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Spectator
19-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Spectator
Now it's getting late: on Neil Young, ageing and fatherhood
Neil Young once saved my life. Or at least, that's how I remember it. This was at an outdoor show in Finsbury Park in July 1993. I had pushed and squeezed my way almost to the front of a large crowd shortly after being passed something of dubious provenance to smoke. One moment everything was perfect: he was playing that romantic late career hit, 'Harvest Moon', the sun was setting, the moon, conveniently, rising, and I was swaying along, rapturous. But then, suddenly – bang… I fainted. This is the only time in my 45-year gig-going career that this has happened. But I was gone. I was briefly unconscious, then I came to lying on my back on the grass, looking up at dozens of legs all around and above me, almost on top of me. I realised that I needed to get up but I was still woozy, too weak to stand. I needed to gather my strength. Meanwhile Young was getting to the end: 'But now it's getting late… And the moon is climbing high.' I could no longer see the moon, just those legs. Then 'Harvest Moon' ended and applause and cheers came over my head, but I still couldn't stand. And this is when Neil Young saved my life, which felt at this moment as if it was in the balance. He did this by playing a ballad, 'The Needle and the Damage Done' (which is, perhaps appropriately, about the dangers of drug misuse). Because of this slow number I was able to spend another two minutes with my head between my knees steeling myself to get up. Had he played a rockier number – and 'Powderfinger', 'Down by the River', 'Like a Hurricane' and 'Rockin' in the Free World' were all on the set list that night – the space would have become a mosh pit and I would have been trampled. But 'The Needle' saved me. As it ended I finally managed to stand and then retreated to where it was less jammed to watch the rest of the show, shaken by how imperilled I had felt. And I realised that that song selection had been crucial in me getting out uninjured. I've seen Neil Young play a few more times in the years since – most memorably in an explosive performance at Brixton Academy in 2002, one of the best live shows I've ever been to. Alexis Petridis's review of that night in the Guardian concluded: 'Like one of his own guitar solos, you suspect [Neil Young] could go on forever.' And he pretty much has. But when I saw he was playing again this summer in Hyde Park in London, exactly 32 years to the day of that collapse in Finsbury Park, I initially had no urge to go. He'll turn 80 this autumn – and after seeing now voiceless Bob Dylan disappoint too many times, I felt Young would probably be going the same way. But then Number One Son started badgering me to take him. He's recently converted from being almost exclusively into hardcore US rap to preferring the rock bands of the early 1970s: Led Zep, the Stones and now also, it seems, Neil Young. So it felt like an open goal opportunity for some parent/child bonding. Arriving in Hyde Park, I realise I am at the younger end of the age spectrum in the audience, a rarity these days. We miss the first support act, Van Morrison, because he finishes half an hour earlier than he was listed to. It seems Young has made a late alteration to the timings to give himself longer on stage. We do see Cat Stevens and get to hug each other as he plays 'Father and Son' – a touching moment, even if the song is about parent-child estrangement. Before the main event, son goes for drinks and comes back ambitiously holding four pints. One minute you're feeding crying babies in the middle of the night, the next they're getting the beers in, I reflect. In Neil Young terminology, it seems like only yesterday that I was '24 and there's so much more' – Number One Son's age next birthday – and now I'm the old man being urged to look at the young man who is 'a lot like you were'. And indeed my son, I see, is a lot like I was. He is soon urging me to go further into the crowd. And we do this, with our four pints, only this time he does the pushing and apologising and I simply follow. I find myself thinking again of that night in 1993 when I came close to getting crushed and of other misadventures in my twenties that might have stopped me making it to my fifties. A number of my friends from those days didn't make it. Young opens his set with 'Ambulance Blues', which notes: 'It's easy to get buried in the past.' And he's right. So I try to stop brooding and to concentrate on enjoying the evening – to be in the moment, as they say these days. Once again he plays both 'Harvest Moon' – son's favourite – and 'The Needle and the Damage Done'. This time I manage to stay vertical. It's a wonderful night. The heatwave makes the air shimmer and Young can still sing that haunting high tenor, even if he is a curmudgeon who looks like a tramp. But, in fairness, so, increasingly, am I. Young also plays 'Hey Hey, My My', the companion piece to his punk era song that states: 'It's better to burn out than to fade away.' I wonder if he still thinks that? A couple of years after my 1990s white-out I attended another outdoor gig, in this same spot in Hyde Park – the Who, Eric Clapton and Bob Dylan – and wrote about it for a Sunday red-top. I recall writing the extremely snarky intro: 'Hyde Park became Jurassic Park last night as the dinosaurs of rock turned out to play.' Those dinosaurs would have been considerably younger then than I am now, I realise. One of these days Neil Young will die. I'm hoping he predeceases me – and I'm hoping I predecease my son. Who knows what will happen to any of us. But it was briefly pleasing for all three of us to be in the same field for one evening in the summer of 2025.
