Neil Young Announces West Coast Acoustic Tour

Neil Young has announced a solo acoustic tour of the West Coast, but the dates and venues won’t be revealed until Friday.

He unveiled the news on Zoom to paid Patron subscribers to the Neil Young Archives, noting that the tour will focus on songs he’s never played live.

“I don’t want to come back and do the same songs again,” Young said [via Rolling Stone]. “I’ll feel like I was on some sort of carnival ride. I’d rather be doing these other songs I haven’t done. … I won’t have to compare how I’m doing ‘Heart of Gold’ to [how I played it in] 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000, 2010, 2020.”

According to Young, he’s been rehearsing roughly 15 songs, including “Song X” from his 1995 album with Pearl Jam, Mirror Ball, “Prime of Life” from 1994’s Sleeps With Angels and “If You Got Love,” an outtake from 1982’s Trans.

“I did a demo of [‘If You Got Love’] a few years [after Trans] with a Synclavier, a drum machine, harmonica and some effects,” Young explained. “I listened to it [recently], and it turned me on again. I’m now doing it with the organ and harmonica. It’s pretty cool.”

Young added that “they’re not new songs. They’re old songs. But I wake up with them in my head every morning. They are songs that apply to my life right now and apply to everyone’s lives in this era that we’re in. Some of them were written 10, 20, 30, 40 years ago but never really played live.”

The singer-songwriter has not toured since 2019, citing concerns about COVID-19, environmental damage and ticketing practices. He appeared briefly at the United for Old Growth Rally in British Columbia earlier this year; he also made appearances at Stephen Stills‘ Light Up the Blues charity show and Willie Nelson‘s 90th birthday concert.

Even though Young did not mention any specific locations for the upcoming tour, he noted that the run will begin with a four- or five-night residency at a “tiny, little unknown theater that’s close to one of the most well-known theaters in the world” on the West Coast.

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