Dylan To Play China

Following news reports that Chinese authorities were poring over Bob Dylan’s ouevre to determine whether it was suitable for consumption in their country, Chinese promoters Gehua-Live Nation confirmed that Dylan would at last make his concert debut in the People’s Republic with two shows: April 6 at the Beijing Workers Gymnasium and April 8 at the Shanghai Grand Stage.

Coincidentally or not, the concerts will mark Dylan’s 50th anniversary as a performer. He played his first official show April 11, 1961 in New York. Ticket prices for the China gigs range from 280 yuan ($42) to 1,961 yuan ($300).

Last year, there were rumors that Dylan was to perform in China but the shows were supposedly scrapped.

The Taiwanese promoter for those shows, Jeffrey Wu, claimed that China’s Ministry of Culture demanded Dylan sign a pledge “promising not to hurt the feelings of the Chinese people,” but some other reports claimed that the negotiations for the concerts never got that far.