Neil Young and Crazy Horse Europe 2014 Concert Tour Dates

Crazy Horse
Berlin - June 2, 2013
Photo by Paolo Brillo
(Click photo to enlarge)
Neil Young and Crazy Horse will ride again this summer as we learned last week. This seems to be an attempt to make up for the canceled concerts last summer when Poncho broke his hand in an accident.

Here's what has been announced so far:

2014-07-07, Laugardalshöllin, Reykjavík, Iceland
2014-07-10, Live At The Marquee, Cork, Ireland
2014-07-12, Hyde Park, London, England
2014-07-13, Echo Arena, Liverpool, England
2014-07-15, KüçükÇiftlik Park, Istanbul, Turkey
2014-07-17, Yarkon Park, Tel-Aviv, Israel
2014-07-20, Münsterplatz, Ulm, Germany
2014-07-21, Collisioni Festival, Barolo, Italy
2014-07-23, Wiener Stadthalle, Wien, Austria
2014-07-25, Warsteiner Hockeypark, Mönchengladbach, Germany
2014-07-26, Filmnächte am Elbufer, Dresden, Germany
2014-07-28, Zollhafen - Nordmole, Mainz, Germany
2014-07-30, København Forum, København, Denmark
2014-08-01, Bergenhus Festning - Koengen, Bergen, Norway
2014-08-05, Lokerse Feesten, Lokeren, Belgium
2014-08-08, Foire aux Vins de Colmar, Colmar, France

Anticipate additional dates to be announced in coming weeks.

Ticket info varies but tickets have either gone onsale or will be going onsale soon.

Don't be denied!

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Calgary Herald Editorial: Neil Young’s Hypocrisy (& The Damage Not Done)

Tar Sands Mining
Hiroshima Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada
(Click photo to enlarge)
The hypocrisy of the mainstream media never ceases to amaze in their myopic cluelessness and bumbling deceit.

Witness the unsigned editorial in the Calgary Herald - Neil Young’s hypocrisy that attempts to fault Neil Young for the "thought crime of hypocrisy" yet can not even begin to grasp the irony.

Neil Young’s announcement of the "Honor The Treaties" tour is being met with derision and scorn across Canada rather than being accepted, celebrated, recognized and valued for what it is attempting.

The editorial is simply absurd to begin with and really doesn't even merit a serious response with lines like:

But the seven-day span of his Toronto to Calgary tour precludes the use of alternative transport such as dog sleds to cross Canada’s vast, frozen territory.

Dog sleds? Really?

The very un-Canadian Calgary Herald fails to mention the terrible price in terms of health that the local Fort Mcmurray citizens are being hit with by increased cancer rates.

Canadian Tar Sands Oil Field
Near Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada
(Click photo to enlarge)
In child-like fashion, the Calgary Herald editorial seems to say, "Hey, we're not so bad. Look at the USA!":

As for industrial wastelands, Young might want to take a look at the land in his home state of California swallowed up by asphalt to accommodate millions of gas-guzzling, carbon-emitting vehicles. Or at the multitude of open-pit coal mines responsible for carbon emissions that dwarf the impact of the oil produced in Fort Mac.

So just because the USA has a terrible environmental record also, that makes it OK for Canada? What's wrong is simply plain wrong. Just because the USA does it, does not make it right. Grow up Calgary Herald and don't look south for leadership.

We could go on taking apart the poorly argued editorial but feel that we've already addressed all of the false arguments already in previous posts here, here, here, here, and here.

"Fort McMurray looks like Hiroshima. Fort McMurray is a wasteland."
~~Neil Young
Press Conference for National Farmers Union
Washington, DC, September 10, 2013
Photo by thrashette 

Mainstream Media Lies and Manipulates Audience

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Bob Dylan Covers "Old Man" by Neil Young (2X)

Neil Young and Bob Dylan
With all ears on this week's release of Neil Young’s ‘Live at the Cellar Door’, one of the key tracks is "Old Man".

The much beloved song "Old Man" made it's first performance in front of an audience at Washington, DC's Cellar Door concerts in 1970. While many, many have covered the song, here's Bob Dylan covering "Old Man" by Neil Young in 2002.

Bob Dylan Covers "Old Man" by Neil Young (live, Wilkes Barre Pennsylvania 21st Nov 2002):

Bob Dylan Covers "Old Man" by Neil Young (live, Madison Sq. Garden, 11 Nov, 2002):

More on the musical relationship of Bob Dylan and Neil Young.

