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Neil Young played his first full concert of the year on Friday evening at a benefit event for Lakefield College School in Ontario on the campus site. It was an icy, rainy night. The tickets cost up to $ 1,500, with the entire proceeds to be intended for the restoration of a 116 -year -old cottage near the school.
Premiere of the year: a solo acoustic concert for a good cause
In contrast to his upcoming Love Earth Tour with the Chromes Hearts, this was a solo acoustic concert. The 18 songs of Neil Young mainly contained standards such as “Comes A Time”, “Sugar Mountain”, “Heart of Gold”, ‘Helpless’, “I am A Child” and “After the Gold Rush”. But there were also some surprises. Like “Love/Art Blues”, which he had not played publicly since 2008.
He also played the CSNY Super-Dep-Cut “Name of Love” published in 1988 for the first time since 2014. The most remarkable moment took place in the middle of the evening when he hung a banjo. And for the first time since the Solo Trans tour in 1983 the unknown song “My boy“From the album” Old Ways “. It is a sweet, loving Ode to Zeke Young, his eldest son.
“Why are you growin ‘Up so Fast/My Boy?” He sings. “Oh, you’d Better Take your time/why are you growin ‘Up so Fast/My Son?”
Personal context through vintage photo on social media
Hours before the concert Young posted a vintage photo From himself with Zeke as a toddler next to his late father, the sports journalist Scott Young. “I practiced for Lakefield. And played ‘My Boy’ and thought of my own father,” he wrote. “I knew that he had to have heard this song. My father was a great man. And Zeke is a wonderful son. I think ‘My Boy’ is my favorite recording of everyone I did. I love the game of Ben Keith and Spooner Oldham. And also that of the other musicians. They are soulful musicians. I was so lucky!”
The show ended with “Old Man”, but A printed set list on stage revealed that he was originally intended to come back for solo electro versions of “Throw Your Hatred Down” and “Rockin ‘in the Free World”. It is unclear why he painted the last two songs. But the miserable weather should have played a role. (Young largely rejects Indoor concerts due to Covid concerns. The only indoor appointment of its upcoming Love Earth Tour is July 13th in the Adidas Arena in Paris.)
Expect: Songs from the new album “Talkin ‘To The Trees”
The Love Earth Tour starts on June 18 in Rättvik, Sweden. The US tour begins on August 8 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Young has not yet revealed what he will play on the tour, but several songs from his upcoming album “Talkin ‘To The Trees” can be expected. Rolling Stone presents the concerts in Germany.