Small town of Omemee is tickled to host Neil Young live-stream event
OMEMEE, ONT.— Dave Ellis, 60, and wife Astrid have noticed the difference in their small town this week.
“It’s awesome. It’s a pretty quiet little town, there’s not a lot of excitement here so it’s a big deal,” said Ellis, reflecting Friday on the imminent concert in Omemee by rock ’n’ roll legend Neil Young. The Ellises have been watching the goings-on since earlier in the week and have spotted Young and his girlfriend, actress Daryl Hannah, a number of times.
“It’s been hectic. It started Tuesday. The crews came with a huge, huge amount of equipment. I don’t know they fit it all into that hall.
“It’s been exciting to have a celebrity here right outside my door,” said Ellis, a lifelong fan.
Young is returning to his roots to perform a 90-minute live streaming concert and Omemee, the village where he spent years of his child- hood, couldn’t be more tickled.
“There certainly has been a buzz in the air all week,” said Pete Flynn, 39.
The main road through town was closed at 6 p.m. Friday, and Flynn and wife Krysta plan to join the street festivities. Flynn’s mother-inlaw is driving in from Peterborough to babysit.
Flynn says he wishes, however, there had been a chance for locals to see the concert. Admission to the show, at the town’s Coronation Hall, is by invitation only, but outside on Friday afternoon Ryan Mueller of Tillsonburg was among those queued up in a perhaps-futile bid to get in somehow.
“We’re just praying to the music gods to get in,” said Mueller, 30.
Ron Warne brought his guitar and harmonica and was serenading the people milling around outside the concert venue.
“I play a lot of Neil Young at open mics and stuff like that. His music speaks to a lot of people but I really feel it speaks to me,” said Warne, who has been a fan since the 1980s and has seen Young in concert numerous times.
Another guy with a guitar was hanging around near the show: Andrew Bowen, 41, said, “I’m here to celebrate the man, the myth, the legend. We lost a big one with Gord (Downie of Tragically hip) a few weeks or months ago. We’ve got to cherish our Canadian legends and support them.” Bowen added he’ll be watching the live stream of the concert with his wife and kids.
One person outside the hall at least knew someone getting in: Wayne Erdley, 55, has friends who got invitations, one of whom is a friend of the rocker’s older brother, Bob.
On Nov. 11, Young posted a message on Facebook saying he would be “going to my town” for the concert, prompting speculation that he might be performing in Omemee.
The location of the concert — to promote Young’s latest album, The Visitor — had been a closely guarded secret until recent days when word began to leak out about preparation for the concert.
The city of Kawartha Lakes issued a permit to close a section of Sturgeon Rd. outside of the hall from Tuesday, Nov. 28 to Sat., Dec. 3 at 3 a.m. to accommodate the crew and equipment needed for the show. The concert begins at 8 p.m. and will be live- streamed on CTV.ca and via Facebook for fans outside of Canada. The Young family moved to Omemee, a village of under 1,300 about 125 kilometres northeast of Toronto, in August 1949, when Young was about 4 years old.
The event is promised to be an “intimate acoustic show” with all proceeds going to the Scott Young Public School in Omemee, which was named after Young’s father. With files from Alina Bykova