FOLK rock legend Neil Young is getting the old band back together for another rodeo.
Young, 78, will hit the road in the States in April with Crazy Horse for their first tour in 10 years.
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Tickets for the Love Earth tour are set to fly when they go on general sale this Friday if the pre-sale was anything to go by.
Fans complained yesterday after being unable to get their hands on the early releases.
One fumed: “Garbage website, and thanks for giving us a half hour heads up for ticket sales.”
Another said: “Garbage website, and thanks for giving us a half hour heads up for ticket sales.”
The chaos prompted Young himself to write on Instagram: “Hi this is Neil, Sorry you were having trouble getting on the site and getting tickets. We are working on it. Thanks. Love Be Well.”
Not only is the group taking to the stage, but they’re releasing a nine song album of tracks from their 50 year career too.
Titled FU##IN’ UP after the track of the same name, it will be released on vinyl on Record Store Day (April 20) before getting a wider release on April 26.
Young said of the album: “In the spirit it’s offered…made this for the Horse lovers. I can’t stop it. The horse is runnin’. What a ride we have. I don’t want to mess with the vibe. I am so happy to have this to share.”
The band first joined forces with Young in the late 60s and consisted of Danny Whitten, Billy Talbot and Ralph Molina.
Their first LP – Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere – failed to reach the top end of the charts but hung around for almost two years and featured fan favourites Cinnamon Girl, Down By The River and Cowgirl in the Sand.
Ahead of his next solo effort Young made his collaboration with 70s legends Crosby, Stills & Nash permanent, adding his name into the mix to become a fully functioning quartet.
Young then fired Crazy Horse over Whitten’s escalating drug use and the band went it alone, releasing their eponymous debut in 1971.
It was a commercial failure and just a year later Whitten died from an overdose.
They reconvened with Young in 1973, this time with current member Nils Lofgren in the fold, and were in a far better shape emotionally and musically for the 1975 LP Zuma.
Last year, Lofgren said of Whitten’s passing in an interview with Mojo: “We realised Danny was too sick to be in our band. When he left, it was heartbreaking. And, of course, it’s well documented the saga with Neil trying to help Danny out, and then Danny ODs.
“That was a big turning point – when everyone started dying, your heroes and your friends. Jimi Hendrix had died. And when Danny died, it was like, Oh my God. By the time we get to Tonight’s The Night [Young’s sixth solo album] it’s a different world.”
The band has always been there when Young needed them, whether as part of his solo output or as one cohesive act.
They have 15 studio albums to their name and surprisingly have had their most productive period in the noughties, releasing half of their overall output since the Millennium.
Their last, World Record, was produced by Rick Rubin and put out in 2022. A love letter of sorts to the planet, its lead single shares its name with their upcoming tour, Love Earth.
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