From the war to a tour, Bob Dylan blows into Vietnam

AFTER nearly five decades of singing about a war that continues to haunt a generation of Americans, legendary performer Bob Dylan finally got his chance to see Vietnam at peace.

The American singer and songwriter known for his anti-war anthems gave a special concert yesterday in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, nearly 36 years after the Vietnam War ended.

Dylan, 69, performed on stage in a black jacket, purple shirt and white hat in the warm evening air, singing favourites such as A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall and Highway 61 Revisited.

Only about half of the 8,000 seats at RMIT University were sold to a mix of Vietnamese and foreigners who danced on the grass as Dylan played.

With more than 60 per cent of the country's 86 million people born after the war, many young people in Vietnam are more familiar with contemporary pop stars.

However, Dylan's music during the tumultuous 1960s touched thousands of people in both nations.

"Bob Dylan's music opened up a path where music was used as a weapon to oppose the war in Vietnam and fight injustice and racism," said Tran Long An, 67, vice-president of the Vietnam Composers' Association. "That was the big thing that he has done for music."