Watch Neil Young & Crazy Horse Offer Live Debut Of 54-Year-Old Song At The Roxy

Over the past two nights Neil Young & Crazy Horse celebrated the 50th anniversary of The Roxy Theatre in Los Angeles by playing a pair of benefit concerts with each featuring full performances of iconic albums Tonight’s The Night and Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere. Young released Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere in 1969 and never played the album’s third track, “Round & Round (It Won’t Be Long),” live until Wednesday and Thursday nights at The Roxy.

Neil Young was joined for the shows by Crazy Horse bandmates multi-instrumentalist Nils Lofgren, drummer Ralph Molina and bassist Billy Talbot. Additionally, Micah Nelson was brought aboard before Lofgren became available when Bruce Springsteen postponed a series of E Street Band concerts that included shows this week due to issues with The Boss’ peptic ulcer. While billed as Neil Young & Crazy Horse, the group performed under The Santa Monica Flyers moniker in a throwback to the name of the ensemble that backed Young 50 years prior at a series of shows that opened the venue.

Young has pulled off many feats and performed hundreds of songs in the past but never had played one of his albums from front-to-back. So it was a dream come true for many Neil fans that he performed two beloved albums, including Tonight’s The Night, which he had just finished recording before the six-show run at The Roxy on September 20 – 22, 1973.

On both Wednesday and Thursday, the quintet kicked off the festivities with the 12 Tonight’s The Night tunes trotted out in the order they appear on the studio album. The LP’s “Borrowed Tune,” “Lookout Joe” and “Tired Eyes” each had last been performed live all the way back in 1973. After a short break in the action it was time for Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere.

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Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, Young’s sophomore studio album, contains beloved concert staples “Cinnamon Girl,” “Down By The River,” “Cowgirl In The Sand” and the title track. The album’s “The Losing End” had been performed in a variety of settings over the past 54 years including versions with Crazy Horse in 2018 and 2019. Not only was “Round & Round (It Won’t Be Long)” a live premiere but “Running Dry (Requiem For Rockets)” was debuted live in 2019 at the State Theatre in Minneapolis and played just one other time two nights later at Minneapolis’ Northrop Auditorium. Both renditions were solo affairs.

“Round & Round (It Won’t Be Long)” features gorgeous harmony vocals from Robin Lane on Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere. Ralph Molina capably sang Lane’s harmonies at The Roxy as Neil Young handled lead vocals and strummed an acoustic guitar. Nils also added acoustic guitar and a third vocal harmony to the mix.

Watch fan-shot video footage of Neil Young & Crazy Horse’s “Round & Round (It Won’t Be Long)” live debut below:

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Neil Young heads to Noblesville, Indiana on Saturday to perform at Farm Aid 2023. A free livestream is available.

Source: JamBase.com