Neil Young Will NOT Play Farm Aid Again This Year
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UPDATED
Very, very sadly, Neil Young will NOT be playing at Farm Aid this year, per LTE | T-C | NYA: (thanks RoadDawg Mike!)
I will not be at Farmaid this year. I am not ready for that yet. I don’t think it is safe in the pandemic.
I miss it very much.
Inexplicably -- apparently -- this news has been available only on Mobile NYA versions, but just appeared on desktop NYA.
Venue details, pre-sales and other artists are to be announced at the end of July.
Whether Neil Young will be making his first live appearance in three years is also TBD. Other Farm Aid board members Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews and Margo Price are expected to perform live, in concert this year.
Click here for all the Farm Aid 2022 Details.
#Willie4Nobel
Willie Nelson for Nobel Peace Prize
for Farm Aid and his work on
alternative fuels, and world peace initiatives.
Labels: #BeTheRain, #NoFear, #willie4Nobel, concert, farm aid, neil young, presale, tickets, willie nelson
by thrasher@PermaLink: 7/24/2022 12:31:00 PM
50 comments
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50 Comments:
I support Neil’s decision to stay off the stage as the pandemic becomes endemic. It will keep rolling around, harvesting a wide swath the unlucky or vulnerable humans it can infect. I work in health care & I never caught Covid until a month ago. It kicked my ass harder than any bug I have encountered. Latest wave is nothing to fool with.
If Neil decides to never play live with an audience again, I can accept it. His stand on playing shows is based on a real fear of people dying as a result of his decisions. He has a very protective approach, & an admirable and fierce love for his fans & bandmates. He doesn’t want blood on his hands.
The world will never be the way it was. I am a lucky bastard to have seen him play live 18x since 1988. I am sorry if many of you are not ok with letting the Big Man retire. He has never been one to rest on his laurels. He has been driven, addicted to delivering us new music and live shows for 50years. I won’t hold a grudge. It’s better to Burn out, like a flame, than to just fade away. I see Neil’s commitment to his Art, to his fans, regardless of tours not launched. He has been coming through for us at a rapid pace. Toast is on heavy rotation, and what a masterpiece it is!
Neil, kick your feet up. Chill. Enjoy time with DH.
Thank you so much for all you have given, and the mountains of sonic treasure still to come.
Neil may have other important reasons, his own health for instance, or that of DH. I support him, whatever his reasoning.
Your Brother Alan in Pullman, WA today.
Brother Alan, appreciate the thoughts, as always.
Politely disagree.
We're all adults and have freedom to make our own choices. We don't neil to help us decide what is best.
Obviously, if he doesn't want to play, fine. No point in going on if he's not into it.
But we hear fear in his voice. Willie has no fear. Certainly the FA Board is wonderin' ...
As Lennon said, "WAR IS OVER (If You Want It)"
we wanted it over ... therefore it was ...
your mind creates your reality ... as you well know.
#BeTheRain
"We're all adults and have freedom to make our own choices."
Apparently you don't think this applies to Neil Young. As someone who this morning just got an email notice informing me that I was exposed to Covid by a vet worker here in Seattle when I took my dog in and stayed in a closed room with the person for for about 1/2 an hour, I fully support Neils common sense decision not to tour.
(I did have on a mask as did the employee, so hopefully nothing comes from it.)
If I never see Neil in person again, so be it. Better than getting more people sick!
Would be great to hear Abner weigh in on the “your mind creates your reality” part. I suspect analytic philosophy has something to say on the nature of reality.
As long as we live in a shared reality, we need something a bit less tenuous than the individual mind as a measure of truth.
Btw, fear within reason—aka caution—is sensible and valuable. Like all emotions, fear is not inherently good or bad. The trouble starts when emotions get out of control and impede rational, compassionate thinking. Compassion—real, actionable compassion—comes from an equanimity of emotion that (ideally) allows one to value, as equally possible, everyone’s needs, rather than choosing based on bias or specific emotional investments.
