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Ho Chi Minh City - 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 folk singer and songwriter known for his anti-war anthems gave a special concert on Sunday in the former Saigon, nearly 36 years after the Vietnam War ended.
Dylan, 69, jammed on stage in a black jacket, purple shirt and white hat in the warm evening air, singing favorites 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 guitar, harmonica and the keyboard.
With more than 60% of the country's 86 million people born after the war, many young people here are more familiar with contemporary pop stars like Justin Bieber.
Still, Dylan's music during the tumultuous 1960s touched thousands of people in both nations.
Weapon against war
"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."
An was a student in Saigon, now called Ho Chi Minh City, during the war and took to the streets with other Communist sympathisers calling for the killing to stop. He remains a big Dylan fan and has a large collection of the singer's records.
For some who were fighting in Vietnam's jungles, Dylan's music was a source of hope.
"We listened to anything that spoke of peace. We called him the peace poet," said Stan Karber, 60, of Fort Smith, Arkansas, who served in Vietnam from 1969 to 1971 and has lived in Ho Chi Minh City for the past 15 years. "I'll be dancing here in a minute."
The fighting ended on April 30 1975, when northern Communist forces seized the US-backed capital of South Vietnam, reunifying the country. About 58 000 Americans were killed along with some 3 million Vietnamese.
Sunday's concert followed the 10th anniversary of the death of anti-war Vietnamese folk singer Trinh Cong Son, known as the "Bob Dylan of Vietnam." The opening Vietnamese acts played a tribute to Son, who remains highly popular.
Dylan is one of the top foreign artists to perform in Vietnam, where big-name concerts are still rare and the Communist government maintains strict controls over expression.
No restrictions
Dylan's song list had to be preapproved by the government, but promoter Rod Quinton, general manager of Ho Chi Minh City-based Saigon Sound System, said no restrictions were placed on the extensive set list submitted.
Dylan received criticism last week following his first-ever shows in China for allowing the Communist government there to vet his song list.
Two popular anti-war songs, The Times They Are a'Changin' and Blowin' in the Wind, were not performed at the Beijing and Shanghai shows, but it was unclear if they were submitted for consideration.
US-based Human Rights Watch issued a statement saying, "Dylan should be ashamed of himself."
"The young Dylan wouldn't have let a government tell him what to sing," Brad Adams, executive director of the organisation's Asia division, said in the statement. "He has a historic chance to communicate a message of freedom and hope, but instead he is allowing censors to choose his playlist."
