SOUTH BEND -- Three musical legends are traveling the country this summer under the banner of 'The Bob Dylan Show.'
But when the caravan of songmen stop in South Bend on Independence Day, they'll set up shop for the 2009 edition of the legendary 'Willie Nelson Fourth of July Picnic.'
While Dylan is officially the headliner on this 25-gig summer tour of minor league baseball stadiums, Nelson -- the man known for his braids, bandanas and "On The Road Again" -- will be the one to play last here.
Though the concert's promoters label this as Nelson's 36th annual picnic, the history of the event is as hazy as the air at the troubadour's concerts.
Dave Thomas, a music writer for the Austin (Texas) American-Statesmen set out last year to pinpoint where every Nelson picnic since 1973 took place. It wasn't such a simple task.
"Trying to put a neat handle on the Fourth of July Picnic -- an event where reality drifts into legend almost as soon as it happens -- isn't easy," Thomas wrote in an April 6, 2008, article in the American-Statesmen.
Though most Nelson fans believe the picnic always takes place in Texas and always on July 4, that's not the case, Thomas found. There's only been 21 such events with Nelson in the last 36 years.
Other times, the picnic happens before or after the holiday, or far away from Texas. Sometimes, Nelson is golfing or in Las Vegas instead of jamming at a festival.
Last year, he held the somewhat regular event at home in Texas, at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Selma. In the 1970s, Nelson's personal one-day music festivals drew upwards of 80,000 people.
Saturday will mark both the second time Dylan plays with Nelson at South Bend's Coveleski Stadium and the second time he performs at the picnic. Dylan, who this year released "Together Through Life," his 33rd studio album, joined Nelson on July 4, 2005, in Fort Worth, Texas.
Thomas said the show provided one of the best Nelson picnic moments of the last dozen years. Half the crowd were Dylan devotees, half were waiting for a hit. Some grew restless, until Dylan launched into 1965 classic "Like A Rolling Stone."
"The floodlights come on," Thomas wrote, "illuminating not the crowd, but the dust floating in the air, giving everything a ghostly glow."
Dylan and Nelson played The Cove five years ago, their 12th stop on their first minor league stadium tour. That show attracted an estimated 7,500 people.
The Saturday gig will also be Indiana native Mellencamp's only one in the state this summer. Born in Seymour, the man once known as "John Cougar" attended Vincennes University.
It's just the second stop on the trio's tour, which kicked off Thursday night at GCS Ballpark in Sauget, Ill.
IF YOU GO
What: Willie Nelson's Fourth of July Picnic concert, featuring Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan and John Mellencamp
Where: Coveleski Stadium, 501 W. South St., South Bend
When: Gates open at 5 p.m. Performance order: The Wiyos (opening act), Mellencamp, Dylan, Nelson. Fireworks conclude the night at 10:45 p.m.
* Tickets are still available at ticketmaster.com or at Orbit Music in Mishawaka and Super Sounds in Elkhart.
* All tickets ($68.50) are general admission. Children 14 and under will be admitted free with an adult ticketholder. Seating is available on the infield and outfield grass and in the stadium bleachers.
* Not allowed in stadium: lawn chairs, professional cameras, audio or video equipment, large backpacks, outside food or beverage, smoking