Neil may have his own reasons for not touring; i.e., his own health, his possible deteriorating ability to perform at his advanced age (voice, e.g.), or other private, family reasons. That's cool.
But to avoid performing so as to avoid some kind of COVID super-spreader event, or for the COVID-related health of his audience, is silly. Concerts are happening, people are going, the world is moving on (for now). So, he is accomplishing absolutely nothing if his performance aversion is due to COVID.
-Big Old Rig
Okay folks let’s respect Neil’s decision as he has himself and his family members with health issues to consider. He has survived Polio and the aneurism. He has Ben whose entire body and systems is compromised. He has grandchildren. Would you go out and perform with this family history? The new variant is highly transmissible and I know this first hand. I’m writing this triple vaxxed as of two months ago and tested positive yesterday, with symptoms. Let’s respect
And support Neil and his decision for his and his family’s health.
Neil is in his upper 70's, he's given us decades of great music and wonderful times. HE OWES NOTHING TO ANY OF US. I'd would love to see him live again, but totally respect his wishes to try to stay as healthy as he can.
I have my own thoughts about Covid and how people are responding to it. I feel for the scared and timid, but I try to respect their wishes. Most of us seem to be moving on, but there's still a chunk of folks who are still cautious, and we just have to accept that. With his age and previous health issues, Neil needs to stay cautious. I understand and respect his wishes, though hoping he'll get back to performing live someday.
A lot of you make good points. I very much want to see Neil play live again. Boise would be cool! Great venue on grounds of old penitentiary that also features the Boise Botanical Garden. I am hoping for a peace summit with
Dan & Thrasher, & maybe a handful of you. I’d like to shake your hand & let the good times roll.
Don’t get me wrong. I am not inviting Neil to retire. I am saying I am ok with whatever he does. Neil is far from done making albums and recording new material.
Richie says, “Neil owes us nothing.” And he is right. He is already over-delivering on albums. It’s a fantasy come true.
Neil has fear of Covid / fear his family could get it. Ben is vulnerable as some of you pointed out. We are not privy to Neil’s health care chart. We don’t know what he is going through. Maybe nothing! Maybe something. I must practice acceptance to avoid Disappointment.
As far as Burning out vs fading away, I should not have used that quote in. It’s not a fun association for Neil Young & Nirvana
@ Thrasher : agreeing to disagree is just fo e. I think we both want the same thing anyway.
I want Neil Young to be a Rock God, immortal, strong as 1996 forever more. I thought he was Young forever. But he is flesh and blood just like us. There’s more to the picture than meets the eye. And Neil Young is “immortal” to NY musicologists.
-Brother Alan
*(agree it disagree is fine.)
i thought we'd moved on to the monkey pox pandemic now?
"We're all adults and have freedom to make our own choices." - Honestly I think you should have stopped there Thrasher.
We are all different and have our own unique health circumstances personally and within our families. As much as I would love to see him performing live again, if Neil feels it isn't 'safe' for him that is good enough for me. In my opinion it's disrespectable to talk about 'fear'.
We should just appreciate what he is giving us - which is frankly quite remarkable.
*disrespectful
"But we hear fear in his voice."
I looked past all the tin-foil hat stuff, rambling endless posts and self congratulatory bs since 2003, but this is where I stop checking this blog for Neil news. What a fool.
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I think the most importance comments that I’ve heard referred to Neil‘s concern with his family and in particular with Ben a severely compromised gentleman. I think that no one would criticize him for making that direct statement. But like others have said the world is moved on and going to concerts far bigger than Farm Aid. I saw the Stones in Atlanta with 70,000 people! We got vaccinated went through the mask wearing we got boosters at some point we have to just live. Again if Neil’s concern is Ben or his immediate family he needs to tell that to the organization. He does not owe anything to his fans, no, but he does owe this much to Willie. How about a live Neil and crazy horse feed for 45 minutes coming from Colorado?
