Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World” became an instant classic upon its debut in 1989, stopping just shy of the top spot on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock chart and securing a berth (#216) on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list.
Originally written as a critique of the George H. W. Bush administration, “Rockin’ in the Free World” took on new resonance in the early years of the new millennium when Bush’s son became the American president.
When MoveOn.org organized an all-star Vote for Change tour of performing artists during the waning days of the 2004 election season, both Bruce and Neil participated. But the wide-ranging tour didn’t send every artist to every city, and the only time Bruce and Neil intersected during the tour was in St. Paul.
But intersect they did: during the encore for the show that Bruce headlined, Neil and Pegi Young joined Bruce, R.E.M., and John Fogerty for a blisteringly relevant “Rockin’ in the Free World.”
But while that was the first time Bruce and Neil played the song together at a “regular” tour show, they’d actually performed it once before, almost a decade earlier.
From Neil and Pegi’s Bridge School Benefit concert on October 28, 1995, listen to the first time Bruce joined Neil on “Rockin’ in the Free World”–this time on guitar with backing vocalists Emmylou Harris, Chrissie Hynde, and Steven Tyler.
Rockin’ in the Free World
First performed: October 28, 1995 (Mountain View, CA)
Last performed: October 5, 2004 (St. Paul, MN)
