Tribute To The Young Neil Young

I just come back from a tribute evening to Neil Young (La Maroquinerie, Paris).
My first interrogation when I entered the venue was: will there be enough Neil Young fans in Paris to fill a room who can accept up to 500 people standing? Well, it was almost pack and it was my first surprise. Second question was: will there be a lot of young people attending this special evening honouring a musician who started to write songs when there parents where young like them in the mid-sixties? Yes, parents and/or children were there knowing all the words from every song.

Last question: what about the music? I already attended tribute evening to Neil Young in England or in Germany with musicians whose mother-tongue is English. Last night, on stage, most of the singers were French (and one from Belgium). I must say that it was quite perfect and between very few “Nail Jung”, Emily Loizeau (Web), Juliette Paquereau (from Diving With Andy) and all the musicians sung with a perfect English.
So what about the setlist? That was my only regret, they didn’t take any risk, they choose only songs (hits) from the 60’s to the late seventies (except Harvest Moon (1992) beautifully sung by Emily Loizeau). Too bad that nobody tried to go deeper in the huge catalogue of great songs that the Canadian wrote after Rust Never Sleeps (1979). Because of that, for me it was more a Tribute to the young Neil Young than to Neil Young. Anyway, it was a very enjoyable evening; congratulations to the musicians and thanks to La Maroquinerie.

Many French talented musicians already covered Neil Young. Here is my personal list of official releases, sure I missed one or two:
· Les Rita Mitsouko - A Man Needs A Maid (En concert avec l’Orchestre Lamoureux, 2004)
· Nana Mouskouri – After The Gold Rush (Nana’s Book Of Songs, 1998)
· Jean-Jacques Milteau – Heart Of Gold (Memphis, 2003)
· Nana Mouskouri – Love Is A Rose (Roses & Sunshine, 1979)
· Emily Loizeau – Pocahontas (L'Autre bout du monde, 2007)
· Pascal Comelade – Prime Of Life (Musique de genre, 1997)
· Hurleurs – The Needle And The Damage Done (Blottie, 2002)
· Françoise Hardy – Till The Morning Comes (If You Listen, 2000)

The Aardvarks - Cinnamon Girl .mp3
Gorch Fock - Ohio .mp3

Bonus: Diving With Andy - Moon River .mp3 with Juliette Paquereau via Aliquid