When Bob Dylan takes the stage in Ho Chi Minh City April 10, he will be preceded by a tribute to Vietnam’s own, legendary antiwar bard: Trinh Cong Son.

The performance, entitled Bob Dylan and His Band, will be held (at Dylan’s request) on the grass of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University (RMIT), as part of an Asian tour that includes a visit to Beijing on April 6 and Shanghai on April 8.

To commemorate the 10th anniversary of the death of Son, perhaps Vietnam’s most popular composer, local singers will open the show with 15 compositions penned by the late legend – also known, internationally, as the “Vietnamese Bob Dylan.”

“One of the features of the planned Bob Dylan event that really appeals to us is that a significant part of the concert will be devoted to a tribute to great Vietnamese poet and musician Trinh Cong Son,” RMIT Vietnam President, Professor Merilyn Liddell told Thanh Nien Weekly.

“Most Vietnamese know and respect Son but few foreigners have that awareness. By including a tribute component in the concert – as part of this year’s 10th anniversary commemoration of the death of Trinh Cong Son – we felt it would be a very good way to introduce more foreigners and more of the younger generation of Vietnamese to one of Vietnam’s great modern literary and musical figures.”

The opening act will include Mot coi di ve (A realm of return); Ha trang (White summer); Em hay ngu di (Sleep well!); and Con mat con lai (The remaining eye), which are among Son’s over 600 compositions.

During the event, which is expected to attract more than 8,000 fans, the American folk rock icon and his band will perform a number of his most famous anti-war songs: “Blowin’ in the wind” and “The Times they are a-changin.”

Dylan has more than 50 recorded albums, produced during a career that spanned six decades.

Dylan’s legacy only seems to grow with recent landmark albums such as Together Through Life (2009), Time Out Of Mind (1997), Love and Theft (2001) and Modern Times (2006).

In contrast with his global fame, Bob Dylan is very simple and modest. The 70-year-old singer’s only request was that everyone be able to enjoy the show to the utmost no matter where they sit.

General admission tickets are available at US$50 and a VIP package cost $120. Students with valid IDs can get two, general admission tickets for the price of one.

For pre-sales information go to www.bobdylan.com, for international reservations go to www.thaiticketmajor.com, for reservations in Vietnam go to www.saigonsoundsystem.com.

Tickets can also be booked in Ho Chi Minh City at Juice (49 Mac Thi Buoi, District 1), The Boathouse (40 Lily Road, APSC Compound, 36 Thao Dien, District 2) and Boomerang (The Crescent, Phu My Hung, District 7).

The poster of Bob Dylan’s first ever concert in Vietnam that will take place in HCMC on April 10