Bob Dylan to launch Asian tour

Dylan, the reluctant voice for disaffected youth in the 1960s, will perform in Taipei on April 3, a prospect that has led thousands of fans to rush for the ticket booths, according to the Taipei-based Very Aspect Culture Group. “In the 24 hours since we started sales Monday, over 40 percent of the scheduled 10,000 tickets have been snatched up,” said Edie Chen, an executive at the company, adding prices went as high as Tw$8,000 (US$272).

Although he has never visited before, the 70-year-old American icon is loved in Taiwan, defying a trend that has seen Western music lose market share to Mandarin songs over the past 20 years. His fans reportedly include Morris Chang, chairman of the world’s biggest contract microchip maker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., but he is an idol for the very young, too.