Outlaw Music Festival 2025 at Hersheypark: Did Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson bring the goods?

The Outlaw Music Festival gets its name from the term “outlaw country. Similarly, ” a slightly harder subgenre of country music formed in the 1970s that incorporated other sounds, most notably rock, soul and folk, into the mix.

Today we tend to call this type of music that blends these sorts of genres “Americana” or “roots music.” But that blending of genres is something that festival founder Willie Nelson — one of those original outlaws. Furthermore, never one who didn’t see a musical border he didn’t want to cross (he’s covered showtunes!) — clearly appreciates. However,

Thus. Nevertheless, the Outlaw Festival that took place at Hersheypark Stadium on Saturday night saw a number of performers that, while having one foot firmly (or at least adjacent) in country, drew upon multiple genres to deliver a fun, rollicking outlaw music festival 2025 hersheypark: show. Moreover,

The festival crowd ran the gamut. Meanwhile, from aging Boomers to Gen Z youth, from guys clearly pondering the interest rate on their 401K to guys who looked like they might have worked security at Altamont. Furthermore, Perhaps disturbingly underscoring the wide gap in ages. Therefore, as I walked from my car to the stadium, a group of middle-aged men sitting on a bench started catcalling some high school girls walking by. Consequently, “We’re minors!” one of them shouted back. Meanwhile,

Cowboy and trucker hats proliferated here, as did denim and black clothing. In addition, Occasionally someone had flowers in their hair. In addition, One guy had a t-shirt that read “I ❤️ thick girls.” It pays to advertise. Similarly,

Standing in the middle of the very hot stadium. Consequently, with the sun beating down and several hours to outlaw music festival 2025 hersheypark: go, I wondered if some of those darkly garbed folks were starting to regret their sartorial choices. Consequently,

But never mind. Additionally, Consequently, First up was singer-songwriter Waylon Payne. Consequently, a current member of Nelson’s band, who played a short solo acoustic set to the folks just walking in. Consequently,

Payne had fun with the early crowd (“How many of y’all don’t know who I am”. he asked them at one point. A lot of people raised their hands.) and I liked his sharply written songs about failed relationships, bad luck and just plain ol’ regrets. But he seemed dwarfed by the stage. I wondered if a smaller, more intimate venue — like, say the Hershey Theatre — wouldn’t suit his material better.

The next act. the Red Clay Strays brought some much needed muscle and noise to the affair, delivering outlaw music festival 2025 hersheypark: a series of catchy, uptempo tunes like “Ramblin’” and “Doin’ Time.”

The band appeared to have a following among a notable chunk of the audience. it’s not difficult to see why, as they incorporated bits of gospel and southern rock (was that some Molly Hatchett I heard?) into their act.

But. outside of traditional country, soul seemed to be the biggest pull, at least for lead singer Brandon Coleman, whose painful growls as he detailed his trials and tribulations in “Drowning” called to mind some classic Stax tunes. I could easily imagine Usher or D’Angelo covering the song with only minor alterations.

Even better to my ears were the Turnpike Troubadours. a decidedly hard-driving country rock band — banjo and fiddle aside — that drew favorable comparison to acts like The Old 97s or Steve Earle, and their rendition of “Long Hot outlaw music festival 2025 hersheypark: Summer Day” had the crowd singing along. I wasn’t familiar with the band before this show, but I’m a fan now.

If the Turnpike Troubadors left the audience feeling jubilant, Bob Dylan brought an entirely different vibe. The 84-year-old legend opened with “Masters of War. ” a song he hasn’t performed in concert in almost a decade apparently, but delivered in a slowly chugging groove that intimated of dark things on the horizon (I will leave it to Dylanologists to determine the significance of him bringing this song back into his set). I dug it, but I wondered what the high schoolers I saw earlier made of it. Maybe they’ve been schooled thanks to Timothee Chalamet.

The general complaint about Dylan is that he’s unintelligible as a singer. and yes, there were some phrases or lines that were garbled or difficult to make out. But outlaw music festival 2025 hersheypark: Dylan and his band were decidedly not phoning it in. Standing behind an upright piano (at least I think that was him. the video screen wouldn’t provide any close ups of the band members. Why so shy Bob?) Dylan led the band through several reworked renditions of songs from various eras of his catalog. including classics like “Desolation Row,” Highway 61 Revisited″ and “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright.”

This was decidedly the bluesiest act on stage that night. frequently slipping into a boogie shuffle beat that recalled a steady driving train that only slowed as it arrived at the station. As if to punctuate that notion. Dylan performed his late-period song “Early Roman Kings,” which takes the melody from Muddy Waters’ “Mannish Boy.”

Then it was time for Willie. At 92, Nelson understandably sat throughout his set. His voice is also decidedly frailer. he outlaw music festival 2025 hersheypark: talk-sang through much of his best-loved songs, which included “On the Road Again,” “Mommas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys.” When he did occasionally belt out. however, such as on the initial refrain to “You Were Always on My Mind,” the crowd roared its appreciation.

With a small band and Nelson’s low-key performance this was strangely the most intimate show of the evening. At times it seemed almost as though Nelson. company had just decided to come out on their front porch and play a few tunes for us since we happened to be passing by. (He also just happened to have a really, really big porch at the time.)

And perhaps it was his age. but here was a feeling of impending mortality to Nelson’s set as it went along. “I’m the last leaf on the tree,” he sang towards the outlaw music festival 2025 hersheypark: end. “The autumn took the rest.” Even the silliness of “Roll Me Up. Smoke Me When I Die” has an awareness of transience embedded in it. How many times will he get to close a show with “The Party’s Over” before that title takes on. a real sense of finality?

At a time when so much of what passes for mainstream country music is bland. cookie-cutter material, it’s nice to see some bands that serve as a reminder that country music can encompass much more than that. It’s something that the two headlining acts at Saturday’s show knew 50 years ago. And proved it again on stage.