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LOS ANGELES (AP) — “Are there still real cowboys?” Neil Young Singing at the Hollywood Bowl on a rare night Saturday night, he was neither a headliner nor the closest artist on the bill at 77.
provide instant answers, willie nelsonWearing a cowboy hat and a red-white-and-blue guitar strap, he ambled onto the stage on his 90th birthday to an audience of more than 17,000.
Nelson sat in a chair—one of the few stage concessions he made to his age—and played the remainder of the 1985 duet “Are There Still Real Cowboys?” with Young.
“I want to thank all the artists who came out tonight to help celebrate everything we’re celebrating,” Nelson said, faking aging and laughing.
This moment came three hours into the first game two night celebration A country legend at the Los Angeles Bowl, where generations of stars performed his songs in his tribute.
“As a kid growing up in Texas, there seemed to be nothing greater than Willie Nelson,” said Owen Wilson, one of the night’s hosts, along with Helen Mirren, Ethan Hawke and Jennifer Garner. “Watching the Hollywood Bowl tonight, it still feels like there’s nothing greater than Willie Nelson.”
After Young, Nelson brought george str.the next generation of country superstars, for their self-referential duet “Singing With Willie,” followed by Willie’s perennial “Pancho and Lefty,” where Strait sang a song once performed by The late Merle Haggard.
Nelson then yelled: “Come out and roll a Snoopy with me!”
swagger rapper snoop dogg, sitting next to Nelson, they start singing their rock anthem, “Roll Me Up and Smoke When I Die.” Perhaps fittingly, everyone seems to forget that line sometimes. The two friends looked too happy to care.
“Who’s going to give a shout out to the legendary Mr. Willie Nelson!” Snoopy yells in the middle of his song.
The parade of partners illustrated one of the evening’s themes: Wiley brings people together.
“Suddenly, whether you were a redneck or a hippie, everyone was a Willie Nelson fan,” Wilson said of the late-blooming singing superstar after Nelson left Nashville, Tennessee, and returned home. He was born in Texas in the 1970s. “Even the Dalai Lama is a fan of Willie Nelson. It’s true.”
The crowd, from small children to the elderly, speaks for itself. Cowboy hats dotted the stands, hippies danced in the aisles, and marijuana smoke wafted through the air.
Miranda Lambert A rousing chorus version of Nelson’s 1978 duet with Waylon Jennings, “Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys,” They are excited. chicks On “Bloody Mary Morning” in 1970, Willie and his house band played live at the same breakneck pace in their heyday.
Nelson outlived nearly every member of the band, which supported his decades of constant touring and recording. his sister and pianist, bobby nelson, died last year. Norah Jones pays homage to her, playing a young Nelson’s salon-style solo from Willie Nelson’s definitive 1975 album, Red Headed Stranger The song “Down Yonder”.
While many of the women who took the stage played uplifting rock and roll, most of the men preferred a quieter mood.
Chris Stapleton Nelson delivers a soft, thoughtful rendition of 1980s biggest hit single “Always on My Mind,” keeping his guitar by his side. Nelson’s son Lucas sang “Angels Flew Too Close to the Ground” solo on his acoustic guitar, and his voice sounded a lot like a dead ringer to his father.
Another surviving member of the house band, harmonica virtuoso Mitch Raphael, was part of the weekend house band, led by Don Vass, who supported just about everyone.
Nelson also outlived most of his classic collaborators. But importantly, his 86-year-old Highwaymen bandmate Kris Kristofferson took to the stage, joined by another Highwayman’s daughter, Rosanne Cash: Johnny Cash.
Rosanne Cash was singing Nelson’s “Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I’ll Ever Do Again)” when Kristofferson, who wrote the song, came out to join her on a duet.
Nelson’s musical diversity was another evening theme.
“He blended and changed genres,” Mirren said on stage. “His timing and category are his own.”
Leon Bridges’ “Night Life” showcased Nelson’s love of the blues, as did Jones’ jazz journey on “Funny How Time Slips Away” from 1961, when Nelson was known primarily as the songwriter of others’ hits .
Ziggy Marley sang “Still Is Still Moving To Me,” which Nelson recorded in 1993 and later sang with the Toots and Maytals in one of his occasional forays into reggae. Marley yells, “Wee-lay!” in his Jamaican accent during the song.
Sunday night’s show will feature a variety of performers, including Dave Matthews, Shirley Crow and Emmylou Harris.
Young first took to the stage with his early collaborator Stephen Stiles. The two played a sped-up version of “For What It’s Worth,” swapping guitar solos on the classic they wrote in 1966 as members of Buffalo Springfield.
Nelson rallied all the artists of the night to join him for a performance of the Carter Family’s 1935 song “Will the Circle Be Unbroken?” His longtime live favorite and a classic end credit to all things country music.
This was clearly meant to be over, and Hawke took the microphone and started thanking everyone for coming.
But the 90-year-old isn’t ready to stop. He interrupted and broke into McDavis’ “It’s Hard to Be Humble,” which Nelson and his sons had recorded in 2019.
It’s an interesting choice for the final song, but its chorus is the perfect comic coda for a man who’s been worshiping all night:
“To know me is to love me, I must be one hell of a man. Oh Lord, it’s hard to be humble. But I’m doing the best I can.”
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