Neil Young at 80: "Any hardcore metal band, he can crush ‘em with just an acoustic guitar"

Scott Young:

Neil Young's father, a journalist and sports writer, recalls the first time his son played New York's Carnegie Hall, in December 1970: 

"We flew in a few hours before the concert. Neil sent a limousine to pick us up to bring us to the hotel suite he had booked especially for us. I had some time to spare before the show so I decided to take a walk down around the Carnegie Hall district. I saw the billboard above the theatre: 'TONIGHT. NEIL YOUNG FOLK SINGER. SOLD OUT.'

"I must have walked past that sign four or five times , I just couldn't get enough of it. A lot of emotions ran through me at the time and I had to fight back the tears. I was actually supposed to be covering a fight that weekend but I ended up writing about Neil and the concert in my weekly column..."

(2002)

Neil Young. Photo: Gary Burden

Foo Fighters' Taylor Hawkins:

"Neil Young still has the fire. When I see him up on stage, he’s still just as heavy and gnarly as anyone. Any hardcore metal band, Neil Young can crush ‘em with just an acoustic guitar. It’s all relative and it’s all perception."

(2005)

Booker T Jones:

"Neil is not only a great musician but he's a great person. He's curious, he's courageous and he's pretty tedious about his guitar sound. Being on tour with him and being in the studio is very inspiring. He's just a great spirit.”

(2010)

Neil Young. Photo: Cathal Dawson

Pearl Jam's Stone Gossard:

"Neil Young... That’s the apex in terms of taking chances. And yet the simplicity of delivery and the way he just channels this massive spirit and the way he plays lead guitar still – it has punk, it has folk, it has everything blended in a way that suits him. He knows how he can evolve still, and everyone’s agreed that it’s okay for him to do that now, which is an incredible position to be in. He’s a huge inspiration to all of us.”

(2009)

R.E.M.'s Peter Buck:

“You always have pictures of people in your head... I met Neil several times. He’s a nice guy, and I think he liked me – he’s a grouch but he’s a good grouch. But I can’t sit down with him because that’s Neil Young… I mean, the first adult album I bought was After The Goldrush when I was 12.”

(2003)

Villagers' Conor O'Brien:

"I came to him quite late. I was only starting to listen to him properly at the beginning of writing these songs [for 2010's Becoming a Jackal], which was two years ago. I think I just heard Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere and On The Beach and Harvest. ‘Vampire Blues’ was very important, just the general looseness of it.

"Tommy (McLaughlin), who engineered the record and plays guitar in Villagers, he’s a massive Neil Young fan, so he was very happy about my new love of Neil. We were just trying to maintain the space that’s in some of his recordings and copy his drum sound, geeky little things like that...”

(2010)

Kurt Vile:

“Neil Young is a huge hero. I once opened for him in Quebec in front of 80,000 people or something. And it was wild. He’s always gonna do it his way. He’s been doing this for a long time. He can do whatever he wants...”

(2022)

Neil Young, 1992.

Gemma Hayes:

On the best festival gig she'd ever seen:

“While I was driving to Rock Am Ring, I was watching Neil Young performing ‘Helpless’ on the DVD of The Last Waltz on the tour bus. We were arriving really late and I’d figured I’d missed his performance. We got there at midnight and he was still playing. I remember all of us running to the front of the stage, which took ages. As soon as I got up the front, he started playing ‘Helpless’. It was perfect.”

(2003)