Timeless folk rock legend Neil Young keeps on “Rockin’ in the Free World” with an appearance at Hard Rock Live at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino on Thursday, September 23 at 8 p.m. Tickets go on sale Friday, June 25 at noon.
From the beginning of his solo career in the late ’60s, Neil Young has been a tour-de-force, continually writing, recording, and performing. The Canadian singer, songwriter, film maker and activist’s career has spanned 50 years and 33 studio albums, which have seen him explore a wide variety of musical styles.
Young’s early success came with the California folk-rock band Buffalo Springfield, but by1968, group tensions forced him to strike out on his own. The following year he released his eponymous debut album. His next effort, recorded in just two weeks, was Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere that featured backing band Crazy Horse and yielded classic hits such as “Cinnamon Girl” and “Down by the River.” Following the completion of the record, he began jamming with Crosby, Stills & Nash, eventually joining the group for their 1970 album, Déjà Vu. Although he was now part of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, he continued to record as a solo artist, releasing After the Gold Rush (1970) that had the hit “Only Love Can Break Your Heart.”
After splitting CSN & Y in 1971 following the release of the live Four Way Street, Young had his first number one album with the mellow country-rock of Harvest, which also featured his first (and only) number one single, “Heart of Gold.”
The years 1973 – 1978 saw Young release the film and accompanying soundtrack Journey Through the Past, Time Fades Away, On the Beach, Tonight’s the Night, Zuma, the duet album Long May You Run with Stephen Stills, American Stars ‘n Bars, Comes a Time and the triple-album retrospective, Decade. At the end of 1978, he embarked on an arena tour called Rust Never Sleeps to support the 1979 album release. Hailed as a comeback, he released the double album Live Rust and the movie Rust Never Sleeps.
Over the next decade, Young released a variety of albums in differing genres including the acoustic and politically-tinged Hawks & Doves, the heavy rock album Re*ac*tor, the electronic Trans, the rockabilly Everybody’s Rockin’ , the straight country Old Ways, the new wave-tinged Landing on Water and the bluesy, horn-driven This Note’s for You, which was supported by an acclaimed video that satirized rock stars endorsing commercial products. He then recorded a reunion album with Crosby, Stills & Nash called American Dream.
Freedom (1989) was a critical and commercial success that led Young to be the subject of a tribute record later that year titled The Bridge. The following year, Young reunited with Crazy Horse for Ragged Glory, a loud, feedback-drenched album that received his strongest reviews since the ’70s. For the supporting tour, Young hired the avant-garde rock band Sonic Youth as his opening group, providing them with needed exposure while earning him hip credibility within alternative rock scenes. Subsequent releases included Weld (1991), Harvest Moon (1992), Lucky Thirteen, Sleeps with Angels, Mirror Ball (with Pearl Jam in 1995) and Broken Arrow (1996), a tour which was documented in Jim Jarmusch’s 1997 film, The Year of the Horse, and was accompanied by a double-disc live album.
In 1999, Young reunited with Crosby, Stills & Nash for the first time in a decade, supporting Looking Forward with the supergroup’s first tour in a quarter century. A new solo effort, Silver & Gold, followed in the spring of 2000. Road Rock, Vol. 1. showcasing a two-night account of Young’s performance at the Red Rocks Amphitheater in 2000 and a DVD version titled Red Rocks Live was issued that December, including 12 tracks initially unavailable on the album. His next studio project was his most ambitious yet, a concept album about small-town life titled Greendale that he also mounted as a live dramatic tour and indie film.
In early 2005, Young was diagnosed with a potentially deadly brain aneurysm. On the mend and forging forward, he released the acoustically based Prairie Wind with the concert film Heart of Gold (2006), based around the album and directed by Jonathan Demme. The 2006 controversial CD/DVD Living with War, a collection of protest songs against the war in Iraq was followed by Chrome Dreams II late in 2007 and the car-themed Fork in the Road in 2009. Young’s latest release is the first installment in his long-rumored Archives series, Archives, Vol. 1, a massive first volume that combines over ten CDs and DVDs in a single box.
A legend and activist, Young has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice – first as a solo artist in 1995, and secondly as a member of Buffalo Springfield in 1997. Young was also instrumental in organizing the Farm Aid benefit concert in 1985 to raise money for family farmers in the United States and is still an active part of its board.
Tickets cost $185, $140, $90 & $55*; all seats are reserved and available at the Hard Rock Live Box Office, open Monday – Saturday from noon to 7pm and on Sunday – only open on event days at noon. Tickets also are available at all Ticketmaster outlets online at www.ticketmaster.com or charge by phone: 1-800-745-3000. Doors open one-hour prior to show start time. *Additional fees may apply.