The performance Neil Young was so disappointed with he demanded a re-do
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. It’s the mantra of the successful, the mindset of the winners. It’s something Neil Young clearly prescribes to.
Anyone who knows a musician in their day to day life knows this headspace well. A show is booked, and for weeks, there’s a build up towards it. There are rehearsals to make sure things go well, subtle nerves and panic that it might not. Then the day arrives and after all that stress, the packing on of pressure leads to this mindset where really nothing, no matter how well it went, would be good enough.
They could do the best show in the world, but still, the perfectionist will find fault. They’ll zone in on one slow chord change, one drum kit that was 0.0005 seconds off beat, one slightly awkward “thank you”. The curse of caring about something as deeply as artists do about their art is that they always want it to be a hundred perfect, completely and utterly perfect. But nothing ever is.
The issue with musicianship is that most of the time, for live shows, there are no do-overs. They might be able to go back to the same venue or festival, but they can never rewind through that night and try again to get it better on a second attempt.
If you’re Neil Young, however, your status can buy you another go.
In 1993, MTV invited Young onto their famed Unplugged series. After launching in 1989, the live sessions were bagging bigger and bigger names and getting more and more prestigious. They were also delivering some exceptional musical moments as those stripped back sessions so routinely led to special renditions from artists that would become fan-favourite offerings when they were released.
What would’ve been simple became high stakes. Young is a seasoned professional. He is absolutely used to doing a stripped back live performance, he’s done hundreds, if not thousands, of them. This should have been no big deal.
But on the day, something was throwing him off. Apparently tensions were high on set as Young wasn’t happy with house his band were performing, leading to bickering and arguing, and, in the end, leading to a session he wasn’t happy with.
Usually, these things are one and done. The whole point is that they’re supposed to be like live performances, shot only once in a studio with little to no editing. The whole point is that they’re raw and simple. They’re not supposed to be too perfect or produced, but still, Young’s perfectionism kicked in.
Young was so unhappy with his performance, in fact, that he offered to pay MTV, pay all the crew and cover all production costs to be able to do it again. Refusing to accept the first one, he pleaded with them to be able to try again until they agreed and let him return the next day, with his band whipped into tighter shape, to redo it.
Diva-ish or determined? – you can decide.
