him on his 1979 album “Slow Train Coming.” (Staples was also pals with another famous Minnesota musician, Prince, and recorded a pair of albums with him in 1989 and 1993.)

Dylan also made headlines last year when he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, but did not show up in person to accept it.

The last time Dylan was in town, he headlined three nights at Minneapolis’ Orpheum Theatre in November 2014, which he co-owned with his brother in the ’80s. In 2013, Dylan filled St. Paul’s old Midway Stadium on a bill with Wilco and My Morning Jacket. Prior to that, he played on or near Election Night in 2012 (Xcel Energy Center) and 2008 (Minneapolis’ Northrop Auditorium).

In related concert news, Wilco has booked a two-night stand at St. Paul’s Palace Theatre on Nov. 15 and 16. The $50 tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday through Etix. Wilco leader Jeff Tweedy partnered with Staples for the third time and produced her upcoming album “If All I Was Was Black.” The band also announced the Palace Theatre shows will be their last in a while, as the group is taking a break from the road to work on a new album and various side projects.