VANCOUVER — Some of rock’s most esteemed names gathered on a stage in Vancouver tonight for a tribute to Canadian music legend Neil Young.
The online universe has been atwitter for days with rumours and wishful thinking about whether the notoriously media-shy music man would make an appearance in person.
A spokesperson for the Cultural Olympiad, the cultural extravaganza organized around the Games, couldn’t say if Young would attend the tribute in person.
But for his fans, it didn’t really matter whether he showed or not.
“I love Neil Young,” said Celia Arruda, as she made her way into the concert.
“It’s so amazing. Just the whole idea of those amazing songs being sung by all these Canadian artists, it’s very cool.”
The impressive list of those in attendance includes former Velvet Underground frontman Lou Reed, new-wave pioneer Elvis Costello and Canadian singer-songwriter Ron Sexsmith.
The concert, dubbed the Hal Willner Neil Young Project, also runs Friday evening.
Toronto rock band Broken Social Scene and indie-pop group Metric, blues man Colin James and singer-songwriter Julie Doiron are also in the lineup.
Willner — a producer and the music supervisor on “Saturday Night Live” — previously paid tribute to Young with a show in New York in 2004.
Paying respects to the 64-year-old Young has been particularly popular lately.
Last June, Colin Linden, the Cowboy Junkies, Issa, Steven Page and Carole Pope were among the artists to gather in Toronto to recreate the set list from Young’s immortal concert disc “Live at Massey Hall 71” at the same historic venue.
The year also saw the release of the first volume of his oft-delayed archives collection, a new disc (“Fork in the Road”) and a second Jonathan Demme-directed concert flick, “Neil Young Trunk Show,” which debuted at the South by Southwest film festival last March.
He even factored into Conan O’Brien’s historic final evening as host of the “Tonight” show, contributing a stirring performance of his “Long May You Run.”
Last month, Young was finally honoured by the Grammy Awards — twice. He picked up one of the trophies for the first time, winning best boxed or special limited edition package for his elaborate archives collection.
And the Toronto-born artist was also honoured as the MusiCares Person of the Year, which recognizes an artist’s philanthropy.
He showed up in Los Angeles in person to accept that honour and say a few words.