Following on from The Polyphonic Spree’s Tim DeLaughter spilling the beans that the cult-sized psychedelic pop ensemble would be heading to Australia for Splendour In The Grass 2013 this July, it seems another, major headline act could have been leaked.
The one and only Bob Dylan could be headed to Australia to play Splendour and a number of sideshows, if a small slip-up in the Sydney Morning Herald is to be believed.
As Soulshine points out, amongst a small news item wrapping the number of legacy acts that are heading to Australia this year, including Paul Simon, Supertramp’s Rodger Hodgson, Jimmy Cliff, Iggy Pop, and more (most courtesy of the seemingly never-ending Bluesfest lineup additions), the Sydney Morning Herald also casually adds the man born Robert Zimmerman to that list.
Noting that Mr Dylan “will have turned 72 when he plays the Sydney Opera House and Byron Bay’s Splendour In The Grass in July.” While the Sydney Opera House seems like a fitting venue, the winter fields north of Byron Bay seem to be a little at odds with the demographic that Splendour has been building in recent years.
Though Splendour is certainly known for roping in exclusive headline acts, such as last year’s sets from Bloc Party and a newly reformed At The Drive-In, or the previous year’s Splendour-only performances from Coldplay and Kanye West; Dylan seems like a much more unlikely prospect. Particularly given the costs it would take to get Dylan to head to Australia again so soon after his 2011 visit with Bluesfest. Noting that Mr Dylan “will have turned 72 when he plays the Sydney Opera House and Byron Bay’s Splendour In The Grass in July.”
Still Splendour organisers have roped in heritage acts before, such as Beach Boy Brian Wilson in 2006, and DEVO two years after that, but Dylan would take a far more patient audience.
All will be revealed when Splendour In The Grass releases their full lineup, which traditionally appears in April and last year had its fastest sell out ever, and as previously reported will include The Polyphonic Spree, who will be returning to play the festival they last played in 2008.
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In related Dylan news, Sony Music recently took measures in Europe to extend the copyright of a collection of 86 early Bob Dylan recordings through issuing a limited edition boxset (which became an instant collector’s item) in selected stores in Germany, France, Sweden, and Britain just after Christmas.
Sony rush-released the four-disc boxset, which includes previously unreleased material and outtakes from 1962-63, in response to new provisions in European copyright law, which contains a new ‘use it or lose it’ clause, which means it will otherwise end up in the public domain in Europe.
A fate that recently befell The Beatles, whose 1962 debut single ‘Love Me Do’ fell out of copyright, allowing several labels to take advantage of its new public domain status, issuing new unlicensed compilations containing the recording scott-free.