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"Honor The Treaties": Neil Young Takes Yet Another Stand

Chief Allan Adam, actress Daryl Hannah and Neil Young in Janvier, Alta.
Photo courtesy of Eriel Deranger

The news that Neil Young will perform four benefit concerts for the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN) Legal Defense Fund has been widely praised across Canada -- and attacked here on Thrasher's Wheat.

From APTN News interview with Eriel Deranger, the main media contact for the First Nation:

Deranger said she remembers Young saying, “Your struggle is so important, not just for your people, but for this planet.”

Young had similar conversations with Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN) Chief Allan Adam.

“Really, really strong words came from him when he started talking to the chief directly,” said Deranger. “Neil has a lot of pull in the world and he wanted to use it for some sort of good and he mentioned we should do some sort of benefit concert.”

“He met people in the community and they gifted him,” said Deranger.

“He is a very down to earth and humble human being,” said Deranger. “He has a genuine interest in helping.”

So far, so good. But here's what some TW readers think of the whole Tar Sands disaster. From a comment by Jason Smith:

I don't disagree with creating new alternatives to fossil fuel, that's what got me interested in LinkVolt in the first place.

However, I do not believe LinkVolt solves anymore problems then it creates but if one small idea comes out of the project, that is a good thing. Neil is a Mad Scientist and that is what I like about him, but whether you want to believe it or not he is preying on your emotions in order to sell his goods. All artists do it! Did you notice the Ati-Fracking t-shirt he had on at Farm Aid? Natural Gas is 30% cleaner then Oil, would it not make sense to burn more natural gas then oil? Not to Neil.

The problem I have with Neil these days is that he has become very political in his views about pipelines and sources of energy, but based on his past and present day life style I do not believe that he really buys it. He has picked all the low hanging fruit in his career and just like any other aging rock star he has to latch on to what the "Fancy" people are buying these days and that is Climate Change products. Do you think Neil will attend the award ceremony he so deeply despises all these years (the Grammys)? I am willing to bet he will throw 3 tonnes of carbon in the atmosphere to be there.

When a musician gets political in there views, we have to question their motivations, otherwise we just become jock sniffers. I am not a jock sniffer. Climate Change Album, video and book in the works with LinkVolt as the prop??

So Thrasher, are you going to support a "Thrasher Wheat" ban on Neil Young products because of his carbon intensive life style? Keep in mind what Neil says.....

"Whenever you do something good in the war against CO2, people around the world benefit. Everyone benefits."

Jason Smith

Thanks Jason. Your comment is welcomed and your civil tone is appreciated.

A couple of quick points. We never supported the whole "Shut up and sing" mentality. Now more than ever, folks need to speak up and sing and act. In fact, we're quite disappointed how many prominent folks in all sorts of industries, including music, have yet to say a word about "The Great Unraveling". And we've called them out on this while Neil walks into the flame.

Lastly, with all things, there's a balance. If all actions are weighed in total, are they more positive than negative? If so, then we can make a decision. For folks to come here and try and lecture Neil or thrasher about what we should or shouldn't do is really an insult without context.

We see the word hypocrisy thrown around here a lot. Way too much. Frankly, one can only level the hypocrisy charge if one's own life is without it. If someone would like to demonstrate that they live their life without hypocrisy then we'll be glad to entertain your challenges. Otherwise, we think you're just pissin' in the wind.

So we say, Canada: "Honor The Treaties".

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Neil Young’s ‘Live at the Cellar Door’ is a window into D.C.’s musical past - The Washington Post

Stories From The Cellar
The Washington Post, Dec 10, 2013
(Click photo to enlarge)
Today's The Washington Post has a feature article "Neil Young’s ‘Live at the Cellar Door’ is a window into D.C.’s musical past" by Dave McKenna.

The article traces some of the history of the iconic Washington, DC nightclub.

Devotees of the Everything Used to Be Better school will love Neil Young’s sorta-new record.

On Tuesday the rock legend releases the latest in his archival concert series, “Live at the Cellar Door.” The recordings are drawn from a six-show solo stand at the Georgetown nightclub in late November and early December of 1970. Alone on stage and switching between acoustic guitar and grand piano, the young Young’s folk-rock brilliance shines throughout a 45-minute set of faithful-to-the-original-recording renditions of many of his classics, including “Tell Me Why,” “Only Love Can Break Your Heart,” “After the Gold Rush,” and “Old Man.” The then-25-year-old also played unplugged versions of “Cinnamon Girl” and “Down By the River,” as he makes the latter easily the most beautiful song about a psycho’s gun-murder of a girlfriend ever put to wax. The Cellar Door recordings find the audience so reverent and rapt that staffers at the club obviously had no problems enforcing its famous “No talking!” rule during his stay.

