Neil Young said a couple of weeks ago that he would play a free concert in Ukraine, with a date and venue TBA. But now that show has been called off.
“Our concert in Ukraine is canceled,” Young said in a statement on his archives website. “We had a good venue, close to a shelter, but the changing situation on the ground was too much. I could not in good conscience take my crew and instruments into that area. My apologies to all. Ukraine is a great country with a good leader. Slava Ukraini.”
The news came as a fragile limited ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia was in place. But it was broken Friday morning, a day after Young’s announcement. The countries have been at war since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
The Ukraine show was planned as the opener of Young’s Love Earth tour, which instead will open on June 18 in Rättvik, Sweden, as originally announced. The 24-show trek with his band The Chrome Hearts, supporting their new album Talkin’ to the Trees, will roll through Europe before hitting North America. The last show is set for September 15 at the Hollywood Bowl.
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Famously vociferous and politically active during his nearly 60-year career, Canada native Young recently has sparred with Donald Trump multiple times over the use of his songs at rallies, boycotted Spotify over the streaming service’s ties to Joe Rogan and initially refused to perform at Glastonbury over what he called the BBC’s “corporate control” over the popular UK music festival. But Young changed his mind early this year, citing “an error in the information received,” and will play the festival with The Chrome Hearts in June.
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