Young formed legendary band Buffalo Springfield in the mid-Sixties before teaming up with the surname-favouring supergroup Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, and then embarked on a solo career in 1968.
Over the course of this celebrated musical odyssey, Young has always set out to push the boundaries and has taken great pleasure in wrong-footing his fans with every release – each of his albums is quintessentially Young but often pays little regard to that which preceded it. Yet it was this wilful quest for experimentation and musical chameleonism that saw him run aground in the Eighties.
After scoring one of his most critical and commercially successful albums with 1979’s Rust Never Sleep, Young found himself sued by his own label, Geffen Records, for making music that was unrepresentative of, well, his own music. But then over the course of Young’s career, he has always tinkered with genres, indulging in everything from acoustic to folk, punk, swing and electronica, even.
And he’s regarded by many as one of the progenitors of the Nineties alternative scene, with many grunge acts crediting his distortion-dominated guitars as a key influence. And four decades after he first strapped on a guitar and took to the stage, he is still doing things his way and breaking all the rules.
The O2, SE10 0DX
Mon, Aug 19 | Doors at 6.30pm | £52.75
Tube | North Greenwich
theo2.co.uk
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