Neil Young: another rarity returns to the lineup, after almost 40 years

Neil Young’s tour continues with its new band, the Chrome Hearts. The rediscovery of little known pieces or in recent years absent to live pieces, which is characterizing the current tour, also continues. It was no less than the concert on 23 August, which saw the Canadian singer -songwriter re -propose a live song after almost 40 years.

As a scene at the Jones Beach Theater in Wantagh, New York, Young surprised the public by playing on the piano his song of protest of the REAGAN era “Long Walk Home” for the first time since 1989. As pointed out by the US edition of “Rolling Stone” and testified by the videos available on the net, the text of the song remained largely faithful to the original version in the “Life”. 1987, with a crucial difference. The verse “From Vietnam to old Beirut/If We Are Searching For the Truth/Why Do We Feel That Double-Edged Blade/Cutting Through Our Hand” has been replaced with “From Canada to Old Ukraine/We Broke Our Word and Left the Pain/Why Do We Feel That’s Double-Edged Blade/Cutting/Cutting/Cutting Through our hand ”.

The modification to the text of “Long Walk Home” highlights the support demonstrated by Neil Young and his wife, towards Ukraine – where the musician had initially planned to inaugurate the “Love Earth 2025” tour. “We had a good location, near the refuge, but the situation in constant change in the area was too complicated,” Young had made you know in a letter to the fans to announce the cancellation of the concert: “I could not conscientize my crew and my tools in that area. I apologize to everyone. Ukraine is a great country with a good leader. Slava Ukraini”.

At the Jones Beach concert on Saturday, he also played “Singer Without A Song” for the first time in 12 years. A very rare song, which does not appear on any album and which had emerged only during the “Crazy Horse Alchemy Tour” of 2012-13, as well as in some charity shows of the same year.

As reported in the concert reports, the two rarities included in the lineup were not the only oddity of the concert at Jones Beach. The persistent effects of Hurricane Erin caused a high tide that the organizers knew would have invaded the pit in the middle of the show. Fans with parterre tickets were in fact given the opportunity to ask for a refund or accept places not sold in the stands. A very unusual scene derived from this: the large area right in front of the stage was completely empty, and it actually filled with water during the Young set.