Bob Dylan has not taken kindly to China keeping him away from the mainland. But then,his concert in Taiwan wasnt helping build bridges either. And of course,there is always Tibet.
Music legend Bob Dylan has cancelled his Asia tour after he was reportedly refused permission to play in China.
The ‘Times They Are a-Changin’ hitmaker had planned to take his ‘Never Ending’ tour to Beijing,Shanghai,Taiwan,South Korea and Hong Kong this month.
But officials in the Chinese government have reportedly refused to let him to play gigs in Shanghai and Beijing,so Dylan has scrapped the rest of his planned Asian dates,reported Contactmusic.
The decision to stop the musician from playing in China reportedly came amid fears over Dylan’s politically charged lyrics.
“China’s Ministry of Culture did not give us permission to stage concerts in Beijing and Shanghai,so we had no alternative but to scrap plans for a Southeast Asian tour. The chance to play in China was the main attraction for him. When that fell through everything else was called off,” said Jeffrey Wu of Taiwan-based promotion company Brokers Brothers Herald.
In 2008,Icelandic singer Bjork made an onstage protest about the Chinese occupation of Tibet at a concert.
“What Bjork did definitely made life very difficult for other performers. They are very wary of what will be said by performers on stage now,” he said.
Last year British rockers Oasis were denied permission to play in China after it was discovered that guitarist Noel Gallagher had appeared at a Tibet freedom concert 12 years earlier.
