Fair play to Neil Young. Whilst most 79-year-olds are content to see out their remaining years pottering around the garden or playing with their grandkids, Young will be playing in a war zone - he’s announced that he’ll be staging a gig in Ukraine later this year.
There are no firm details yet, but according to Young’s website, it’s definitely happening. A statement posted there says: "Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts will open the upcoming 'Love Earth Tour' of Europe in Ukraine with a free concert for all.
"We are currently in talks and will make the announcement of details here... Keep on Rockin' In The Free World."
He’s far from the first musician to play in a war zone. Down the years there have been countless US artists who have entertained the troops, though those performances have all been far from the frontline.
More impressive was Bruce Dickinson who in 1994 played in Sarajevo, Bosnia whilst the 1,425 day long siege of the city was taking place. At this point Dickinson was a solo artist, having left Iron Maiden the year before.
A blog post his bass player Chris Dale later wrote underlined that he and his backing band were in real danger at the time: “A lot of people say we were being brave or heroes. We weren't. We were being really stupid.”
As for Young, it’s shaping up to be another typically busy year for the Canadian who turns 80 in November. His European tour starts in Sweden on June 18 and includes dates at Glastonbury and at the British Summer Time series of concerts in Hyde Park on July 11. The Ukraine show will no doubt be fitted in around that time.
Whether the war will still be going on by then is anyone’s guess. Frantic diplomacy has been going on over the weekend between Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy, UK Prime Minister Kier Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron.
This comes in the wake of the jaw-dropping events of Friday when in a visit to the White House, Zelenskyy was berated in front of the world’s press by President Trump and his Vice President JD Vance.
