Neil Young brings 1971 Stratford concert back to life in new project

The concert at the Stratford theater happened on Jan. 22, 1971. It was there that Young performed the now classic tunes of “Tell me Why,” “Sugar Mountain,” “Don’t Let it Bring You Down” and “Heart of Gold.” less The concert at the Stratford theater happened on Jan. 22, 1971. It was there that Young performed the now classic tunes of “Tell me Why,” “Sugar Mountain,” “Don’t Let it Bring You Down” and ... more Photo: Screen Grab Image Photo: Screen Grab Image Image 1 of / 21 Caption Close Neil Young brings 1971 Stratford concert back to life in new project 1 / 21 Back to Gallery

Neil Young is using footage of a concert filmed at the Shakespeare theater in Stratford forty-nine years ago for a new project on his music streaming site.

The concert at the Stratford theater happened on Jan. 22, 1971. It was there that Young performed the now classic tunes of “Tell Me Why,” “Sugar Mountain,” “Don’t Let it Bring You Down” and “Heart of Gold.”

His website, neilyoungarchives.com offers subscribers streaming music and videos. He recently annnounced a series of Fireside Sessions where he performs his music during the coronavirus pandemic.

Also on his site, is NYA Contrarian, a newspaper-styled front page that provides Neil Young news, opinions and links to stories and web sites.

Among the items published last month was a Neil Young concert filmed at the Shakespeare theater nearly five decades ago. The project - a combination of the Stratford concert footage and audio from a concert weeks earlier at Massey Hall in Toronto - is entitled “Young Shakespeare.”

Neil Young writes, “The earliest known film of any of my performances, Young Shakespeare was recorded and filmed in January 1971 at the Shakespeare Theater in Stratford Connecticut.

“Originally, images from the performance were used to help bring a visual element to Massey Hall. This can be viewed here, with the film re-synced to Massey Hall’s music.

“While Massey Hall was a homecoming for me and meant so much at the time, luckily recorded on a 7.5 ips tape recorder by David Briggs - it was not filmed. At that time, Massey Hall was for me my best early acoustic performance to date. A triumph! A celebration! That’s how I felt at the time.

“Three days after Massey Hall, Elliot Roberts my life-long friend and brilliant manager, arranged for a performance at the Shakespeare Theater to be filmed in its entirety by a European filmmaker, Wim Van der Linden.

“Stratford was also recorded directly to a reel to reel tape at 7.5 ips (inches per second). For almost fifty years, only seen as the partial visual for Massey Hall, it was preserved in the Archive.

“In 2020, working our way through the years, completing unfinished projects, preparing them for the future, I wanted to do things right while I was still here on Earth. That’s when we found it.

“I do this so my music will always be there as a record of my life’s work. I want to do it myself, not have someone else do it as a job after I’m gone. So that’s the goal of NYA.

“John Hanlon employed the Plangent Process to the tapes, revealing the original recording in all its clarity and tonal brilliance. Wow and flutter of the ancient tape was neutralized and the result is the one of the most pure sounding acoustic performances we have in the Archive.

“Compiling pieces of Stratford from all kinds of places, old German TV shows, original lost tapes, old 16mm work prints and more, we soon realized that we had a complete show that stood very well on its own.

“In fact, today as we listen and compare, John Hanlon and I both feel ‘Shakespeare’ is superior to our beloved ‘Massey Hall’. A more calm performance, without the celebratory atmosphere of Massey Hall, captured live on 16mm film, ‘Young Shakespeare’ is a very special event. To my fans, I say this is the best ever.

“Young Shakespeare is the performance of that era. Personal and emotional, for me it defines that time.

“So what do we do with it? We may pair it with the Reprise Records 50th anniversary release of ‘After the Gold Rush’ later this year, making a double record. This could be done in addition to offering ‘Young Shakespeare’ separately. We will be discussing these options with our old friends at Reprise.”

For years, videos of the Stratford concert have surfaced on YouTube. Now, the enhanced film of the show - and the remastered Toronto audio tapes - captures Neil Young at the beginning of his solo career.