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Illness will keep Neil Young and Crazy Horse from taking the stage at Bluesfest this year.
“Neil Young Crazy Horse have regrettably had to cancel their upcoming tour dates, including Ottawa Bluesfest on July 11,” Ottawa Bluesfest wrote in a social media post Wednesday evening.
The Ottawa festival’s post shared a link to a message from Young and the band.
“When a couple of us got sick after Detroit’s Pine Knob, we had to stop,” it read. “We are still not fully recovered, so sadly our great tour will have a big unplanned break.”
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The Love Earth Tour schedule shows that Young played in Clarkston, Mich., on May 22, two days after a show in Toronto. He was to be a headliner on July 11 in Ottawa as Bluesfest celebrates its 30th anniversary.
“We will try to play some of the dates we miss as time passes when we are ready to rock again! We know many of you made travel plans and we apologized for the inconvenience,” the message from Young and the band stated. “Thanks for your understanding and patience.”
In the absence of Young, Bluesfest wrote in its post that it was pleased to announce that The Offspring will now headline the RBC Stage with supporting acts Silverstein and Cancer Bats.
“All ticket purchasers holding a single day ticket for July 11 or Pick 3 pass including July 11 will receive further details as soon as possible. Please watch your email for further information,” the post read.
It was to be 78-year-old Young’s Bluesfest debut. A February story by Postmedia’s Lynn Saxberg referred to the Toronto-born rock legend as “the biggest fish to be reeled in this year” by Bluesfest.
“Any time you get the chance to do Neil Young, you gotta take it,” Mark Monahan, executive and artistic director of Bluesfest, told Saxberg.
Monahan had booked Young once before — to play CityFolk, Bluesfest’s sister festival, in 2013 — but that date was among the shows cancelled after one of the musicians was injured.
This time, it was illness that ruined the plans, putting the brakes on Young’s first North American tour in a decade with his classic band. The last time they were in Ottawa was for an arena show in 2012.
There was no immediate word on when Young and the band might be able to get back out on the road.
With files from Lynn Saxberg
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