For nostalgic locals, another highlight of this incredible period piece of a record is that it calls attention to the venue where it was made. Plainly, there will never be another Cellar Door. This was a tiny place (legal capacity under 200) at the corner of 34th and M streets NW where music was king, tickets for major acts averaged $3 and six-show stands like Young’s were considered brief stays.

“There’s no happier feeling than being in a room when everybody loves the music,” says Cellar Door founder Jack Boyle, “and we sure had that with Neil Young.”

Boyle got that happy feeling quite a bit at his club. The Youngstown, Ohio, native who first came to the District to attend Georgetown University, founded the Cellar Door in the early 1960s using what he describes as one night of poker winnings. (“About $1,100,” Boyle once said.) He sold the place after just two years and left the country to run bars in Europe, but got homesick for the United States and bought the Cellar Door back from Charles Lawrence Fichman in the fall of 1970. Fichman had established the club as a casual hangout for hardcore folkies, where “hootenannies” were a staple in which amateur local musicians traded licks with nationally known pickers. The casual atmosphere ultimately got to Fichman: Upon selling back to Boyle, Fichman told the Washington Post that a chief reason he rid himself of the club was because “pot had cut into the drinking” revenues.

“People used to come in an hour ahead of time so they could have a few drinks before the show,” Fichman said at the time. “Now they come in a few minutes early so they’ll still be high when it starts.”
...
In the Cellar Door’s case, size mattered. After strolling over to the Georgetown campus for a post-midnight interview with WGTB DJ John Zambetti, Young, who had played the Baltimore Civic Center a few months earlier as part of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s first tour, gave a rave review to the club.

“Small clubs are groovy!” Young told Zambetti.

For folks raised with the current 9:30 Club as this town’s premier music hall, the coziness of the Cellar Door must be hard to grasp.

“It was so intimate I’m not even sure how all these bands got on that stage,” recalls Nils Lofgren. “You could see and hear every little thing everyone did. . . . It was just completely real and very visceral and powerful.”

The article goes on to relay some of the legends which took place in the tiny club.

We had a very small role in all of this going to college not too far away and seeing at least one show there at some point but our memories fail us. Maybe John Prine?

Here's the Cellar Door in Georgetown today...

The Cellar Door - Today
Georgetown, Washington D.C.
(Click photo to enlarge)
Released today, Neil Young's new album 'Live at the Cellar Door', Washington D.C., 1970.



"Live At The Cellar Door"
Neil Young Solo
(#18 #20 in Amazon Best Sellers > Music)

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Neil Young To Perform Four Benefit Shows In Canada Jan 2014 + London's Hyde Park

**Please note revised on-sale ticket date in the following release**

December 9th, 2013 -(Burbank, CA.) Neil Young has announced that he will perform four benefit shows in his native Canada to raise money for the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN) Legal Defense Fund. The "Honor The Treaties" concert dates are listed below. A very special guest, Diana Krall, will also perform on each of the dates. Tickets will go on sale Tuesday December 13th.

Sun Jan 12 Toronto Massey Hall
Thur Jan 16 Winnipeg Centennial Concert Hall
Fri Jan 17 Regina Conexus Arts Centre
Sun Jan 19 Calgary Jack Singer Concert Hall

The ACFN refer to themselves as K'ai Taile Dene, meaning "people of the land of the willow." A Legal Defense fund was set up to support the ACFN's legal challenges against oil companies and government that are obstructing their traditional lands and rights. As people of the land the ACFN have used and occupied their traditional lands in the Athabasca region for thousands of years, hunting, trapping, fishing and gathering to sustain themselves and continue spiritual cultural rights passed down through generations. The ACFN's legal challenges will ensure the protection of their traditional lands, eco-systems and unique rights guaranteed by Treaty 8, the last and largest of the nineteenth century land agreements made between First Nations and the Government of Canada, are upheld for the benefit of future generations.

Tickets for the Canadian concerts will range from $55.00 through $250.00 and will be limited to 4 tickets per person. Tickets for all performances go on sale Friday, December 13/13.

