Neil Young To Launch 14-Date Solo Acoustic Tour

Neil Young To Launch 14-Date Solo Acoustic Tour

One of my strongest rock and roll memories involves a Neil Young concert and PBS.

I think he was in Boston? Or maybe it was Chicago? It really doesn't matter. All that's important is It was a nice auditorium with a captivated audience.

The concert was one of those performances the network airs during its pledge week. You know the deal, PBS airs a program you really want to watch but they interrupt it every five minutes to beg for money.

Well, this particular performance featured a stage full of instruments--guitars, pianos, organs, electrophones, and then some stuff that looked like it was straight out of a Star Trek episode--and Neil Young.

That's it. No band. No lasers. No scantily clad dancers.

On this sparse stage, the former member of Buffalo Springfield would sing a song while playing one of the umpteen instruments lying around. When finished, Neil would move to another instrument and sing another song.

I thought he was making the songs up as he went along until I heard him play "Cinnamon Girl" on a Vulcan lute.

The concert was quite fascinating. Young's ability to play all those instruments was quite impressive.

I'll be perfectly honest. I'm not a fan of Neil Young. I find his music rather boring and discordant.

However, I'm not a Neil Young detractor. The Toronto-born musician is incredibly talented, successful, creative, and brave. To get on stage and play solo like that, to thousands of people, while wearing flannel and ill-fitting jeans, takes a lot of courage (or a lot of drugs).

Those types of concerts must be enjoyable because this spring Young is launching a 14-date solo acoustic tour of the United States. It's his first solo acoustic tour in more than a decade.

Young's road trip begins May 18 in Albany, New York at the Palace Theatre. He'll finish the tour about three weeks later, June 7, at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas.

Fans can also catch Young at the Oakdale Theatre in Wallingford, Connecticut (May 23), Young at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta (May 29), and Young at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville (June 1-2).

Joining Young, and also performing a solo acoustic set, is Scottish folk musician Bert Jansch.

Young has been busy lately. In February, he performed at the closing ceremony of 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Last month, his concert film, "Neil Young Trunk Show," debut in the U.S. The film chronicles two Neil Young concerts from 2007.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer is supporting his 2009 album, Fork in the Road, but organizers have said Young will also play some songs he's never recorded before.

Additional highlights of Young's upcoming tour schedule include a Neil Young Concert in Houston, a Neal Young concert in Spartanburg, and a Neil Young concert in Knoxville, Tennessee.