Personally at my age I prefer a well crafted NY & Crazy Horse album to a live concert any day. With the album there is no standing for hours, people drunkenly shouting out at inappropriate times, there being too many people and consequently not being able to see or hear properly. .
My time for going to live concerts has passed. And maybe Neil's has too. And I don't regret it.
It's entirely up to him. I am just thankful that he is still making music and I am looking forward to the next release and enjoying Toast in the meantime.
Agree that it is questionable to talk about “fear”, and certainly agree that NY doesn’t owe anything here. I’m glad I got to see him live when I did… you never know when there’s going to be another chance… Optimistically, other comments seem to suggest he would like to get back to performing live in some form. Maybe small gigs at select, trusted venues and/or outdoors would be something to consider? Then again, maybe not.
I doubt this is an easy choice for a lifetime musician. I feel certain the energy of playing for a good audience in a great venue means a lot, but there may be any number of other considerations there’s no need for the whole world to be privy to. No one knows what Neil has or hasn’t said, and to whom, behind closed doors. Much like the marriage issue, it’s just decent to allow certain aspects to remain private.
Yes, live music is better. And the performing arts have been badly by covid, which is sad and frustrating. But I think it’s important to respect NY’s capacity to make these decisions for himself. After a long time following NY’s career, one thing I’m sure of is that the man has his reasons for whatever he does.
I wish my mind did create my reality, because it would be a lot easier for me to remove that oak stump in my front yard. It is the other way around (for the most part): the nature of reality creates mind. This is a good thing or stepping into moving vehicles might become a habit. Over a long, very long time, natural selection works on the human organism, etc..
Extending the principle of charity here it is easy to see what Thrasher meant and also to see that there is a sense in which it is true. Having struggled with both anxiety and depression in my own life, there is clearly a manner in which mind projects itself onto reality.
There is no point in going any further into the philosophy of this.
Fear distorts reality if it is not reasonable- that is if we feel too much fear, at the wrong things, for the wrong reasons, in the wrong ways (straight from Aristotle). Fear, as it is experienced in the extreme is totally debilitating.
We must be careful to distinguish between caution and fear. I am cautious of speeding 18 wheelers but not always afraid of them (depending on circumstance). Neil could be exercising caution, and not experiencing fear. Caution because he is in his 70's as are his bandmates. Furthermore, covid is a twisty, turny, critter which could easily ruin someone's life instead of killing them (long term covid). It is most often in keeping with rationality to "err on the side of caution" when the stakes are high or could be high.
Of course, there are times when we probably should "throw caution to the wind." Cases when the consequences of taking the risk do not matter as much as what can be accomplished. Think about the researchers who actually injected themselves directly with yellow fever in order to make progress on a vaccine (that has saved millions). And now our population has been perhaps forever prejudiced against vaccines on the basis of essentially nothing (ignorance). These people deliberately fan the flames of fear.
I'm not prejudiced against vaccines that actually prevent you from catching the thing that you're being vaccinated for. Getting Pfizer juice pumped into my system every 9 months while apparently still being able to get Covid doesn't sound like a viable reality to me. Might be good for some, but count me out.
Give me a call when an actual effective vaccine for Covid happens. Maybe I'll give it a shot. Get it?
Just got out of it after 3 vaccine shots and the lock down and all the rest.
It has not been the baddest thing to happen' but I swear that 3 days unable to even drink for throat ache is not funny.
So I will not oppose or question. It's understandable and sharable as most human things are. Thanks Neil for being human!
@Abner, Thanks for reminding me to be a tad more generous. Evidently, I am not always in a charitable mood. Unfortunately, I'm so used to sifting out nonsense and noise that occasionally, good thoughts get lost in the process, kind of like a spam filter whose algorithm is not quite fine-tuned.
