Celebrating 50 Years Since Neil Young Played Live At Massey Hall 1971

 



Quick blog post today as I'm mid assignments at the minute but I couldn't not mark this occasion. With the time I've had not posting on here, I've been thinking of what I could write about as I've been lacking inspiration with everything that's going on right now. I thought about writing a piece on an artist that inspired me. Where to begin. Naturally, my all time hero Neil Young came to mind and just out of pure chance I thought I would see if there was any anniversaries of albums, concerts or milestones of his for 2021. Before I did my search it dawned on me that my favourite live performance was fifty years ago today and had to write some words about it. 




Neil Young live at Massey Hall in 1971 is the place I'd teleport to if I had one chance to go back in time. The amount of times I've gone back to watching videos of this concert is endless. It's such a comfort to hear Neil's voice and the lyrics just speak for themselves. One of the reasons I hadn't planned a big blog post for this was because there's nothing I can say to explain this performance. Just watch the videos above and you can make your own mind up. 


Every single song of Neil's seems so simple yet so spellbinding at the same time. The lyrics have changed the way I have viewed life and they've given me a whole new perspective for songwriting. It would be impossible for me to pick a favourite track from this night but the 'A Man Needs A Maid/Heart Of Gold' suite gives me chills. The lyrics of 'Don't Let It Bring You Down' have always been my favourite though so I would have to pay homage to that too. 


In this famous gig, he covers my favourite Buffalo Springfield track 'On The Way Home' as well as Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young tracks like 'Ohio'. While many Neil Young fans will agree with me that the early Seventies were his greatest years, I just don't believe he's an artist that can reach a peak. Reaching a peak suggests that you come down at some point, but when you release an album like 'Harvest' two years after 'After The Gold Rush', how can you ever reach a peak? That is greatness that can never die.  


Fifty years has passed since the Massey Hall performance and I feel truly blessed to exist after this event. This album will live with me forever and that is such a blessing in itself. This is one of music's greatest treasures and I plan to treasure it for as long as I can. 




Comments

  1. Thank you for sharing,
    I was also at the later concert sitting up in the rafter section. An amazing concert.

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