An apprentice v the master - Justin Bieber and Bob Dylan

ONE is lionised as the songwriter of his generation while the other faces the challenge of keeping a generation of fans after they grow up. 

 

Both the master Bob Dylan and the apprentice Justin Bieber will inspire fanatic devotion among their many admirers when they perform in Sydney this week.

Fresh from his acclaimed sets at the annual Bluesfest in Byron Bay, Dylan performs two concerts at the Sydney Entertainment Centre from tonight while Bieber will stage a two-night stand at Acer Arena from tomorrow.

While Dylan's Baby Boomer fans may express their adulation with vigorous cheering and applause, you can count on your ears ringing from the piercing screams that will greet Bieber's every move.

Bieber fever shocked Sydney a year ago when thousands of hysterical tweens and teens unexpectedly arrived at the Overseas Passenger Terminal for a television appearance and later caused mayhem at Sunrise's Martin Place studios where police cancelled a show for safety reasons.

Since then, armed with a debut record My World 2.0 Bieber has become as much a social media star as he has a chart-topper - his fans have downloaded more than 24 million singles and his YouTube videos have been viewed at least 1.5 billion times.

Like Lady Gaga, he is rewriting the pop rule book and knows a few daily Twitter or Facebook updates have more power to keep the fan fires burning than radio playing his breakthrough hit Baby three times a day.

"AUSTRALIA ... we are coming ... and there might be some surprises," he posted at the weekend with a link to his song Next 2 You featuring Chris Brown, also touring Australia.

Some fans have even coerced their parents into spruiking for hotel rooms to get closer to Bieber as well as for tickets which range from $95 to $285 for the Bieber Fever Ultimate VIP package.

Dylan fans also paid $95 for their Sydney Entertainment Centre cheap seats, with the front rows costing just $175 to see a living legend perform classics including Like A Rolling Stone, A Hard Rain's A Gonna Fall and Tangled Up In Blue.

Of course their extras for the evening will include dinner and drinks. The Beliebers will buy T-shirts, iPod skins, dog tags, towels, bracelets, tracksuit pants and a teddy bear.