In the past, you've often brought a bit of philosophical perspective to the conversation, but maybe I was little off-target in this case. Heard too much specious, fuzzy "mind over matter" thinking, people who seem to think you can will yourself not to get sick, etc.
I suppose, in some sense, your mindset does determine *your* reality. I'm just concerned about how that reality collides with the one we all have to live in.
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A 100% effective vaccine is unrealistic. Virus won't stop mutating. All the reports I've read have been clear that vaccine effectiveness is likely to decrease over time. All immunizations work like that. Booster shots are a long-established medical practice.
However, results have been good for preventing serious illness. I can categorically state I've had no negative impact from being vaccinated. I'm willing to have a conversation on big pharma. The reason I get annoyed is that people who complain often don't vote for actual change.
I got vaccinated for a handful of things when I was a kid. Polio, measles, mumps, and whatnot. NEVER needed a booster every 9 months, and NEVER saw anyone contact those diseases after they were vaccinated.
Not sure why people can't just admit how much bullshit all of this actually is, I guess it's just hard to admit you've been bamboozled into being a Pfizer lab rat.
Making negative assumptions about the other person makes it very hard to hold a productive conversation. And yeah, I’ve been guilty of it myself. But you’re never going to persuade anyone to see your viewpoint if they feel insulted.
Getting vaccinated, I saw very little to lose and potentially something to gain, knowing it wasn’t a guarantee.
Straightforward cost/benefit analysis. Can I prove the shots made covid less severe for me? No. But the numbers say that, on average, vaccinated people experience less serious illness. Since nothing bad happened from getting the vaccine, there’s nothing to regret. Nor does it make sense that anyone would feel bad about potentially helping medical science.
Richie, better get that measles booster, as epidemics will happen as many people refuse to vaccinate their children. Measles booster at about ten years. No question, immunity fades.
Measles killed millions of people.
My play list tonight while cleaning the kitchen:
Interstate
Stupid Girl
Down by the River
Misfits
@ Abner : I smile as I read you playlist. Quirky, as any good Neil playlist would be!
@ Hayo : I think we are all entitled to say something unpopular or even stupid from time to time. I set the precedent myself. Thrasher is not a paid employee of a Corporation. He Carries this TW torch for all of us. If he wants to wear a tinfoil hat, that is his prerogative. This is a killer blog. You are only cheating yourself out of “the best Neil News fit to print.” But then NYA does a pretty good job of getting news out, etc.
I stand up for Thrasher’s right to have his own opinion of the live show issue. Do we think T. Would be sad if Neil retired? Hell yes. We share common sentiment in that opinion.
Lots of tours have been getting hit with outbreaks of Covid. Shows can be planned, but the virus has other plans.
Your Brother Alan in Seattle
A new concert of the moment has appeared - the first since April (I think).
This one is from the 2018 solo tour, Chicago, June 2018.
I'm late to the party due to holidays, but what a great album Toast is! I'm not a big fan of AYP but the versions of the same songs on Toast are great.
@ Alan: I am fine with dumb opinions, it is part of the reason I checked this blog daily for nearly 20 years. Of course I wondered why it had to be padded with paranoid nonsense and constant pictures of the blog owner flashing peace signs and flaring his nostrils, but fine.
This however is does not concern an opinion, it concerns ridicule and vile dismissal. Neil made a decision I happen to fully agree with. As a teacher I am uncomfortable teaching full classrooms while the virus is still here and hurting people, and nobody here in the Netherlands is wearing a mask. This post is made to make fun of Neils decision in a low-key way with arguments like “look, they even got Joni Mitchell on a stage, everybody is doing it” and the “I hear fear in Neils voice”. I know TW is hearing voices, but this is going too far. It is what the conspiracy theorists and covidiots are doing. It is worse than the republican fans going against Neil and “burning his records” in the LWW era. Neil was right then and he is right now.
And yes, as a patron NYA member I will be fine, I don’t need Dale Gribble for my Neil news.
@Ian- you are hard on yourself.
