Neil Young may not tour again: "I’m not sure I want to"

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Neil Young has said that he may only tour again if he can make it environmentally sustainable, using renewable, clean energy and ensuring that fans are only served food that isn't factory farmed.

"I have a plan," Young tells the New Yorker. "I’ve been working on it with a couple of my friends for about seven or eight months. We’re trying to figure out how to do a self-sustaining, renewable tour. Everything that moves our vehicles around, the stage, the lights, the sound, everything that powers it is clean. Nothing dirty with us. We set it up; we do this everywhere we go.

"This is something that’s very important to me, if I’m ever going to go out again... and I’m not sure I want to, I’m still feeling that out. But, if I’m ever going to do it, I want to make sure that everything is clean.

"What was the last thing you remember eating at a show, and how good was it? Was it from a farm-made, homegrown village? I don’t think so. It was from a factory farm that’s killing us. I’ve been working on this idea of bringing the food and the drink and the merch into the realm where it’s all clean. I will make sure that the food comes from real farmers.

Young envisions a future where a tour wouldn't necessarily end once a headliner's contributions had ended, saying that another performer could pick up the baton.

"The tour can keep on going with another headliner," he explains. "It’s about sustainability and renewability in the future, loving Earth for what it is. We want to do the right thing."

Young, whose hasn't toured since 2019, also tells the New Yorker about his recent World Record album, working with Rick Rubin and Crazy Horse, pulling his music from Spotify, and the new, 50th Anniversary edition of his classic Harvest album.

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 40 years in music industry, online for 27. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.