Neil Young, Stephen Stills, The Heartbreakers & More Perform Together At Charity Concert
By Andy Kahn Apr 23, 2018 • 7:33 am PDT
Photo by Erik Kabik Photography LLC./ Kabik Photo Group LLC
The fifth annual Light Up The Blues Concert — An Evening of Music to Benefit Autism Speaks was held at The Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on Saturday night. The all-star charity event featured many notable collaborations, including host Stephen Stills sharing the stage with Neil Young.
As Rolling Stone notes, comedian/musician Jack Black emceed the show, which also saw fellow comics Sarah Silverman, Jeff Goldberg and others performing between musical acts. Along with Stills and Young, other participants included Benmont Tench, Mike Campbell and Steve Ferrone of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers who were performing together for the first time since Petty’s death last October. The all-star cast also brought together Patti Smith, Beck, Burt Bacharach, Judy Collins, Sheryl Crow, Chris Stills, Oliver Stills, autism spectrum artists Amanda Anderson, Tyler Kilmer and Soulshocka, and others.
Stills and the assembled Heartbreakers (Tench on keyboards, Campbell on guitar and Ferone on drums served as members of the evening’s house band) came together for an emotionally charged take on the Petty classic “I Won’t Back Down.” Beck’s surprise appearance treated the sold-out audience to “Guess I’m Doing Fine,” “One Foot In The Grave” and “Where It’s At.”
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Young called his “brother” Stills on stage during a solo set that then saw the longtime collaborators pair up for Neil’s “Long May You Run” and Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth” and “Mr. Soul.” Smith, who was not announced as part of the lineup, came onstage for a SS&Y version of “People Have The Power.” Young had begun his first performance since last December with “Sugar Mountain” and also offered “I Am The Child,” “Birds” and pump organ arrangement of “Mother Earth.”
The night drew to an end with all of the performers coming together for Bacharach’s tender “What The World Needs Now Is Love.” View audience-shot videos from Saturday’s Autism Speaks benefit in L.A. below:
