An unfortunate series of events have forced Neil Young and Crazy Horse to cancel the remaining seven dates on their European tour. A source from within the Young camp told Rolling Stone that guitarist Frank "Poncho" Sampedro broke his hand.
"It's a mild fracture," they said. "He's expected to make a complete recovery in time for the North American tour." It must be an awfully light fracture; Young and the gang are scheduled to kick off the short tour on August 31 at the Greenbelt Harvest Picnic in Dundas, Ontario and work its way south to Arrington Virginia on September 7 for the Interlocken Festival. Neil Young's website offered a statement on Thursday.
Due to an accident involving Crazy Horse, the remaining dates on the Neil Young and Crazy Horse tour of Europe and the British isles have been cancelled," it reads. "We are sorry for any inconvenience this causes to our fans or the Festivals where we were scheduled to appear. As you must be, we too are disappointed at this unfortunate turn of events."
The band has been touring for much of the year, much heavier than the average band, much less one with as much dirt under its nails as Crazy Horse. It's a sad coincidence that Sampedro said earlier this year that he believes this may be the last tour for the band.
My gut tells me this is really the last tour," he said. "I hate saying their ages, but I'm 64 (Young is 67) and I'm the baby of the band. I love playing and we're playing as good as we ever did, but at any time, something could go down with any one of us."
