The event will bring together a host of French musicians, singers, and composers, all fans of Young's 1972 chart-topping album 'Harvest'.
ADVERTISEMENTA group of French musicians are putting on a sold-out tribute concert to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Neil Young album 'Harvest'.
Emily Loizeau, Arman Méliès and Albin de la Simone are among the names expected to perform at the concert, hosted by The Cent Quatre in Paris on 10 February.
'Harvest' topped the charts upon its release in France and was the biggest selling album of 1972 in the US.
The event – which forms part of the venue's 6th annual 'Les Singulier' festival – was on track long before the American-Canadian returned to the headlines last by withdrawing his music from Spotify.
Young made the request after accusing the streaming platform of publishing COVID-19 misinformation on Joe Rogan's podcast.
An 'unstoppable' piece of musical education
"I discovered him in my late teens, when I was starting to get out of classical music, and it was love at first sight," says Loizeau, who will perform 'Heart of Gold', the biggest single of the album's ten tracks.
She describes the work as "unstoppable, with sublime melodies, a moving subject, on edge, but it is anything but smooth, a folk-rock force emerges from it."
The singer previously paid tribute in 2007 to Neil Young at the Printemps de Bourges festival and cites him as a huge influence on her 16-year recording career.
“'Harvest' was part of my musical education and my desire to make music," says Raoul Tellier, co-founder of La Maison Tellier, the group who initiated the evening.
"We took the side of the simplest possible tribute, respecting the original form of the album, in the order of the songs."
Attendees shouldn't expect the performances to be note-for-note, however.
"We are not going to clown around with it, but we will take the liberty of putting a little of our personalities into it, by injecting a little modernity, it can be interesting to make it sound like a 2022 show," explains Arman Méliès, who will play electric guitar at the concert.
The standoff between Neil Young and Spotify does not surprise those involved this evening of music.
"He always had this image of a filibuster, who does what he wants, when he wants, always in accordance with his convictions," explains Tellier.
For more information about sold-out the show head to The Cent Quatre event page here.
