Neil Young Reunites With Stephen Stills at Benefit Concert
Neil Young reunited with his old colleague Stephen Stills at a Los Angeles benefit concert over the weekend. The show also found three members of the Heartbreakers appearing together for the first time since Tom Petty’s death.
The Light Up the Blues event -- created by Stills and his wife -- is now in its fifth year. This year’s concert featured Burt Bacharach, Judy Collins, Sheryl Crow and others. Rolling Stone reported that, after having performed his song “Birds,” Young told the crowd that he wanted to bring his “brother” onstage. Stills then appeared, and the pair delivered “Long May You Run,” “For What It’s Worth” and “Mr Soul” before they were joined by Patti Smith for “People Have the Power.”
Stills shared the stage with Collins earlier in the evening, before Heartbreakers Mike Campbell, Benmont Tench and Steve Ferrone joined him for a rendition of their track “I Won’t Back Down.” After Young and Stills finished “People Have the Power,” all the evening’s artists gathered for an ensemble version of “What the World Needs Now Is Love.”
Young had made previous appearances at Light Up the Blues in 2016 and 2015. Before that, Crosby, Stills and Nash appeared in 2014 and 2013.
Stills confirmed that Light Up the Blues would return in 2019 after earlier having explained the motivation behind its creation was his and his wife’s experience of helping their son Henry deal with his own autism. “With the help of steadfast friends and concerned professionals that shared our determination, Kristen and I battled through conflicting diagnoses, emerging information and trial-and-error, and were able to find a path that lead our boy to a far better way of life," he said. "And now he’s in college.”