Neil Young cancels the rest of the Crazy Horse tour due to band illness

Neil Young announced Wednesday that the remaining dates of the tour he was performing with his longtime backing group Crazy Horse have been canceled due to illness that has plagued “Two of Us” since their last performance in May. It was not specified whether he was among those affected.

Cancellations are for shows up to three months from now. Young's seven Canadian shows in July were affected, as well as three U.S. shows scheduled for late September, at the Hollywood Bowl, Southern California's Eddie Vedder-led Ohana Fest, and Kentucky's Bourbon & Beyond Festival.

Young said in a Statement on his website The unnamed band members fell ill sometime after their last concert, which took place more than a month ago, on May 22 at Pine Knob Music Theater in Clarkston, Michigan.

It was not stated exactly how long Young's break would last, but it soon became clear from upcoming festival webpages that his “unplanned big break” would indeed extend until the end of September. The page for Young's concert at the Hollywood Bowl on Sept. 29 results in an error message, and the Bowl now appears as dark on that date on the venue's official calendar. The website for Dana Point's Ohaha Festival now lists “TBA” instead of Young's Saturday night headlining slot, and a festival representative confirmed they are looking for a replacement.

“The Love Earth Tour has been an amazing experience for us so far,” Young’s message to fans began. “Great crowd and music. We had a blast!”

He continued, “When two of us got sick after Pine Knob in Detroit, we had to take a hiatus. We still haven't fully recovered, so it's unfortunate that our amazing tour will include a big unplanned break. We'll try to play some of the dates we missed over time when we're ready to play music.” Rock again! We know that many of you have planned to travel and we apologize for the inconvenience. Thank you for your understanding and patience.

“Health is No. 1,” Young concluded. We want to stay and bring you more shows and more albums…. And for us…. With love and thanks to all of you from Crazy Horse…..Neil, Micah, Ralph and Billy…Love the Earth.”

Young's statement appeared to leave open the possibility that tickets would still be valid for some dates at a rescheduled time, but nothing was confirmed on that matter. A rep for Young said they are awaiting word on more information for ticket holders.

As of this writing, Ticketmaster still has tickets on sale for the Hollywood Bowl show, but the event's disappearance from multiple pages on the Bowl's website seems to confirm that it has disappeared along with the other shows. No one would blame these cancellations on poor sales, at least: A seating chart that still exists for the Bowl concert shows only the remaining seats in the back.

A representative for Ohana Fest posted a statement on social media that read: “We are saddened to announce that Neil Young with Crazy Horse will no longer be performing at Ohana Fest 2024. Please stay tuned for a lineup update as soon as possible; in the meantime, we wish the band a speedy recovery.” Bourbon & Beyond posted a similar message saying, “Stay tuned for a replacement announcement.”

Young fans saddened by the cancellations can at least console themselves with Friday's release of the long-awaited album, Early Daze, a collection of previously unreleased recordings Young made with Crazy Horse in 1969.