Patti Smith will keep her date at Ottawa Folk Festival
But what will organizers do to replace Neil Young and Crazy Horse?
Who could possibly replace Neil Young? That’s the dilemma Ottawa Folk Festival organizers are facing after losing their opening-night headliner, Neil Young and Crazy Horse, 16 days before the gig. The Sept. 4 date in Ottawa is one of six North American dates cancelled because Crazy Horse guitarist Frank “Poncho” Sampedro needs more time to heal after breaking his hand earlier this month. Several shows in Europe were also called off immediately following the incident.
The cancellation is a major blow for the Ottawa Folk Festival, which takes place Sept. 4-8 at Hog’s Back Park. Young would have been the biggest artist ever to play the 20-year-old festival, and the dates of the event were adjusted to accommodate his schedule. The 2013 edition of the festival starts on a Wednesday, a day earlier than usual, because that’s when Young was available.
The good news is that Young’s tour mate, Patti Smith, is still able to make it, according to festival director Mark Monahan. When she opened for Young at the then-Scotiabank Place last fall, the 60-something rock goddess was backed by her superb band and gave a terrific performance. It was her first time playing in Ottawa, and she definitely left the crowd wanting more.
The festival is already offering refunds at point of purchase to fans who purchased single-day tickets or reserved Gold Circle seats for Sept. 4 (find this story at ottawacitizen. com/arts for details), but everything else is up in the air. Who else should join Smith on the opening-night program? Will organizers move her to the headlining slot and find someone else to open? Or will they be able to reel in a last-minute replacement of suitable stature to top the bill? And what about refunds?
Festival organizers are scrambling to answer these questions and devise a backup plan, which is not expected to be announced until the end of the week. Fans, however, have been quick to offer opinions and suggestions on social media.
Let’s consider the merits of the various options:
1. Hire a replacement guitarist. While it seems like the simplest solution, and legions of guitarists, including Ottawa’s JW-Jones, are offering their services, it’s obviously the first one that was ruled out. Young would rather pull the plug than replace Poncho, who’s been part of Crazy Horse since 1975. In the words of drummer Ralph Molina, who posted a message on Facebook this week, it would be like the Rolling Stones without Keith Richards. “Crap happens,” Molina wrote. “I can’t see the Stones without Keith ... believe you me, we are all so terribly sorry ... it wasn’t an on-purpose thing ... we will play again.”
2. Entice Neil to perform solo: This idea makes sense for a folk festival. As one of the most versatile singer-songwriters in music, Young has plenty of campfire classics he could play on acoustic guitar, starting with Old Man and Heart of Gold, and fans who may have felt alienated by the feedback-laced psychedelia he unleashed with Crazy Horse in their last Ottawa show would be delighted. Alas, that’s unlikely to happen because Neil is on a Crazy Horse kick. If he was willing to switch gears, he would have done it weeks ago.
3. Cancel the entire date: The stages will be set, the equipment will be in place, the volunteers will be stoked. Telling everyone, including Patti Smith, to go home might save money but it would feel like cancelling Christmas. No one wants to kick off a festival on a sour note and cast a shadow over the rest of the weekend. Keep in mind there are still lots of other interesting artists on the program, including Avett Brothers, Vampire Weekend, World Party, Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell, the Wailers, Sheepdogs and many more.
4. Book another act: The Ottawa Jazz Festival went through a similar situation this year when Aretha Franklin cancelled her headlining performance a month before the date, but organizers came up with a winner with 16 days to spare. In the end, the Doobie Brothers sounded fantastic and put on a crowd-pleasing show.
The timeline is a lot tighter this time, so artists with similar clout to Neil, like Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen or Joni Mitchell, are a long shot (and unfortunately the Doobie Brothers are on the West Coast that week). Depending on their tour schedules, slightly more realistic suggestions include Wilco, Richard Thompson, Mark Knopfler, Bruce Cockburn, Daniel Lanois and Blue Rodeo. My vote is for Wilco.