Neil Young To Return To Stage At Farm Aid Festival After Tour Cancellations
Neil Young is coming back! After canceling his Crazy Horse tour dates last month due to band illness, the 78-year-old music legend has announced his next live performance at New York’s Farm Aid Festival this fall.
The festival, scheduled for September 21 in Saratoga Springs, New York, revealed its performer lineup on Tuesday, July 23. Alongside Neil, the event will feature Willie Nelson and family, John Mellencamp, and Dave Matthews with Tim Reynolds. Neil has been a regular at this annual event since its inception in 1985, only missing the 2021 and 2022 festivals due to COVID-19 concerns.
Other notable performers set to take the stage include Mavis Staples, Nathaniel Rateliff and The Night Sweats, Lukas Nelson with The Travelin’ McCourys, Charley Crockett, Joy Oladokun, Southern Avenue, Cassandra Lewis, and Jesse Welles, with more artists to be announced later. Tickets for the festival go on sale on Friday, July 26, at 10 a.m. ET.
This performance marks a hopeful return for Neil, who had to cancel Crazy Horse’s Love Earth Tour in late June after some band members fell ill.
“The Love Earth Tour has been a great experience for us so far. GREAT AUDIENCES AND MUSIC. WE HAVE HAD A BLAST!” the singer-songwriter shared in a heartfelt blog post, adding, “When a couple of us got sick after Detroit’s Pine Knob, we had to stop. We are still not fully recovered, so sadly our great tour will have a big unplanned break. We will try to play some of the dates we miss as time passes when we are ready to rock again!”
Neil expressed his gratitude to fans for their understanding and patience, emphasizing that “health is #1.” He assured fans that they intend to continue making music and performing.
“We want to stay and do more shows and more albums for you… and for us. With love and thanks to all of you from Crazy Horse… Neil, Micah, Ralph, and Billy Love Earth,” he added.
The cancellations have been tough on fans, with earlier postponed shows in Chicago, Austin, and Dallas due to illness, and the band pulling out of their 2024 Ohana Festival performance set for September 28. The festival organizers wished the musicians a “speedy recovery” in a Facebook announcement on June 26.