Note what I said- with respect to anxiety or depression- mind sometimes creates its own reality, not reality. In other words, the interpretation of what is real goes awry. This is an aspect of mental illness, a distortion of reality.
Our attitudes can help change reality, one of the ways what Thrasher said is correct (see William James).
You are looking for conditions of intersubjectivity, how we all talk about the same reality as something which exists apart from our own minds. Obviously, this is an essential question in ontology. In general, and without any real philosophy, I think this is an assumption or we will not be able to communicate at all, even to ourselves. And on a purely mundane level, if we cannot articulate the "facts of the matter" (basic ground for a discussion of our circumstances in the world) we cannot communicate to one another in any productive or even coherent manner. The "big lie" is a deliberate attempt to scramble the truth, ruin productive discussion, and then leaves an opening for a fascist. We have to be very careful with this whole discussion.
@Julia, I am with you on live concerts. If going to concert meant simply hearing music then it would all be ok. But it means much more than this. Plus, my hearing is shot.
Is Neil ever going to tour again?
This shit is never going away
Abner, I am getting more stubborn, I think, with the climate of the last several years. And I’m surely not the only one. Not a bad thing, though, in that I’m stubborn about trying to communicate in spite of background noise and bad faith arguments.
Long Covid may be affecting 90 million people. Long Covid can ruin a person’s life very quickly. I have a coworker who can no longer work due to long Covid.
So it’s not just as simple as “learning to live with it.” If you don’t wear a mask, your risk is higher.
Question: How about if I am walking in the woods alone with my dog? Or driving alone in a car.
Answer: If you are not around people, live a bit! Take off the mask if you are alone hiking!
“Let them Love” as Grandpa used to say.
Your Brother Alan in Seattle
Alan, 90 million? I had no idea, where does this stat come from?
Ian, I hope you did not misunderstand my comments, I was being supportive. A lot of bad faith arguments, noise that is also insulting, name-calling and so forth. Hard to remain focused.
@ Abner : I was wrong. It is ~23 million estimates long Covid cases. My coworker has had her life ruined by it, by many measures.
We better hope Thrasher is right that there is a big shift coming, one which could “Save the World” Save the humans is more realistic. Save nature to save the humans! The 2 party system won’t save us from Oligarchy. Green Revolution? (young people not tolerating fossil fuel consumption).Thrasher has optimistically believed for decades that we will be able to get along. We can only hope that is true.
Not nice to comment on someone’s physical attributes (flared nostrils)-we aren’t Hollywood types, slick operators.
Thrasher is 100% dedicated to us & does what he does with this Neil Young blog for us! So what if he drops a few odd ideas while he is at it. You guys are lucky You have Thrasher (& Thrashette, ever tolerant!). They have got your back with the latest activity or just neat ideas to fill the space between, which as of late has been a torrent of albums and news.
@ Thrasher : I am not done with live shows. But I play guitar and sing also, so if I want some live music I am often the one making it. My old Dad and I play once a week together. Although he mostly does bluegrass, he still kills it on the harmonica, like Sonny Boy Williamson meets Paul Butterfield & Lil Walter. He is also learning guitar. Good times! Powderfinger, Roll Another Number, Rockin’ in the Free World, Hank, GD, Dwight, the Clash, etc.
Your bro Alan
@ Abner :
https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2022-07-08/how-many-people-have-long-covid-the-statistics-are-pretty-scary
I said flaring, not flared. If he looks like that all the time I apologise.
Timeline Concert Of The Moment is top tier solo Neil. In light of the news that he’s not ready to return to the stage, it’s quite thrilling to hear one of his most recent sets. But he sounds fantastic here, very relaxed, with voice in great shape. The whole first part is all mid-70s at the latest. Highlights of this section for me are the early-set Homegrown cuts (album still then unreleased) and the Tonight’s The Night piano tunes. I’m at the Le Noise suite now, beautiful. Here’s to the health of the man and many years more of amazing music.
