On Saturday, October 5th, Neil Young held the Harvest Moon Gathering at The Painted Turtle, a year-round sleep-away camp for special needs kids tucked into the mountains in Lake Hughes, CA, about an hour north of Los Angeles. Young has long been proactive about holding benefit shows for The Bridge School at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in the Bay Area, but the idea to hold a benefit for The Painted Turtle at the organizations actual camp proved to be an inspired one.
Most attendees came out for the main event in the afternoon, while bigger spenders enjoying an overnight, on-site experience featuring an after-dark “campfire” session and an overnight stay in one of the camp’s cabins. Whether folks drove up to the show by passing Lake Castaic or snaking up through horse country just north of Santa Clarita, the mountain roads leading to Lake Hughes rendered one spectacular view after another before fans arrived at the dusty parking lot next to the camp.
Upon entry to the Painted Turtle’s main campus, attendees found themselves on a gently sloping hillside, with a gigantic VIP/donor section occupying the front half of the event space. Aside from one house on a hill and a couple of radio towers, it was a relaxed, secluded mountain setting, with the lack of video screens next to stage augmenting the ambiance.
It was a brutally hot day with unrelenting sun and mid-90s temperatures, but the camp and its staff were more than prepared: plenty of restrooms, ten food trucks, prominently placed misting fans for cooling off, free water in aluminum bottles all day, and staff vigilantly watching for anyone affected by the heat. The crowd consisted primarily of people who would have been considered young in the 1970s, and contained a strikingly low percentage of people scrolling or filming on their phones during the show. The amassed crowed also bought souvenirs with enthusiasm, cleaning out nearly every item at the merch booth in just a few hours.
The day’s live music commenced with Masanga taking the stage and introducing themselves as “the Painted Turtle de facto house band,” having now played major events for the non-profit for 15-20 years. The Northridge-based marimba ensemble jumped back and forth between African and Latin music, matching their enthusiasm with a deep intra-band chemistry (six of the eight members have been with the band for 20 years or more). A deft rap by the group’s leader, Ric Alviso, morphed into band introductions for all of them as Masanga played a medley of cumbias from Latin America. The crowd sang along with gusto to well-known covers like “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” and “La Bamba”, but the clear highlight of the 45-minute set was a surging version of the Hugh Masekela classic “Grazing In The Grass”.
Following an introduction by folks from Painted Turtle and The Bridge School, Lily Meola took the stage at 3:00 pm with guitarists/vocalists Eva Cassel and Bre Kennedy, and their three-part harmonies became an immediate, soothing soundtrack to the heat. They won attendees over right away, all while playing straight into the sun during the hottest part of the day. While abbreviated cover versions of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene”, John Denver’s “Country Roads”, and Simon & Garfunkel’s “Homeward Bound” each provided familiarity to the crowd, the real highlights of the set were Meola’s songs about love (“Heartbreak Rodeo), death (“Butterfly”) and perseverance (“Daydream”). Meola’s voice is somewhere between emotive and stunning, and she’s got the songwriting to match.
Lily Meola, Bre Kennedy, Eva Cassel – “Homeward Bound” (Simon & Garfunkel) – 10/5/24
[Video: Steph Cooper]
John Mayer followed with a solo acoustic set marking his first live performance since Dead & Company wrapped their 30-show residency at Sphere in Las Vegas in mid-August. After opening up with “Who Says” and “Something Like Olivia”, Mayer let everyone know that he’s been writing songs for his new album, so he was happy to be playing already-completed songs front-to-back. The set was replete with his trademark banter and humor: He played a few bars of the Grateful Dead’s “The Eleven” by a fan request, talked his way through forgetting the third verse of “Vultures” in the third person, and exclaimed, ”It’s too hot to play “Gravity!” It was clear he was having a good time up there, but after “Slow Dancing in a Burning Room” and “Waiting on the World to Change”, it was all over too soon.
John Mayer – “The Eleven” (Grateful Dead, partial) > “Vultures” – 10/5/24
[Video: Todd Norris]
John Mayer – “Waiting on the World to Change” – 10/5/24
[Video: Todd Norris]
When the names of Rock n’ Roll Hall of Famers Neil Young and Stephen Stills are mentioned together, there are three typical landing points: Buffalo Springfield (1966-68), Crosby, Still, Nash & Young (sporadically since 1968), and the Stills-Young Band (1976). There are also their respective solo careers, and Stills’ mainstay group, Crosby, Stills & Nash. It’s as formidable as it gets in rock n’ roll, but in recent years their collective activity has been sporadic, and with David Crosby’s death in 2023 some of those breaks have now been rendered permanent. The last CSNY performance was a Bridge School Benefit in 2013, the last CSN show was in 2015, and Stills’ last actual tour (with Judy Collins) was in 2018. Until the Harvest Moon Gathering, the last previous Stills-Young show was in 2005, and that had been the only one since 1976. So, in 2024? Getting any combination of these musicians together is something to savor.
It was still 93 degrees when Young and Stills took the stage for the day’s sole electric set, accompanied by bassist Corey McCormick and drummer Anthony LoGerfo from Young’s new Chrome Hearts band. An extended and loose version of “Long May You Run”, from the 1976 album by The Stills-Young Band, was a surprising and welcome opener. It was rough around the edges, but that’s just what fans had expected and hoped-for from these players, who have always placed more importance on feel than perfection. The very sight and sound of Young and Stills facing each other, playing together, and looking happy to be doing so created a genuinely beautiful moment.
Neil Young & Stephen Stills – “Long May You Run” – 10/5/24
[Video: Todd Norris]
After a run through Young’s “Human Highway” and a reworked version of Buffalo Springfield’s “Hung Upside Down” (their first live rendition of the song in decades), the set stuck mostly to the songs that attendees were hoping to see: a sparse “Helplessly Hoping,” “Helpless” (with Stills playing a battered grand piano), and a garaged-out version of Stills’ “Love The One You’re With” before Lily Meola and her bandmates joined to sing backing vocals on “Heart Of Gold” and “For What It’s Worth” as the sun finally receded from view.
Neil Young & Stephen Stills – “Hung Upside Down” (Buffalo Springfield) – 10/5/24
Neil Young w/ Lily Meola. Eva Cassel, Bre Kennedy – “Heart of Gold” – 10/5/24
[Videos: Todd Norris]
After a gorgeous and expected “Harvest Moon”, the set closed with Stephen Stills and Neil Young trading storms of guitar on Buffalo Springfield classic “Bluebird” like a couple of guys who’d been carrying on a forceful and competitive musical conversation for almost six decades. These were incredible sonic exchanges to behold, highlighting the way these giants have long communicated, all while the rhythm section wisely stayed out of their way.
Neil Young – “Harvest Moon” – 10/5/24
[Videos: Todd Norris]
And that’s the slightly awkward situation into which John Mayer stepped when he joined the band for Young’s show-closing anthem, “Rockin’ In The Free World“. For much of the song Mayer strummed along on stage right, far from the center of the stage where Stills and Young played with (and at) each other—a conversation that no fan, Mayer included, would want to interrupt. But eventually Stills dramatically pointed to Mayer as they made physical and musical space for him, and Mayer seized the moment and became part of the chaos with some loud squalls of guitar for the final highlight of a strong and varied day of music for two worthwhile causes.
Neil Young, Stephen Stills, John Mayer – “Rockin’ in the Free World” – 10/5/24
[Videos: Todd Norris]