http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/apr/04/china-blocks-bob-dylan-gigs
Yup, it's been axed
Greed Takes Dylan Away From Beijing?
Honestly, none of us expect Bob Dylan can actually play in Beijing when Oasis became cool enough to be banned to play here. But sometimes the story is more complicated than raging against the machines, here are the latest updates for the expected Bob Dylan show in Beijing on April 4.
This is from Taiwan Radio International: “It is known that local promoter Brokers Brothers Herald (BBH) has agreed with the Dylan team at USD two million for a tour in Seoul (Mar 31), Taipei (Apr 2), Beijing (Apr 4), Shanghai (Apr 6) and Hong Kong (Apr 8). However, due to the difficulty of getting a permit to play in mainland China, the Taipei concert on April 2 is also postponed to an indefinite date.”
Before you get all pissed off with the government again (we don’t), here’s some other voice. Sun Mengjin, one of China’s most well-known music critics, published such statement in his blog post titled Greed Destroys Dylan's Shows in China: “There’re people working their ass off to pull off a show and not making any money, and there are also scalpers who only care about making money from music; Business is business, but there’s a bottom line. Dylan’s agent asked for USD 250,000 per show in mainland China, and some Taiwanese promoter sold it to a mainland company for USD 400,000 – I mean, how money-driven can you be? Don’t they know about the international standard of maximum 15% for agent fees? 400,000 dollars for the 8,000 seated Shanghai Grand Stage, it’s impossible to make the money back by selling tickets. Those people are whistling ‘blowing in the wind’ while their black hearted money are also blowing with the shit out of their ass. FYI, there will be a day when Dylan is too old to sing.”
Wow, easy man...Not sure what he means by that last statement, but you get the gist - he's angry. For our side, we'll just wait and see, stay with us for more updates.
Source (all in Chinese):
美國搖滾巨匠巴布狄倫將來台開唱 時間未敲定: http://news.rti.org.tw/index_newsContent.aspx?nid=233248 (need proxy)
贪婪毁掉了鲍勃·迪伦的演出: http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_48374be40100haqf.html
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Just off the phone with Brokers Brothers, who claim they are offering the same price level to the Beijing promoter as what Dylan team asked from BBH. That seems to be against Sun Mengjin's angry statement.
"It all depends on whether we can get a permit from the Chinese Ministry of Culture," says BBH. "And it's still unconfirmed."
Hey math genius, that's just the artist fee, now add production, promotion, staff, and all the gov't and venue bullsh1t. It means that tickets would actually cost double or triple that $50 and unfortunately not likely that 8000 people agree with you he's worth it. It's a daunting task to promote international music in China, especially when it's someone old and not easily sponsored.
According to Taiwan Radio International, the Beijing and Shanghai shows remain unconfirmed, and Taipei definitely gets postponed. no news on Seoul and Hong Kong yet.
We're still contacting BBH (since no one's answering the phone across the strait). Back to the TRI news, BBH claims they are "having difficulty of getting a performing license in mainland China". They also explain that the reason why the Taipei show gets postponed is because it comes as part of the whole tour package, so not having a permit from Beijing has an effect.
Honestly, it's not looking good.
this is the original text from TRI:
美國著名藍調民謠歌手，也是20世紀重要的美國民權運動代言人巴布狄倫（Bob Dylan）確定來台舉辦演唱會！不過由於受到大陸巡迴演出尚未獲得中國官方批准，導致原本預訂4月2日台北開唱的日期，也被迫跟著延後，目前時間仍未確定。
今年年初就有消息傳出，指美國60年代重要的藍調民謠歌手巴布狄倫（Bob Dylan）將在今年亞洲巡迴演出行程中，首度訪台開唱，時間就敲定在4月2日，讓許多台灣搖滾迷又驚又喜、簡直不敢置信！
據了解，主辦單位「布洛克兄弟」是以200萬美金的天價，取得巴布狄倫同意，在3月底結束日本演出之後，再增加首爾、台北、北京、上海與香港等5站巡演。不過原本台北預定的4月演出檔期，卻遲遲未見公開售票，讓搖滾迷害怕又是烏龍一場。
「布洛克兄弟」表示，由於大陸兩場演出尚未得到中國政府批文，使得其他場次演出受到影響，才會導致巴布狄倫來台開唱的時間被迫延後，目前確定時間還有待確認。「布洛克兄弟」公關負責人Jeffery說：『(原音)因為我們是結合整個大陸場次走巡迴，不過目前大陸這邊批文可能有點狀況。』
至於樂迷關切的票價？目前主辦單位決定把最高票價從原來預定的新台幣2萬元調降為1萬元，最低票價則暫定1200元，地點選擇在台北南港展覽館。
Regarding to the Show of Peace, we'll be expecting a major update early next week. Rumors are flying that it might get postponed as well...