Last year we were left blowing in the wind. Bob Dylan, one of the few living musicians who can credibly carry the title 'legend', was all set to play Hong Kong. A date was even set. And then China's bigwigs, made nervous by Bjork's end-of-concert repetition of those two dangerous syllables - 'Ti-bet!' - decided the counterculture hero was too hot to handle. They denied him permission to play in Shanghai and Beijing, scuppering his Hong Kong and Taiwan shows in the process.
A year on, Dylan seems to have scrapped any idea of playing on the mainland, but he has added Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore to his tour itinerary before he swings down to Australia and New Zealand. He'll be at Kitec's Star Hall on April 12 in what should be a rather intimate setting, by his colossal standards.
Robert Zimmerman (just call him Bob) is a ripe 69 but showing no signs of fading. Though he has lived a good four decades longer than some of his contemporaries might have expected, he has proved that three chords, a ragged voice and a sharp poetic mind can carry a musician a long way.
