Bob Dylan, Tom Petty to Play 22 Cities

Bob Dylan and Tom Petty have formally announced plans for a tour that will take them to twenty-two U.S. cities during June and July. The tour — which will feature Petty and the Heartbreakers backing Dylan and also performing their own material — will begin June 9th in San Diego and head east, stopping mainly at indoor arenas and summer theaters. Two shows will be presented in San Francisco (June 13th and 14th, at the Greek Theater), the Los Angeles area (June 16th and 17th, at the Pacific Amphitheatre in Costa Mesa) and New York (July 15th and 16th, at Madison Square Garden).

As reported in the last issue of Rolling Stone, the duo will also play four stadium dates with the Grateful Dead: Minneapolis (June 26th, at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome), Akron (July 2nd, at the Rubber Bowl), Buffalo (July 4th, at Rich Stadium) and Washington, D.C. (July 6th, at RFK Stadium). The U.S. leg of the tour — which comes on the heels of a trek through Australasia — is slated to wind up in Philadelphia, at the Spectrum on July 19th. But more dates may be added, according to Tony Dimitriades, Petty's comanager. European dates have not yet been confirmed, but Dimitriades said, ''This tour might not end until 1988.''

The shows were announced at a Los Angeles press conference attended by Dylan and Petty. Both looked bored; neither had much to say. When asked how the tour came about, Dylan said, ''We just felt like it.'' Asked what it was that brought them together, Petty said, ''Money.''

This story is from the May 22nd, 1986 issue of Rolling Stone.