Homefires! Homegrown era. Still unreleased… on vinyl
Neil Young, one of the biggest disappointments of my life. Always admired him as one of the few true REBELS of rock and roll. Turns out he's not. The plannedemic has exposed him as a COWARD, an IGNORANT, a SHEEP, a MIND SLAVE to Big Pharma propaganda and fear porn. Even worse when he tried to force Spotify to CENSOR Joe Rogan. Imagine that!!! A hippie, a "rebel", demanding CENSORSHIP!!! It can't get lower than that. He could have died a legend, but he will die as a CLOWN.
Now THAT'S some name-calling.
name calling and such a fascinating post, with so much substance! Unknown has probably done hours of independent research in a dark room with his QAnon tee shirt and MAGA hate. By the way, all past pandemics were also planned by government stooges and Donald Trump has always been alive. He just changes bodies.
I see NY as someone who lives by the strength of his convictions and always has. Whether anyone else agrees with those convictions is beside the point. It is possible for people to disagree with you, strenuously even, and still have integrity, intellect, and sound judgment. Remembering this would be a good starting point--instead of looking at a different viewpoint as some sort of weakness of character.
It seems very sad to me that anyone would throw away whatever Neil's music means to them over this.
@Ian
At some point various convictions DO become character issues (I agree with you for the most part). There are people who hold their convictions without any reflection or because they want something else from those convictions (inauthenticity). And then there are people like Unknown, living in his parent's basement and desperately trying to get a rise out of someone. The actual process of "refuting" an Unknown is a total and complete waste of time.
Neil has convictions. Throwing away his record collection for the reasons given indicates, quite clearly, that Unknown is an oxygen thief. Just look at the stats Alan gave us- and think about my student who lost both parents to COVID. Unknown, get some exercise, go to the gym, read an introductory textbook on the history of pandemics, grow the hell up.
Ian, you are stubborn, I am going to start playing hard ball.
Abner, i Didn’t necessarily mean literally throwing away records, but the idea of casting aside years of enjoyment, insight, etc. over a frankly misguided sense of principle leading to a difference of opinion on one issue. It never ceases to amaze me, the hills people choose to die on. And how easily they’re persuaded to do so.
NY needs to take care of himself and his own first, period. We don’t have (nor are entitled to) to the knowledge to judge personal calls. Boundaries, folks. Even the rich and famous need them.
Abner, looking at your playlist reminded me that Zuma and American Stars are, for me, somewhat uneven. Maybe an unpopular opinion. Goldrush, Harvest, and the ditch albums are so unified—so musically balanced and effective in creating a consistent, powerful mood that carries over an entire album—Zuma and Stars can feel a little scattershot by comparison. Amazing highs mixed with songs or sections that don’t quite resonate the same.
Everyone has their own opinions just the same as Neil. Whether or not I get to see him live again is not the point. If he wants to play live, I will see him, if he doesn't, I won't. Personally, I'm happy he's not touring because we get more Archives material because he has the time to curate. If he tours, the Archives get out on hold. Think about EVERYTHING we have gotten in the last three years. From the fireside sessions to NYA2 to lost albums like toast to classic live performances like Way Down in the Rust Bucket. All or most of this wouldn't exist now if he had been touring. We are lucky to be treated to Neil one way or the other.
Enjoy what you have, our time ends all too soon.
One of these posts a few back makes me think Donald Trump posted on TW!
@ D. Ian Kertis: Zuma, American Stars n Bars, two of my favorites! But we get to have like a dozen, right?
I appreciate you, good people.
Neil, thank you for the bountiful mountains of sonic treasure. You have been dosing us at peak leavers of enjoyment and frequency.
Congratulations Neil on turning a profit with NYA! Long may you run! I would like to see you in Boise at that cool venue, when the time is right. Outdoor is a good way to stay safer perhaps. Alan in Seattle
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