ROCKIN’ IN THE STREAMING WORLD: Well, Well, Well … Look Who’s Back on Spotify.
UPDATE (From Ed): Neil’s found a new grouse to keep his name in the press for an extra 15 minutes: Neil Young Now Calling for Boycott of Banking.
“Stop supporting banks contributing to the the [sic] mass fossil fuel destruction of earth,” says the crusty Canuck rocker on his website, calling on people to pull their savings from JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo, four of the largest banks in North America. “Please join me and move the power of your money away from the damage causers or you will unintentionally be one of them,” Young says.
Why stop there? Surely just about every bank is, by Young’s reckoning, involved in fossil fuels in one way or another, as are all of the fossil-fuel companies and all of the companies that use fossil fuels, which is to say, just about every company. Young might want to take a peek at, for instance, how vinyl records and CDs are made: both from petroleum. As with many other boycotters, the only logical endpoint here for Young to boycott himself.
As recently as December, Young was quoted as saying he had no plans to tour:
His most recent in-person show, according to Setlist.fm, dates back to a pre-pandemic appearance in September 2019. Young set a return date for April at Farm Aid but decided to cancel.
“It was too soon,” Young admitted. “I just I told my buddies there, Farm Aid, I said, ‘I can’t do it. It gives me a sick feeling.'”
His chief concern remains watching in horror as one of his concerts turns into a super-spreader event.
“First of all, I charge a fortune to play. Whatever it is, even the lowest-priced tickets are ridiculous,” Young said. “So, people come to this thing that they really want to see because they paid a lot of money, and they’ve been looking forward to it for so long. And then they all go there – what if something goes wrong?”
When and if Young does decide to tour again, please pay no attention to his quote about “mass fossil fuel destruction” when his roadies load up the semis full of amps and gear.
(Updated and bumped.)