Sonic Youth & Neil Young: Tales From WELD Tour

Sonic Youth & Neil Young w/ Crazy Horse - 1991

"Last night I dreamt I kissed Neil Young
If I was a boy I guess it would be fun."

-- Sonic Youth, Creme Brulee, 1992

In 1991, Sonic Youth opened for Neil Young w/ Crazy Horse on the 1991 WELD Tour.

In an interview in MELODY MAKER in 1991, Neil Young said about the selection of Sonic Youth as an opening act:

NEIL YOUNG: "I didn't want acts that people were going to say "Oh, I can take them or leave them". I wanted to get somebody that people were going to love or hate. And I think we did a good job there. Sonic Youth are way out there on the cutting edge with what they're doing. And it's also extremely similar to what we've been doing for a long time.

In the book "I Dreamed Of Noise" written by Ignacio Julia and Jaime Gonzalo, Sonic Youth's Kim Gordan said:

KIM GORDON : "That was the first time (the 1991 Neil Young tour) I ever felt what it was like to be a girl in a band, I really felt sorry for like Joni Mitchell.

I mean, he's [Neil] very sweet and everything but he's part of that generation and that way of thinking. It sounds like it's changed, but in certain level, in rock, it's just there."

Sonic Youth

In an interview in Exclaim (June 2004), Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo had this to say about Neil Young when asked "What's been your most memorable or inspirational gig and why?"

Lee Ranaldo:"That's a hard one.

Being someone who plays gigs and finding many, many memorable ones in different ways - I guess I'd have to say I don't really have a single favourite one that I could pick out. As far as seeing other people, I wouldn't say it's the most memorable one but a memorable gig would have to be Neil Young's recent Greendale show."

In an interview in MOJO Magazine with Neil Young in 1995, he was asked about recording with Sonic Youth, possibly for the album that became Sleeps With Angels.

YOUNG: "With Sonic Youth?

Well, that sounds like it came from a news story that was in fact wrong. Hell, if they wanted to play, I'd be there. It sounds like too much fun to pass by. Sonic Youth are great. Same with R.E.M.: I'd love to work with those guys if the right conditions prevailed. "

Over on Blogcritics' StarPolish Interview with Sonic Youth, some interesting comments by Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo guitarist on alienating fans with musical experimentation:

LEE RANALDO: "I don't think that's true.

In fact, I think it sort of happens in a kind of the reverse -- it's easy to alienate the fans that have kind of come recently and sort of dip in and check it out, and then move on to something else. I think especially for a band like us, our hardcore fans are really interested in the different directions that we go, and the same goes for us; if we like an artist, even if they go through a period that has you scratching your heads and wondering, 'What the fuck are they doing?' -- like with Neil Young or someone like that when he goes off on these crazy tangents -- you still like something about who they are and what they're enough doing that you keep coming back to see where they're going.

Hopefully they come around and do stuff you really love again, as Young has for sure. So I think that because we've been around for so long, there have been fans that have been with us for a really long period of time, and in general they look for us to do different things and sort of challenge their expectations of who we are and what we are."

NEIL YOUNG (Guitars Magazine 92) : "Obviously I like Sonic Youth. They are definitely a modern rock'n'roll band in my eyes. They make some beautiful music. Have you heard "Expressway To Your Skull"? It's unbelievably good. So beautiful! It's classic. Magnificent melody, and to hear it live, especially, it's awesome. They have several songs of that quality. So they're a great band."

Confusion is Next: Sonic Youth on Neil Young by Alan Foege

More on Sonic Youth and Neil Young by Alan Foege.

Kim Gordon - Sonic Youth
(Click photo to enlarge)
Kim Gordon has a new autobiography titled Girl in a Band: A Memoir which chronicles her career as the bassist, vocalist and founding member (with now ex-husband Thurston Moore) the ground breaking band Sonic Youth.

