Paul McCartney Baffled by Bob Dylan’s Live Shows

Paul McCartney has seen Bob Dylan in concert. More than once, actually. And he left both times with one lingering question: what exactly was that?

Speaking on The Rest Is Entertainment podcast, McCartney — who at 83 is still one of the most enthusiastic live performers in the business — opened up about his complicated experience watching the 84-year-old Dylan do his thing on stage. And “his thing,” as anyone who’s bought a ticket to a Dylan show in the last decade knows, often involves radical reinventions of his own catalog that leave even devoted fans scratching their heads.

“I’ve been to see a couple of Bob’s shows and honestly, I couldn’t tell what song he was doing,” McCartney said plainly. “Now, that’s a bit much, because I know his stuff. And I get it if he doesn’t want to do ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’ — maybe he’s fed up with it. But I would like to hear it. And I paid.”

That last line — And I paid — says everything. This isn’t just a casual observation from a music fan. It’s a philosophy McCartney has built his own touring career around.

Why McCartney Always Plays the Hits

McCartney’s approach to setlists is essentially the opposite of Dylan’s. He’s acutely aware that when someone buys a ticket to one of his shows, they’re not just showing up for the experience — they’re hoping to hear “Hey Jude” and “Let It Be” and “Blackbird.” He could easily fill a tour with deep cuts and album tracks. He’s got, as he puts it, “a lot of black holes.” But he doesn’t.

“They’ve paid a lot of money,” he said, and the sentiment clearly runs deep. He traced it back to his own childhood, remembering what it felt like to scrape together enough cash as a teenager to see a show.

“I remember as a kid saving up — a paper round and everything — to go to a Bill Haley concert. I knew what I wanted. I wanted him to do his hits. And if he got all clever on me, I’d let him indulge himself.”

That memory has stuck with him. The idea that someone might work a paper route, save up for weeks, and then spend a concert trying to decode what they’re listening to clearly doesn’t sit right with Macca.

It’s also worth knowing that McCartney has previously named “Mr. Tambourine Man” as one of the most significant songs in his life — alongside Chuck Berry’s “Maybelline” and the Human League’s “Don’t You Want Me.” So when he says he wanted to hear it, he means it.

No Selfies — Not Even for Oprah

The Dylan chat wasn’t the only revealing moment from the podcast. McCartney also got into why he refuses to take photos with fans — a stance he’s apparently been holding firm on for years, even when the person asking is one of the most powerful women in the world.

“So if I meet someone, they’re reaching for their phone, and I say: ‘I’m sorry, I don’t do pictures.’ And that is radical these days,” he said. “I told that to Oprah — I’m name-dropping now — and she said: ‘You don’t do pictures?’ I said: ‘No.’ She said: ‘Why?’ I said: ‘I don’t want to.’ It’s as simple as that.”

But he does have a longer explanation, one involving a man, a beach in Saint-Tropez, and a monkey.

“Down on the south coast of France in Saint-Tropez, there’s a man on the beachfront who has a monkey, and you pay to have your photo taken with the monkey,” McCartney said. “I really do not want to feel like that monkey. And when I take a picture with someone, I do feel like him. I’m not me anymore — I’m suddenly something else.”

For McCartney, it comes back to staying grounded. “The minute I start thinking I’m something above myself, I won’t like me. It’s very important for me to just be me.” He’d rather spend a few real moments talking with a fan than become a prop in someone’s social media feed.

You can catch more from McCartney across his recent media appearances, and the full The Rest Is Entertainment episode is available wherever you get your podcasts.