In Toronto, tickets available at www.livenation.com, all Ticketmaster outlets, Roy Thomson Hall Box Office or call 1-855-985-5000. In Winnipeg, tickets available at www.livenation.com, Charge-By-Phone 1-855-985-5000 and in-person at all Ticketmaster Outlets. In Regina, tickets available at www.livenation.com, Charge-By-Phone 306-525-9999 or 1-800-667-8497 or in-person at Conexus Arts Centre Box Office - 200A Lakeshore Drive.Tickets for all performances go on sale Friday, December 13/13. In Calgary, tickets available at www.livenation.com, Charge-By-Phone 403-294-9494 and in-person at Epcor Centre.

For more info on the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, please visit: http://www.acfn.com/.
From The Canadian Press by Bob Weber:

"The theme of the concerts is honour the treaties," said Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation spokeswoman Eriel Deranger. "All the ticket sales, all the proceeds from the concerts, not a single cent goes to anyone other than (the First Nation)."

Young's gesture is by far the largest, said Deranger. The band hadn't even asked for support during his brief visit in early September.

"When he left, we didn't ask him. We were kind of surprised by his, 'I'm going to do something for you.' We've heard that before.

"It's fantastic to have someone follow through and giving directly to a community, the grassroots people."

The Athabasca Chipewyan band is gearing up for a major legal fight against the latest oilsands development to be approved.

The federal government announced on Friday that Shell Canada's Jackpine mine expansion could go ahead. The approval came before a 35-day delay to give the band a chance to make its concerns known to Ottawa had expired.

The review panel that looked at the project concluded it would create irreversible environmental damage. It said Jackpine would mean the permanent loss of thousands of hectares of wetlands, which would harm migratory birds, caribou and other wildlife and wipe out traditional plants used for generations.

It also said Shell's plans for mitigation are unproven and warned that some impacts would probably approach levels that the environment couldn't support.

The company has purchased about 730 hectares of former cattle pasture in northwestern Alberta to help compensate for the 8,500 hectares of wetland that will be lost forever.
Shell has said the expansion will double its production and create 750 jobs.

Deranger said the band plans to file legal action against the development in January.

"The finances that will come from (the concerts) will be beneficial," she said. "This type of financial fundraising strategy with such a big name can make or break our ability to move forward with a large legal strategy."

Geraldine Anderson of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers said Young is welcome to voice his opinion.

"We would also encourage Mr. Young and his fans to learn about the innovation and technical advances that are helping to develop oilsands and develop (them) responsibly."

The benefit concerts are to be held Jan. 12 in Toronto (Massey Hall), Jan. 16 in Winnipeg (Centennial Concert Hall), Jan. 17 in Regina (Conexus Arts Centre) and Jan. 19 in Calgary (Jack Singer Concert Hall).
Deranger said the news is a huge emotional boost to the band.

"Sometimes we feel as though our work and our struggle is going unnoticed. But when you have the backing and support of people like Neil Young, it revitalizes the spirit of the community and strengthens our struggles to move forward."

Also, Neil Young and Crazy Horse will headline an outdoor concert at London's Hyde Park on Saturday July 12, 2014, per NME.

Neil Young - Glastonbury 2009
Photo: Guy Eppel - NME

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Nelson Mandela and Neil Young Will Keep On Rockin' In The Free Worlds

Nelson Mandela: 1918 - 2013
“Madiba,” by Kadir Nelson
(Click photo to enlarge)
It can be said that no one on this planet embodied the spirit of "Rockin' In The Free World" more than Nelson Mandela.

Nelson Mandela passed on to the Great Beyond this week and in his wake has left a living legacy that will pervade the generations. Mandela, as "The Black Pimpernel", was "The World’s Last Great True Hero".

On April 16, 1990, Neil Young - among many others -- honored Nelson Mandela at Wembley Stadium in London, 4/16/90.

Young's acoustic performance of "Rockin' In The Free World" was simply electrifying. Neil Young's song "Rockin' In The Free World", from the album Freedom , is "one of his most popular, important and prophetic songs. "

One of the more remarkable aspects of the video is how Neil deliberately sets out to evade the TV cameras surrounding him. Ever wary of the "one eyes", Neil lunges and plunges about the stage, turning his back to almost every camera cut. By the end of the song, Neil is leaping stage levels in his quest to thwart the cameras and bring it all home directly to the people.



Nelson Mandela's "work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."*

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