More @ Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon on Neil Young’s ‘Out of My Mind’

Also, see Sonic Youth and their influence on Neil Young (and vice versa) from excerpts of "I Dreamed Of Noise", The Sonic Youth Biography.

---

---

Photo of the Moment: "SMELL THE HORSE" - Neil Young w/ Crazy Horse, Mansfield, MA - 8-8-1997 by Steve "Babs" Babineau

"SMELL THE HORSE"
Neil Young w/ Crazy Horse
Mansfield, MA - 8-8-1997
Photo by Steve "Babs" Babineau via TW Archives Collection (#8 0f 300)

The Photo of the Moment is an autographed "SMELL THE HORSE", Neil Young w/ Crazy Horse from Mansfield, MA on 8-8-1997 by Steve "Babs" Babineau.

The limited edition photo (#8 0f 300) -- to benefit The Bridge School -- is autographed by all 4 members of the band Crazy Horse: Neil, Ralph, Billy & Poncho. We're so grateful to everyone involved in this memorable effort and have the image prominently displayed @ TW HQ.

(Click photo to enlarge)

The photo was taken at the end of the concert at Great Woods Center for the Performing Arts, Mansfield, Massachusetts - 1997-08-08 (link to setlist, review).

More on Neil Young w/ Crazy Horse on 1997 HORDE Festival Tour.

Also, more on Neil Young photos by Steve Babineau/Sports Action Images.


Induct Neil Young & Crazy Horse into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

---

---

Weld Series + Sneaks Coming to Neil Young Archives

New Series | Subscriber News | NYA

Neil Young has announced new release packages coming on New Series | NYA.

The "Weld Series" and "Sneaks" are just the latest plans for NYA, as The Archives continues to evolve and grow. Also, the previously announced 2020 releases now have placeholders on the Timeline.(Thanks Babbo!)

Image via Rusted Moon via NYA

• Homegrown, April 18 (Record Store Day (details)
• Return to Greendale, June 19 (details)
• Archives Vol. 2, July 24 (details)
• Rust Bucket, Oct. 16 (details)
• Young Shakespeare, Nov. 27 (details)

Other noteworthy items are that NYA is on track to the next subscriber level of 25,000 with a goal of 40,000.

"Tonight's The Night" - WELD

Regarding the "Weld Series", the 1st release will be from Memorial Auditorium, Buffalo, New York, on 1991-02-16. A preview clip was posted recently on NYA of "Campaigner" from Buffalo which indicates that this will be a performance oriented release concert as opposed to the original WELD release which contained vast amounts of audience reaction. Apparently, Manager Elliot Roberts was quite opposed to the WELD editing that favored audience over band. Neil seems to be correcting this decision by saying: "Well Elliot, you got it. Better late than never my old friend."

Also, a "Sneaks Series" is coming featuring a limited 24 hours only posting of some NYA rarity. These will be unscheduled pop-ups and a "Sneak" is planned to be posted "very soon."

UPDATE: The 1st "Sneak" has now been posted of a preview audio clip of the unreleased 1989 version of F*!#in' Up from Saturday Night Live (Thanks Scotsman!)

Sneak Preview

"Another thing we are introducing is SNEAK PREVIEWS of songs and clips that you have never heard or seen."

Now on the front page of the Times Contrarian.#NeilYoung #NeilYoungArchives pic.twitter.com/C82YbqYVHt

— Neil Young Archives (@NeilYoungNYA) March 10, 2020

Full details at New Series | NYA.

WELD: Neil Young

Big Neil Young News day yesterday:
- Weld Series + Sneaks Coming to Archives
- Creativity Update: "Canary" - Fiction Novel by Neil Young
- Neil Young Endorses Bernie Sanders for President + Trashes Facebook, Again | NYA https://t.co/qaIh1Gejq3
---@NeilYoungNYA #NeilYoung pic.twitter.com/2wA287BiB3

— ThrashersWheat (@ThrashersWheat) March 10, 2020

---

---