Neil Young plans Dec. 1 concert from ‘hometown stage’
Rocker Neil Young is planning a Dec. 1 free concert that will be live streamed online at ctv.ca and around the world on Facebook, leading to speculation it will be live from Omemee, where he grew up.
“Neil Young’s performance will come from a Canadian hometown stage directly to you,” states a release from Bell Media.
The concert has been scheduled for Dec. 1 at 8 p.m.
The broadcast, a partnership between CTV, Facebook and Shakey Pictures, will reportedly be directed by Young’s new girlfriend, Hollywood actress Daryl Hannah.
Dec. 1 marks the release of The Visitor, a new 10-song Repise Records studio album by Young, recorded over the past year and backed by his band Promise of the Real.
Dec. 1 also marks the launch of The Neil Young Archives, an online comprehensive chronological collection of Neil Young ’s entire recorded music, films, videos and books, audio streaming in master quality through Young ’s Xstream by NYA coding system. The archives will be free, at least at the launch time.
Young, 72, was born in Toronto and moved to Omemee shortly after with his family, including his father, the writer Scott Young. The family also lived in Winnipeg, Toronto and Pickering at times while he was growing up. One of the two elementary schools in Omemee is called Scott Young Public School.
Young periodically visits Omemee, most recently on Sept. 23 while he was in Ontario to be inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame.
One of Young’s visits to Omemee was shown in the 2011 Jonathan Demme documentary film Neil Young Journeys, including a scene where he passes by Scott Young Public School.
While there have been no specifics on the location, Young has been announcing details of the Dec. 1 project on his Facebook page.
“December 1st will be a big day for me. The Visitor will be coming to your town. I will be going to my town. You will be able to hear me and see me,” Young wrote on his Facebook page on Nov. 11.
He doesn’t give any further details about where the show will take place.
Billboard Magazine posted an article Tuesday stating that it will be in a yet-to-be-determined venue that can hold about 200 people.
Billboard also reported that there are several small venues in Canada that Young particularly likes, and that there have been holds placed on them for Dec. 1. Sometime between now and then, Billboard reports, Young is expected to settle on a venue.
When The Examiner called several venues in Omemee and area, they weren’t booked or being held for Young: those include Coronation Hall and the Legion in Omemee, as well as The Ranch Resort in Bethany.
Nobody could be reached by deadline at Academy Theatre in Lindsay.
No spokesperson from Trillium Lakelands District School Board could be reached on Tuesday night to find out whether the venue could be Scott Young Public School.
Meanwhile there’s also a farm in the area that has belonged to Young’s father.
Scott Young bought a 100-acre farm near Omemee in Cavan Township in Peterborough County in 1967 and built a house there. Scott Young and his wife sold the farm in the late 1980s but reacquired it in 1992 and owned it up until his death in 2005 at the age of 87.