Neil Young and Crazy Horse have cancelled the upcoming dates on their mini-tour of the United States as an after-effect of an injury to guitarist Frank "Poncho" Sampedro.
"[His] doctor has indicated that Sampedro's hand requires additional time to heal properly," the band said in a statement. "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."
Three of the cancelled dates were festival performances, including the Greenbelt Harvest Picnic, Ottawa Folk Festival and the Interlocken Festival.
Sampedro fell during the band's recent tour in Europe, breaking his hand. The band initially announced that only the European dates would be cancelled and that the guitarist would return for the American dates, but it doesn't seem to have worked out. Young and Crazy Horse have toured almost nonstop around their 2012 release "Psychedelic Pill," but Sampedro seemed to think, even before his injury, that this may be the group's last stand.
"I just think once it stops, it's going to be kind of hard to get it rolling again," he said. "My gut tells me this is really the last tour. I hate saying their ages, but I'm 64 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."
The band's last show was in Oslo, Norway, where they ended with "Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black)," a song almost tailored to the theme of aging in the rock 'n' roll world.
