Dylan performs in China
Bob Dylan played his first concert in China on Wednesday, April 6th 2011. The country takes a strict stance on censoring its media, and Dylan agreed to steer clear from his political songs. However, some fans admit that Dylan let a few political jabs fly beneath the radar. An American History professor — who, according to CBS News, was in attendance — thought that songs like “Like a Rolling Stone” and “Ballad for A Thin Man” had a clear message pertaining to Chinese disenchantment and were well-understood by the Beijing audience. Although this act of defiance may not serve as a thumbed-nose to the Chinese government, it is a foot-in-the-door for more artists to take a stance against musical censorship.
Here’s the tracklist for Dylan’s Chinese performance:
Gonna Chnage My Way of Thinking
It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue
Beyond Here Lies Nothin’
Tangled Up In Blue
Honest With Me
Simple Twist of Fate
Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum
Love Sick
Rollin’ And Tumblin’
A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall
Highway 61 Revisited
Spirit on the Water
Thunder on the Mountain
Ballad of a Thin Man
Like A Rolling Stone
All Along The Watchtower
Forever Young