Neil Young And Crazy Horse Cancel Tel Aviv Concert Due To Security Issues
Neil Young & Crazy Horse have officially cancelled their concert in Tel Aviv which was set to happen this coming Thursday. The reason for the cancellation was due to the rising tension and rocket attacks occurring near the area during Operation Protective Edge by Israeli Defense Forces, also known as the IDF.
The concert was scheduled to take place at Hayarkon Park.
A spokesman for Neil Young, 68, released a statement, according to Rolling Stone, addressing the news:
“It is with heavy hearts and deep sadness that we must cancel our one and only Israeli concert due to tensions which have rendered the event unsafe at this time. We’ll miss the opportunity to play for our fans and look forward to playing in Israel and Palestine in peace.”
The Hollywood Reporter revealed that Young also said that he would be donating money to certain charities in the area:
“I will be making donations to both the Louise Tillie Alpert Youth Music Centre of Israel, and Heartbeat, two organizations that teach music to Palestinian and Israeli youth simultaneously by enabling them to play music together.”
When the show was first announced, Roger Waters wrote an open letter to Young pleading with him to join the boycott of Israel. While some suspect that the letter to Young played a part in the cancellation, Rolling Stone reports that it really had more to do with the fans’ safety. A police spokesman said that the show as cancelled by them so concertgoers would not be put “in Gaza rocket range at unnecessary risk.”
The last time Young performed in Israel was back in 1995 when he stood in for Eddie Vedder and sang with Pearl Jam, according to The Hollywood Reporter. It was part of a handful of concerts across Europe that supported Young and the band’s joint album, Mirror Ball. Fans went on to call the collaboration Neil Jam.
As artists keep on canceling their shows in the troubled area there are two more acts whose decision remains to be made. Paul Anka and the Backstreet Boys have shows schedule for the end of July.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse are in the middle of a doing a handful of shows across Europe. They were in Liverpool tonight, and will be heading to Turkey tomorrow. In September, Young will go solo for a couple of months and then perform at the Bridge School Benefit in Mountain View, California.
Neil Young’s new album, A Letter Home, was recorded in Nashville with Jack White in a 1947 Voice-O-Graph recording booth at White’s Third Man Records’ headquarters.
[Image via NRK P3]
