Bob Dylan’s trek across Asia is “blowin’ in the wind.”
The music legend has scrapped plans to tour Asia this month after he was reportedly refused permission to play in China.
According to Celebrifi.com, the “Times They Are A-Changin’” hitmaker had planned to take his “Never Ending Tour” overseas for stops in Beijing, Shanghai, Taiwan, South Korea, and Hong Kong this month, but the Chinese government reportedly refused to grant the folk star permission to play gigs in Shanghai and Beijing, so Dylan scrapped the rest of his tour dates.
The decision to ban Dylan’s performance in China reportedly came amid fears over the star’s politically charged lyrics. Chinese authorities have been particularly careful when granting overseas artists visas since Icelandic singer Bjork made an onstage protest about the Chinese occupation of Tibet at a concert in 2008.
“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. What Björk did definitely made life very difficult for other performers. They are very wary of what will be said by performers on stage now,” said Jeffrey Wu, of Taiwan-based promotion company Brokers Brothers Herald.