Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson Suit Up For Ballpark Tour

[AKA]

Dylan, Nelson Suit Up For Ballpark Tour

By Barry A. Jeckell
Billboard

Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson will hit the road together this summer, visiting minor league baseball parks across the United States. Kicking off Aug. 6 at Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, N.Y., home to the Baseball Hall of Fame, the 22-date Bob Dylan Show will close Sept. 4 at Community America Ball Park in Kansas City, Kan.

"What we aim to do with this tour is hit the ball out of the park, touch all the bases and get home safely," quips Dylan in a statement.

Tickets for the first 13 shows go on sale Saturday (June 26) via Ticketmaster, with the balance of the other dates set to go up July 10.

While its not the first time Dylan and Nelson have shared the stage in their storied careers, the Bob Dylan Show outing marks the pair's first tour together. The tour will also feature Austin, Texas-based Western swing act the Hot Club Of Cowtown in the opening slot.

"Having produced several of Bob Dylan's concerts in these types of venues over the years, we found that the special atmosphere of a minor league ballpark adds a unique element to his already great shows," Jerry Mickelson of tour promoter Jam Productions says. "A complete tour of these ballparks will have fans, young and old, experiencing a great evening of music."

Dylan, who closed out a brief slate of stateside dates at the recent Bonnarroo festival in Manchester, Tenn., is currently on the road in Europe. That touring leg plays Newcastle, England, tomorrow (June 22) and will wrap July 18 in Portugal.

Having recovered from endoscopic carpal tunnel release surgery, Nelson is slated to appear Thursday (June 24) at a fundraising event for expected Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry in Los Angeles. He'll be back on the road beginning July 3 at Merle Haggard's annual UFO Music Fest in Roswell, N.M., and his own Fourth of July Picnic following day in Fort Worth, Texas.

Here are the Bob Dylan Show tour dates:

Aug. 6: Cooperstown, N.Y. (Doubleday Field)
Aug. 7: New Haven, Conn. (Yale Field)
Aug. 8: Brockton, Mass. (Campanelli Stadium)
Aug. 10: Wappinger Falls, N.Y. (Duchess Stadium)
Aug. 11: Altoona, Pa. (Blair County Ballpark)
Aug. 12: Aberdeen, Md. (Ripken Stadium)
Aug. 14: Salisbury, Md. (Arthur W. Perdue Stadium)
Aug. 15: Richmond, Va. (The Diamond)
Aug. 17: Charleston, S.C. (Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park)
Aug. 18: Sevierville, Tenn. (Smokies Stadium
Aug. 20: Jackson, Tenn. (Pringles Park)
Aug. 21: Lexington, Ky. (Applebee's Park)
Aug. 22: South Bend, Ind. (Coveleski Stadium)
Aug. 24: Comstock Park, Mich. (Fifth-Third Ballpark)
Aug. 25: Peoria, Ill. (O'Brien Field)
Aug. 27: Madison, Wis. (Warner Park)
Aug. 28: Des Moines, Iowa (Sec Taylor Stadium)
Aug. 29: Sioux City, Iowa (Lewis & Clark Stadium)
Aug. 31: Lincoln, Neb. (Haymarket Park)
Sept. 1: Wichita (Lawrence-Dumont Stadium)
Sept. 3: Oklahoma City (SBC Bricktown Ballpark)
Sept. 4: Kansas City, Kan. (Community America Ball Park)

[Crimson and Clover]

I wish I could go. Made me angry when Willie cancelled Bonnaroo.