Courtesy BottleRock Napa Valley
Since 2013, it has become a Bay Area tradition, Memorial Day Weekend plays hosts to BottleRock Napa Valley. This year’s music festival featured Neil Young headling day number two on Saturday, May 25th.
The 73 year old Bay Area resident, by way of Canada, played his classic hit “Rockin’ In The Free World” as his final song for the night. However, during the middle of the song, Neil Young went past the festival’s strict 10pm curfew which led festival organizers to cut the power on his band’s equipment.
This was not the first time this has happened to bands performing at BottleRock. The Cure in 2014 and Foo Fighters in 2017 both did the exact same thing, resulting in the power being cut as they wrapped up their respected sets. The reason for the 10pm curfew is because the location of the festival is next to a residential area, including houses facing the main stage. During BottleRock’s first year back in 2013, neighbors were complaining about the noise.
As you can see in the video below, at around the 8:00 mark, as festival officials turned off the power, including the speakers and video screens, Neil Young and his band kept playing. The crowd notices the volume coming down from the stage and took it upon themselves to jump in and start singing along to finish out the song.
FYI, this was Neil Young’s first concert back in Northern California since his performance at the last Bridge School Benefit Concert at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View in 2016.
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