Neil Young has never played a concert in Huntsville, Alabama. That’s set to change May 5 when Young and his backing band Crazy Horse perform at Orion Amphitheater, as part of a trek dubbed “Love Earth Tour.”
Tickets for the Orion show go on sale 9 a.m. Friday via axs.com. Prices are $65 to $175 plus applicable fees and the showtime is listed as 7:30 p.m.
This will be Young’s first tour with Crazy Horse in five years.
Classic albums by Young featuring Crazy Horse include: 1969′s “Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere” (featuring fuzz-rockers like “Cinnamon Girl” and “Cowgirl in the Sand”); 1975′s “Zuma” (anchored by guitar epic “Cortez the Killer”); and ‘79s live/studio LP “Rust Never Sleeps” (known for the acoustic gem “My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)” and its electrified version “”Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)”).
Add Young to the growing list of rock legends Orion Amphitheater, about to enter just its third season, has brought to Huntsville for the first time. That list already includes the likes of Robert Plant, Stevie Nicks, Jack White and Smashing Pumpkins.
Young and Crazy Horse have released at least 15 studio albums together, include the recent run of 2022 LP “World Record” and “Toast,” and 2021′s “Barn.”
In addition to Young on vocals, guitar and harmonica, Crazy Horse’s lineup includes bassist Billy Talbot, drummer Ralph Molina and guitarist Nils Lofgren, the latter also known for his work with Bruce Springsteen. Deceased members of Crazy Horse include guitarist Danny Whitten and keyboardist Jack Nitzsche. Former guitarist Frank Sampedro retired.
Of course, Neil Young and the state of Alabama have backstory. Jacksonville, Florida band Lynyrd Skynyrd famously wrote their Southern rock anthem “Sweet Home Alabama” as a response to two Young songs which addressed The South in an unflattering manner: 1972′s “Alabama” and 1970′s “Southern Man.”
Young’s lyrics for the latter song included, “Southern change gonna come at last. Now your crosses are burning fast.” On in the former, Young sang, “What are you doing, Alabama? You got the rest of the Union to help you along. What’s going wrong?”
Skynyrd singer Ronnie Van Zant’s “Sweet Home Alabama” lyrics included: “Well, I heard Mr. Young sing about her. Well, I heard ol’ Neil put her down. Well, I hope Neil Young will remember a Southern man don’t need him around, anyhow”.
Lyrical barbs aside, the relationship between Young and Skynyrd is often misunderstood. There was mutual respect between the two acts. Van Zant frequently sported a “Tonight’s the Night” Young tee onstage.
In the mid ‘70s, Neil Young sent Van Zant a demo tape of a new song he hoped Skynyrd would record, titled “Powderfinger.”
Sadly, Lynyrd Skynyrd never got to cut “Powderfinger,” which Young recorded with Crazy Horse and released on “Rust Never Sleeps.”
Van Zant died, along with the Skynyrd guitarist Steve Gaines and background vocalist Cassie Gaines, in the band’s infamous 1977 plane crash, on the way from Spartanburg, South Carolina to a Skynyrd concert in Baton Rouge.
Some people believe Van Zant was later buried in his Neil Young T-shirt.
A few weeks after the plane crash, Young covered a snippet of “Sweet Home Alabama,” as part of a live performance of “Alabama” during a 1977 set at Miami’s Bicentennial Park, during a benefit concert for a children’s hospital charity. That was reportedly the last time Young ever played the song “Alabama” live.
In his 2012 memoir “Waging Heavy Peace,” Young wrote of that song, “I don’t like my words when I listen to it today. They are accusatory and condescending, not fully thought out, too easy to misconstrue.”
Young’s performances in Alabama are somewhat rare. Those include solo in 2010 at Mobile’s Saenger Theatre, and with Crazy Horse at the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater in 2012. In 2019, Young released archival live album “Tuscaloosa” recorded at Memorial Coliseum in 1973.
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