Legendary American singer Bob Dylan, whose songs became anthems of the 1960s anti-Vietnam War era, will play his first concert in the country next month, the promoter said Monday.

Bob Dylan, pictured at the Grammy awards in Los Angeles last month

"The show is on," Brett Davis, a spokesman for the promoters, told AFP, adding the culture ministry had given its approval.

The event is to take place on April 10 at RMIT University in southern Ho Chi Minh City, said a separate statement from the promoter, Saigon Sound System. General admission tickets cost $50, slightly less than an average monthly wage.

Davis said the venue has a capacity of 8,000 and organisers are anticipating "a good mix" of foreign fans and Vietnamese.

About half of Vietnam\'s youthful population is under 30, giving them no memory of the war era that helped Dylan rocket to fame.

Songs such as "Masters of War", "Blowin\' in the Wind" and "The Times They Are A-Changin" became anthems for the United States counter-culture but were written in the early 60s before the peak of US military involvement in Vietnam.

Dylan, who turns 70 in May, is to visit Vietnam as part of an Asian tour that will also take him to China for the first time.

The last American combat troops left Vietnam in 1973 and the war ended two years later with the communist victory that reunified the country.