Bob Dylan was in Phoenix Thursday night, taking the stage at Comerica Theatre for his first North American date of 2018.

And much like nearly every other show he's done since his previous Phoenix performance in October 2016, he set the tone with "Things Have Changed," his Oscar-winning contribution to Curtis Hanson's wildly unsuccessful "Wonder Boys."

“People are crazy and times are strange,” the legend snarled. “I'm locked in tight, I'm out of range / I used to care, but things have changed.”

It's tempting to want to read too much into the last bit of that chorus hook.

"I used to care, but things have changed."

And given the joy he seems to take in the confounding of our expectations, there's a chance he'd like it if you did.

Still working on his masterpiece

But the Dylan on stage at Comerica Theatre was fully invested in the artistry of what he came to do, approaching his back pages more as works in progress than museum pieces, singing "When I Paint My Masterpiece" from the perspective of a man who doesn't think he's done that yet.

Or maybe it's that Dylan doesn't want to think he's done that yet because there's really not much point in going on if you believe your best work is behind you.

He's been on this Never Ending Tour since 1988, playing thousands of shows while aging 30 years. And at 77, this is where he does most of his painting these days.

He's released three albums in the past four years, but they've been filled with his interpretations of the sort of standards Frank Sinatra used to sing.

And that's how Dylan has approached his own Great American Songbook for decades – as a song interpreter, a stylist.

There will always be a portion of the audience on any given night that wishes he could bring himself to be a little less creative in his radical reworkings of the songs that made them fall in love with Dylan in the first place.

But that's what the records are for. Dylan live is a whole different animal. It's how he keeps himself invested in the process after all these years. You can't phone it in when you're constantly altering the phrasing of your lyrics. You'd get lost.

Highlights of the set

The title track to "Highway 61 Revisited" was remarkably faithful, swinging hard. The other classics? Not so much.

"It Ain't Me Babe" was practically jazz – at least until the loose-limbed verse gave way to an emphatic chorus that rocked more like the Velvet Underground.

"Simple Twist of Fate" was the first of several Dylan standards that reaped the benefit of a slower, more mournful arrangement, with sweet pedal-steel accents and a soulful harmonica solo.

The opening verse of "When I Paint My Masterpiece," which also featured the sort of harmonica solo you would want from Dylan, was especially haunting. And if that weather-beaten rasp of his is not the instrument it was back in the early '70s, it didn't stop him from bringing the song to a powerful climax with his phrasing on the bridge.

In fact, if anything, those weather-beaten vocals only added to the poignancy of moments as emotional as "Make You Feel My Love."

"Like a Rolling Stone" was one of Thursday's most intriguing reinventions, slowing to a crawl before the chorus hit with a descending bowed bass riff underscoring his dramatic phasing of the vocals.

A tender, understated "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright," Dylan crooning the high notes, was so much more emotional than the original recording, replacing the youthful resentment of the lyric as recorded with something closer to regret. Anecdotal evidence suggests that people may have even teared up when he sang the lyric, "And it ain't no use in callin' out my name, gal / I can't hear you anymore."

Dylan's phrasing was great on a shadowy "Love Sick," one of several highlights drawn from the legend's late-career revival, from the banjo-driven blues of "High Water (For Charley Patton)" to a surf-rocking reboot of "Honest With Me" that seemed to channel the Beach Boys' "Dance, Dance, Dance."

A raucous "Thunder on the Mountain" also found the singer and his bandmates drifting into surf-rock, complete with a "Wipe Out"-style drum solo (which happened after I'd already written "Wipe Out" in my notebook).

"It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry" was recast as a shadowy film-noir blues to dramatic effect and he brought the set to a spirited close with a crowd-pleasing "Gotta Serve Somebody" before wandering offstage without saying a word (in keeping with tradition).

The encore started with a stately, violin-fueled take on "Blowin' in the Wind," its words as relevant as ever. And he signed off with a seething "Ballad of a Thin Man," one of four selections Dylan played from 1965's "Highway 61 Revisited" in a set that didn't feel at all like a nostalgia trip because he didn't let it.

Setlist

"Things Have Changed"

"It Ain't Me Babe"

"Highway 61 Revisited"

"Simple Twist of Fate"

"High Water (For Charley Patton)"

"When I Paint My Masterpiece"

"Honest With Me"

"Tryin' to Get to Heaven"

"Workingman's Blues #2"

"Make You Feel My Love"

"Pay in Blood"

"Like a Rolling Stone"

"Early Roman Kings"

"Don't Think Twice, It's All Right"

"Love Sick"

"Thunder on the Mountain"

"It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry"

"Gotta Serve Somebody"

Encore:

"Blowin' in the Wind"

"Ballad of a Thin Man"

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