He’s finally coming to Taiwan. Bob Dylan is scheduled to perform at the Taipei Arena (台北小巨蛋) on April 3.
Tickets go on sale at noon on Monday, according to the show’s promoter, Very Aspect Culture Group (有象文化), and will be available through books.com.tw and at all 7-Eleven ibon kiosks.
Rumors of a Dylan concert in Taiwan surfaced in 2005, when the American music icon and folk legend was supposedly considering an invitation by the former Taipei County Government (now the New Taipei City Government) to perform at the annual Ho Hai Yan Rock Festival (海洋音樂祭). Needless to say, it didn’t happen.
Photo Courtesy of Very Aspect Culture Group
Then last year was supposed to be Dylan’s debut appearance in Taiwan, as part of an Asian tour with dates in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong.
But Dylan canceled the tour after China’s government denied him permission to perform there. The international media picked up on the story, with many outlets speculating that China’s Ministry of Culture was still reeling after Icelandic pop singer Bjork’s controversial 2008 concert in Shanghai, in which she shouted “Tibet! Tibet!” during her song Declare Independence.
After his Taipei concert, Dylan is scheduled to perform in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong, according to the fan site boblinks.com, which is a nonofficial but well-established source for concert news and information on the singer.
And hopefully for fans, Chinese authorities will realize they have little to worry about with the 69-year-old rocker, who has long moved on from his folk-protest days and rarely engages in banter with the audience.
Not that his shows are lacking. Dylan, who plays an average of 100 concerts a year, is known for often recasting both old and new material with fresh arrangements, and for his top-notch backing band.
Taipei is the start of Dylan’s tour in Asia, which also includes shows in Vietnam, Singapore and Australia throughout April.
Last week saw the appearance of another odious screed full of lies from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian (肖千), in the Financial Review, a major Australian paper. Xiao’s piece was presented without challenge or caveat. His “Seven truths on why Taiwan always will be China’s” presented a “greatest hits” of the litany of PRC falsehoods. This includes: Taiwan’s indigenous peoples were descended from the people of China 30,000 years ago; a “Chinese” imperial government administrated Taiwan in the 14th century; Koxinga, also known as Cheng Cheng-kung (鄭成功), “recovered” Taiwan for China; the Qing owned
Jan. 20 to Jan. 26 Taipei was in a jubilant, patriotic mood on the morning of Jan. 25, 1954. Flags hung outside shops and residences, people chanted anti-communist slogans and rousing music blared from loudspeakers. The occasion was the arrival of about 14,000 Chinese prisoners from the Korean War, who had elected to head to Taiwan instead of being repatriated to China. The majority landed in Keelung over three days and were paraded through the capital to great fanfare. Air Force planes dropped colorful flyers, one of which read, “You’re back, you’re finally back. You finally overcame the evil communist bandits and
When 17-year-old Lin Shih (林石) crossed the Taiwan Strait in 1746 with a group of settlers, he could hardly have known the magnitude of wealth and influence his family would later amass on the island, or that one day tourists would be walking through the home of his descendants in central Taiwan. He might also have been surprised to see the family home located in Wufeng District (霧峰) of Taichung, as Lin initially settled further north in what is now Dali District (大里). However, after the Qing executed him for his alleged participation in the Lin Shuang-Wen Rebellion (林爽文事件), his grandsons were
I am kneeling quite awkwardly on a cushion in a yoga studio in London’s Shoreditch on an unseasonably chilly Wednesday and wondering when exactly will be the optimum time to rearrange my legs. I have an ice-cold mango and passion fruit kombucha beside me and an agonising case of pins and needles. The solution to pins and needles, I learned a few years ago, is to directly confront the agony: pull your legs out from underneath you, bend your toes up as high as they can reach, and yes, it will hurt far more initially, but then the pain subsides.
RSS