Neil Young recently defended his opener after fans booed him at a concert in Boston on NeilYoungArchives.com. Neil Young recently discussed abandoning poor private performances.
A fan said, “Hey Neil, I saw your show in Boston in July, my son got me tickets for Fathers Day. It was in the same theater where I attended my first of many of your concerts. It’s called The Wang Theater now. I think it must have been around 1973, and was the “Tonight’s the Night” tour. Full circle sort of thing. I have a memory of that first show, when I was still a teenager. A solo artist came on stage before your show and was getting booed by an obviously rude crowd.
As he was getting tuned up, he broke a string, got booed more, and walked off stage. I remember feeling horrible for him, and then you came out and really chewed out the crowd, threatened to cancel the show. You came back eventually and did a (to me at the time) confusing performance of material I wasn’t expecting to hear. I know now what I saw, and am grateful to have been there. My question is, who was the solo artist, and how did he make out after that tour? It’s actually been bothering me for over 40 years, but I’ve never had a way to ask the question.”
Young responded, “John Hammond. He is a great artist.” Neil also reacted to a fan calling his Neil Young Archives club a ‘Mickey Mouse’ joke.
He told the fan, “Doing it this way has greatly improved my personal concert experience. People who come to shows now through NYA really want to hear music. They love the archives and the selection of their favorite music in great sound – Xstream by NYA. All my albums are here.
That all comes with the subscription. When I do a show now, I know the people are there for the music. That’s why I did this—-to protect my soul. It has made a huge difference and is probably why I am still playing. It’s fun again! The business of concerts is pretty dirty now with surcharges, scalpers, and special ticket offers that charge through the roof.
NYA pre sale tickets really help skip the middle man- the scalpers. The front rows are no longer full of high rollers with cell phones impressing people with front row tickets. Most of them didn’t even know my music. I want music lovers. It’s better this way for many reasons. cheaper tickets. . . . more music lovers. . . . no high priced diamond and golden circles for NYA. That was a bunch of bullshit. Sorry NYA wasn’t for you. I like it a lot.” Michael Jackson’s family recently leaked a painful Neil Young claim.
