Recommendations of the Editorial team
Published in the last days of 2025 the Neil Young Archives team quietly and quietly one Recording of the concert by Neil Young and Crazy Horse on February 25, 1970 at the Music Hall in Cincinnati, Ohio, as a “winter solstice” gift to the fan base. The tape circulated for years as a beloved bootleg from the mixing desk. But it has never sounded as flawless as it does now.
A historical document from 1970
It is a remarkable 16-song set that includes the premiere of “Don’t Let It Bring You Down” combined in a medley with “The Old Laughing Lady”, the first performance of “Come On Baby Let’s Go Downtown”. As well as Neil Young’s first known live version of Joe London’s “It Might Have Been”, which he later recorded for Oceanside/Countryside.
More importantly, this is the first time one of his concerts with Crazy Horse has ever been captured on tape. In 1969, they played clubs across North America to promote “Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere.” This was before Neil Young joined Crosby, Stills and Nash and became a household name.
Almost every venue advertised him as a former member of Buffalo Springfield in 1969. At the Warehouse in Providence, Rhode Island, he was even announced as “Mell Young of Buffalo Springfield.” These evenings are said to have been legendary because it was there that the connection between Neil Young and Crazy Horse, which still exists today, was formed – but not a second of it was recorded, not even as a noisy bootleg.
From club musician to big stage
Neil Young’s life changed forever that summer when Crosby, Stills and Nash suddenly became Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Suddenly he was playing to sold-out crowds at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles and the Fillmore in New York City, instead of the crowd that happened to show up at La Cave in Cleveland to see the guy from Buffalo Springfield’s new band.
CSNY toured extensively in 1970, but took a brief break at the beginning of the year. Neil Young used this to go on tour again with Crazy Horse. This time in significantly larger halls than before. The tour began in Cincinnati, and this time the tape was played directly from the mixer.
Now that Young had resources and some money, he would never again allow a tour to simply disappear into obscurity like the Crazy Horse run of 1969. (The exception was the notoriously excessive UK tour of Tonight’s the Night in 1973, but bootleggers caught up with that oversight.)
Highlights of the concert
The concert is worth it in its entirety. But “Down by the River” is particularly wild and lasts almost 20 minutes. “Cinnamon Girl” is also an absolute must, as original Crazy Horse guitarist Danny Whitten is very present in the vocals and guitar mix. Neil Young has played this song with countless other guitarists over the decades. But no one played it like Danny Whitten.
In his 2012 memoir “Waging Heavy Peace,” Neil Young later expressed regret over mixing back Whitten’s part on the original recording of “Cinnamon Girl.” “He sang the high voice and it came across really strong,” wrote Neil Young. “I changed it so I sang the high voice. And released it that way. That was a big mistake. I messed up. I didn’t know who Danny was. He was better than me. I didn’t realize it.”
An end with protest from the audience
The Cincinnati show ends with “Cinnamon Girl,” but the audience refuses to leave and aggressively clamors for encores. “All I can tell you,” says an unidentified voice on stage, “is: Far out there… listen, please wait a moment. All I can tell you is that if we keep going, we risk not being able to do it again. Because contracts are contracts. The contract was until 11 p.m., and the guy was very generous and let us play until now. All I can tell you is: As sure as I stand here. If we keep going, we can’t do it again. And as sure as I stand here, we will do it again.” (According to a report in a local newspaper, the concert lasted 90 minutes longer than contractually agreed.)
This was clearly an audience happy with the concert. But the reviews were strangely negative. “By refusing to play many of the wishes shouted out by the audience [Neil Young] “His egocentric personality shined through by keeping the crowd waiting while he stumbled around with words and loose chords,” wrote Beth Hedger in the University of Kentucky’s student newspaper, The Kentucky Kernel, under the headline “Young Disappoints Fans.”
“This bad habit continued when Crazy Horse came on stage. With really worthwhile songs like ‘Down by the River’ and ‘Cinnamon Girl,’ he and Crazy Horse finally pleased the audience. After they left the stage, the audience cheered for encores. Finally, management mumbled something about their contract and said they might never come back to Cincinnati again. After Wednesday’s lousy show, who wants them?”
Significance for the entire work
The following month, Neil Young and Crazy Horse played a series of legendary concerts at the Fillmore East alongside the Steve Miller Blues Band and the Miles Davis Quintet. These recordings were officially released in 2006. However, they consist of a compilation of four different evenings. The acoustic set was completely deleted, and “Cinnamon Girl” is also missing for some inexplicable reason. Only six songs remained – less than half of a show.
To truly understand what a full Neil Young and Crazy Horse concert sounded like in the Danny Whitten era, listen to the Cincinnati tape. At some point it deserves an official release – along with the full recordings from the Fillmore.