Culture
22 Dec 20

Neil Young performs ‘Comes A Time’ from empty venue in his Ontario hometown

Since March, Young has shared a number of outdoor acoustic performances - filmed by his wife - branded as the Fireside Sessions series. Each performance took place at his Telluride home, but it appears Young has returned to where it all started.

Neil Young has performed 'Comes A Time' in an empty Coronation Hall in Omemee, Ontario - making his way back home for the mini-gig.

“Coronation Hall in Omemee, Ontario, is a wonderful old theater,” Young wrote on his Archives website.

“It holds memories of my family, all together in that little town. My dad played Coronation Hall once in a local show as my mother, my brother, and I sat in the audience.”

"I was uncharacteristically nervous that night in 2017 playing Coronation Hall by myself for the first time and streaming to the world," he added. "Hometown is a Neil Young Archives tradition, showing every year, right here through the holidays."

The new performance is one of a host of new and archived footage of the 75-year-old musician on his website that’s free to watch until the end of 2020.

“I know this time of year is going to be hard for a lot of us as we long to be with our loved ones. Our hearts go out to all of you. We send much love and a Coronation Hall quarantine ‘Comes a Time’.”

Watch the ‘Comes A Time’ performance on Young's Archives website here.

“If you are locked down, we are here for you with hours of listening and cruising around through the years in movies,” Young said in a statement this month, announcing that his archives would be opened up for the rest of 2020 with no charge.

“We want you to enjoy what we have to share at NYA… It’s my music and our lives. Peace.”

The Fireside Sessions are included in the Archives, which saw Young sharing originals and covers at home during lockdown this year, including a cover of Bob Dylan‘s ‘The Times They Are A-Changin'.

Neil Young also posted an unreleased track titled 'Goodbye Christians on the Shore' this week from his new box set Archives Volume II: 1972–1976.

The beautiful song was recorded in 1972 with the Stray Gators, with most die-hard Young fans not even realising that the track existed until recently.