US Edition 
Bob Dylan avoids controversy as he plays first gig in China
Arriving in Beijing during one of the most intense campaigns against free speech in years, some expected Bob Dylan to court controversy during his first-ever gig in China.
The folk singer "charged through" his set list, according to one person at the gig, leaving out any banter with the audience between the songs and only introducing his five-piece band after 90 minutes and the first encore.
Perhaps mindful of the scrutiny of the Chinese Communist party, who requested 2,000 of the 18,000 seats at Beijing's Workers' Gymnasium, Mr Dylan left out some of his more famous protest songs, such as 'Blowin' in the Wind' and 'The Times they Are a-Changin''.
Many observers had expected Mr Dylan to shock the mostly Chinese audience, perhaps by making a political statement or by voicing support for Ai Weiwei, the Chinese artist who has not been heard from since police escorted him from Beijing airport last Sunday.
"It would have been a total disaster if he had said anything, this was a really high-profile event," said Archie Hamilton, a music promoter in China, recalling the near two-year ban on foreign acts that the Communist Party imposed after the Icelandic singer Bjork made a plea for Tibet at the end of a concert in Shanghai in 2008.
Mr Dylan was only granted permission to perform to tour in China early last month, leaving organisers scrambling to sell tickets in Beijing and Shanghai.
The singer had been due to perform in China last year, but the concerts were cancelled at the last minute, with some disappointed fans pointing their fingers at the government, while others blamed the promoters.
In 2006, the Chinese authorities asked The Rolling Stones to cut five songs from their playlist, including Let's Spend the Night Together, after the lyrics were deemed inappropriate for Chinese audiences.
Wearing a grey panama hat and black suit, Mr Dylan kicked off his set with Gotta Serve Somebody and won loud cheers for A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall, written in 1962 just before the Cuban missile crisis.
"He could have been singing in Manchu for all we could hear him, and the sound was not stellar, but the band was great," said Jeremiah Jenne, an American fan at the stadium.
"The venue is an old Soviet stadium, but Bob Dylan was a lot more animated than the last time I saw him, and it was a good show. Maybe two-thirds or more of the crowd were Chinese as well, which is a lot higher than for some international acts," he added.
Mr Dylan was perhaps fortunate that his concert was promoted by Gehua-Live Nation, a joint venture involving the Chinese government, given the strict campaign of repression currently under way.
In the last few weeks, dozens of high-profile lawyers, human rights activists and writers have been "disappeared" or charged with "inciting subversion". The latest victim of the campaign is Mr Ai, the 53-year-old artist whose 100 million porcelain sunflower seeds are currently filling the Turbine Hall of the Tate Modern gallery in London.
On Wednesday the Chinese government-run media broke their four-day silence on Mr Ai's disappearance, ominously warning that he would "pay the price" for his dissent.
Mr Ai, a loud critic of the Chinese government, could now face prison, his mother said. Gao Ying, 77, said the authorities would probably "concoct some things against him" and said that the government should at least offer "an explanation" for his arrest.
Buy
from
