Bob Dylan hitting the road with Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp

Music News

By Patrick Luce Apr 29, 2009, 13:53 GMT

Bob Dylan has announced plans to hit the road for a summer ballpark concert tour that will see the legendary singer/songwriter joined by country music icon Willie Nelson and rocker John Mellencamp. The tour will make the second time in 24 years the three performers have shared a stage.

Dylan first started his tours of minor league baseball parks in 2004, and has performed for more than a half-million fans since launching the concept. The tours feature free admittance for children, and draw a multi-generational fan base rarely seen on the concert circuit.All concert tickets are priced at $67.50 and most shows are general admission, allowing fans to grab a seat in the stands or find a place to watch from the field. Tickets will go on sale throughout the month of May (see attachment) and will be available at the local ballpark ticket office and affiliated ticket outlets. Children 14 and under get in free with each adult ticket holder. Showtime is 5:30pm and gates open at 5:00. There is no baseball game on the day of the show. Dylan is also featured on his satellite radio program Theme Time Radio Hour. With an new studio album just released, the singer continues to be a force in music and received the big-screen treatment thanks to director Martin Scorcese’s No Direction Home - the first feature-length film biography of Bob Dylan. Dylan has also racked up multiple Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and a Kennedy Center Honor (the highest honor of artistic achievement given in the United States). Over the course of a career that has spanned more than 30 years, Mellencamp has released 23 albums and reached worldwide sales of more than 40 million units while amassing 22 Top 40 hit songs. In 2008, Mellencamp was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and his studio album ‘Life Death Love and Freedom’ placed among the top 5 albums of the year. The singer’s ties to country musician Willie Nelson stretch back to 1985, and the first Farm Aid benefit concert – which also featured Dylan. Mellencamp and Bob Dylan have been friendly for the past 25 years. Besides rallying his friends each year to support Farm Aid, Willie Nelson is quite possibly the most prolific recording artist in any genre of music. In the past five years alone he’s released no less than a dozen records, and when he’s not in the studio recording new albums, he fills time writing books, acting in feature films and generally keeping a pace unimaginable for someone half his age. It’s a wonder he even finds the time to tour.

Tour dates include:

7/2 Sauget, IL at GCS Ballpark7/4 South Bend, IN at Coveleski Stadium 7/8 Louisville, KY at Louisville Slugger Field7/10 Dayton, OH at Fifth Third Field 7/11 Eastlake, OH at Classic Park 7/13 Washington, PA at Consol Energy Park 7/14 Allentown, PA at Coca-Cola Park 7/15 New Britain, CT at New Britain Stadium 7/19 Syracuse, NY at Alliance Bank Stadium 7/21 Pawtucket, RI at McCoy Stadium 7/23 Lakewood, NJ at FirstEnergy Park 7/24 Aberdeen, MD at Ripken Stadium 7/25 Norfolk, VA at Harbor Park 7/28 Durham, NC at Durham Bulls Athletic Park 7/29 Sevierville, TN at Smokies Park 8/4 Round Rock, TX at The Dell Diamond 8/5 Corpus Christi, TX at Whataburger Field 8/7 Grand Prairie, TX at QuikTrip Park 8/11 Glendale, AZ at Camelback Ranch 8/12 Las Vegas, NV at Cashman Field 8/14 Fresno, CA at Chukchansi Park 8/15 Stockton, CA at Banner Island Ballpark