See Neil Young, Stephen Stills Play Rare Buffalo Springfield Song
· Ultimate Classic RockNeil Young and Stephen Stills dug deep into their collective history during a charity concert in Lake Hughes, California on Saturday night (Oct. 5).
The event – dubbed Harvest Moon: A Gathering – benefited The Painted Turtle, a summer camp for children with life-threatening and chronic illnesses. Additional funds benefitted The Bridge School, an organization Young has been involved with for decades.
Other artists on the lineup included John Mayer, Lily Meola and world music ensemble Massanga, but it was the former CSNY bandmates who were the main attraction.
READ MORE: Neil Young Albums Ranked Worst to Best
Their set began with “Long May You Run,” the title track from their 1976 collaborative album. The rockers then delivered “Human Highway,” a tune originally intended for CSNY’s Deja Vu follow-up, which instead was released on Young’s 1978 solo LP Comes a Time.
Still, it was the third song of the set that really turned heads, as Young and Stills played the Buffalo Springfield song “Hung Upside Down” for the first time in 57 years.
“The worst four words you can hear in a live performance are ‘here’s a new song,'” Stills declared before starting the tune. “But this is actually a new version of an old song that took two centuries to write. It’s called ‘Hung Upside Down.'”
Watch Neil Young and Stephen Stills Perform 'Hung Upside Down'
Originally released on 1967’s Buffalo Springfield Again, “Hung Upside Down” had not been played in concert since Buffalo Springfield’s heyday. According to Rolling Stone, the 57 year gap between performances broke a personal record for Young, who had previously gone 48 years without playing “If I Could Have Her Tonight” (which he finally revisited in 2016).
READ MORE: Why Buffalo Springfield's 'Again' Was Both Fractured and Cohesive
Other highlights from the Harvest Moon gig included “Love The One You’re With,” “Heart of Gold,” “Harvest Moon” and Buffalo Springfield’s timeless “For What It’s Worth.” Meanwhile, Mayer joined for the final song of the night, a rousing rendition of “Rockin’ in the Free World.” The full set list from the show can be found below.
Neil Young and Stephen Stills, 'Harvest Moon: A Gathering' Set List, 10/5/24
1. "Long May You Run"
2. "Human Highway"
3. "Hung Upside Down"
4. "Helplessly Hoping"
5. "Field of Opportunity"
6. "Helpless"
7. "Love The One You're With"
8. "Heart of Gold"
9. "Harvest Moon"
10. "For What It's Worth"
11. "Bluebird"
12. "Vampire Blues"
13. "Rockin' in the Free World"
'Are You Passionate?' (2002)
Young's 24th album was supposed to be another Crazy Horse collaboration, Toast, which didn't get released until 2022. Instead, he pivoted to a record with Booker T. & the MG's that was billed as a soul album and included Young's response to 9/11, "Let's Roll." One of the shelved Crazy Horse tracks is included, and it concludes with a nine-minute jam. Scant direction and thin songs sink Are You Passionate?
'Peace Trail' (2016)
Young's 36th studio LP was sandwiched between a live album with Promise of the Real and a solo archival release recorded in 1976. Both are preferable to this quickly assembled record made with drummer Jim Keltner and bassist Paul Bushnell. Its political points are similar to the ones he'd been supporting since the '60s, but now with a technological lean (there's even some Auto-Tune on a track). Instantly disposable.
'Storytone' (2014)
The second of two albums released by Young in 2014 (the first was the solo acoustic A Letter Home), Storytone featured big band and orchestral backings to songs inspired by a new romance with actress Daryl Hannah. Forgettable and uncertain - swing and classical don't mix all that well - the album arrived during a period of prolific activity. An equally unmemorable stripped-down version of the album was released at the same time.
'Old Ways' (1985)
Young's country album Old Ways was first proposed after 1983's Trans, the synth-based LP he delivered to Geffen. The label balked and insisted on a rock album instead; they got the 1950s throwback Everybody's Rockin'. Young returned to his country album in 1985, enlisting Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and fiddle and pedal steel musicians. Another unremarkable genre detour during Young's most dour decade.
'Everybody's Rockin'' (1983)
Young's second Geffen LP was as baffling as the first. But where Trans moved forward, Everybody's Rockin' was a throwback to 1950s rockabilly, complete with a retro look (pompadour, face-dominating sideburns) and name (Neil and the Shocking Pinks). Four songs were covers; an original ("Wonderin'") dated to 1970. It runs less than 25 minutes. Geffen soon sued Young for making deliberately uncommercial records.
'Landing on Water' (1986)
Three genre-specific albums left Young at odds with Geffen Records in the mid-'80s to the point where the label sued him for making records that didn't sound like Neil Young records. Landing on Water was his return (albeit once again stitched together from years-old sessions) to fuss-free rock music. Good luck finding a memorable song, though. Even Young has referred to Landing on Water as a "piece of crap."
'Broken Arrow' (1996)
After 1989's career-reviving Freedom, Neil Young had an admirable run in the first half of the '90s. Then Broken Arrow arrived. Shaken by the death of longtime producer David Briggs, Young and Crazy Horse falteringly recorded the LP over a month, often with no guidance or direction (the first three songs each run more than seven minutes and are little more than aimless jams). An unsteady new era was around the corner.
'This Note's for You' (1988)
After a contentious five-album run with Geffen, Young returned to Reprise for his 16th LP. But he still wasn't ready to discard the '80s explorations that marked the decade. The flimsy This Note's for You, co-credited to the Bluenotes (a horn-based group with other ties to Young's past), dipped into jump blues music while adhering to a slim conceptual thread about commercialism. At least it contained a minor hit in the title track.
'Life' (1987)
Neil Young made five albums with Geffen in the '80s, none of them particularly good. But at least most of them have some sort of identifiable tag: synth-pop, rockabilly, country. Life has nothing to single it out. Mostly recorded live with overdubs added later, the Crazy Horse collaboration ended Young's controversial relationship with Geffen on a sour, but expected, note. Maybe the most easily dismissed LP in his entire catalog.
'Trans' (1982)
After more than two dozen years with Reprise Records, Neil Young jumped to the flourishing Geffen label for his 12th album. Nobody expected his first record under the new contract to be a futuristic new-wave LP made with synths and a vocoder altering Young's voice - especially the label. Young has said he made Trans to communicate with his son, who had cerebral palsy. A year later Geffen filed a lawsuit.
'American Stars 'n Bars' (1977)
Neil Young's catalog is scattered with albums stitched together from various session sources. For his eighth LP, he collected nine songs recorded over a two-and-a-half-year period, starting in 1974. The results were mixed. The stripped-back country rock made with Crazy Horse on Side One has little connection to the plugged-in fury of "Like a Hurricane," a mid-decade highlight, and the solo acoustic "Will to Love." Aimless.
'Neil Young' (1968)
Young's solo debut isn't terrible, it's just a letdown after the buzz he generated with Buffalo Springfield. Only a handful of songs (including "The Loner," fleshed out onstage over the years) make an impression; the rest finds the still-growing singer-songwriter tentatively stepping away from his former band while occasionally tethered to their era-identified folk rock. Better things were to come.