Neil Young has dropped out of Farm Aid 2021 due to COVID safety concerns. Young, who is a co-founder and board member of Farm Aid, was supposed to perform at the festival in Hartford next month alongside Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews, Margo Price, Sturgill Simpson, and more.

Young announced the news on his Neil Young Archives website, writing, “I find myself wondering whether Farmaid will be safe for everyone with the Covid pandemic surging … I don’t want to let anybody down, but still can’t shake the feeling that it might not be safe for everyone.”

“My soul tells me it would be wrong to risk having anyone die because they wanted to hear music and be with friends,” he continued, concluding, “While I respect Willie, John and Dave’s decisions to stick with it and play, I am not of the same mind. It is a tough call.”

The 9/25 event would’ve been Young’s first public performance since the 2019 edition of Farm Aid in Wisconsin. Read Young’s full statement below.

Lots is going on in our world right now. I find myself wondering whether Farmaid will be safe for everyone with the Covid pandemic surging. I worry about that. I don’t want to let anybody down, but still can’t shake the feeling that it might not be safe for everyone. I worry about audiences coming together in these times. The show is sold out.

All you people who can’t go to a concert because you still don’t feel safe, I stand with you. I don’t want to play until you feel safe, and it is indeed, safe.

My soul tells me it would be wrong to risk having anyone die because they wanted to hear music and be with friends.

No matter where you are. I am with you. Do what you must, but think it through. We will be back. There is much work to do together.

Since we know vaccinated people can catch and spread Covid, I worry about the children who could become infected after Farmaid, just by being with someone, maybe a parent, who caught the virus at Farmaid and didn’t know it. There are already too many children in hospitals.

While I respect Willie, John and Dave’s decisions to stick with it and play, I am not of the same mind. It is a tough call.

As time passes, I hope the path ahead will become claer.
be well
love
ny