Yahoo
10-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
When Does July's Full 'Buck' Moon Peak?
July's full moon, called the "Buck Moon," will reach peak illumination on Thursday, July 10 at 4:37 p.m. ET, according to the Old Farmer's Almanac. However, for those of us located in the North America, the Buck Moon will be at its fullest while the moon is still below the horizon, so the best time to see the moon at its peak will be at moonrise, shortly after the sun sets Thursday evening. Just look toward the south-east at dusk in your time zone to watch it rise. You can also check out this moon calculator to figure out exactly when the Buck Moon will be visible in your area if you're unsure. According to NASA, the best place to view the full moon rising will be in an area with an unobstructed view of the eastern horizon and free of lights, weather permitting. There will be no other planets visible during the full moon on Thursday, although Venus, Jupiter and Mars will make appearances later in the month, so keep an eye on the sky over the next few weeks. Although the Buck moon reaches its peak today, it will still be visibly full through July 11, so if you can't catch it at its peak tonight, you'll still have a chance to enjoy the full moon in all its glory through Friday night. 'The nice thing about the full moon is it looks full about a day on either side of it, so on the night of the 9th, for instance, if you go out and look at the full moon, it will look effectively full. Similarly, if you miss it on the 10th, the night of the 11th it will also look fairly full,' said Noah Petro, chief of NASA's Planetary Geology, Geophysics and Geochemistry Laboratory. The Buck Moon is the farthest full moon from the sun all year and one of the lowest in the sky, second only to last month's Strawberry Moon on June 11, according to LiveScience. It is also the first full moon in the astrological summer in the Northern Hemisphere. The full Moon in July is called the Buck Moon because the antlers of male deer, known as bucks, are in full growth-mode this time of year after their annual shed. The term Buck Moon is linked to various native American tribes, who also called it the Salmon Moon, the Rasbery Moon, and the Thunder Moon, according to Earth Sky. It was also dubbed the Hay Moon by the English due to its closeness to the midsummer harvest, and the Celtic called it the Claiming Moon, Wyrt Moon, Herb Moon and Mead Moon, among others. The next full moon, the Sturgeon Moon, will rise on Saturday, August 9, followed by the Harvest Moon on September 7. Check out the dates of the last few full moons of 2025 below: Aug. 9- Sturgeon Moon Sept. 7- Harvest Moon Oct. 6- Hunter's Moon Nov. 5- Beaver Moon Dec. 4- Cold Moon When Does July's Full 'Buck' Moon Peak? first appeared on Men's Journal on Jul 10, 2025
Yahoo
10-07-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Why is July's full moon called the 'Buck Moon'? What to know
July's full moon is called "the Buck Moon' because in July, velvet antler growth, called antlerogenesis, makes an older buck's rack often very noticeable and actually at its peak growth rate. This year, the Buck Moon pops up over our southeastern horizon July 10 just past sundown. However, the full moon phase continues for a few more days. Full moons change dates each year on our calendars. For instance, the Harvest Moon is that moon, usually in September, that is closest to the Autumn Equinox (Sept. 22, 2025), what is also called 'The First Day of Fall.' This year, in 2025, the full moon closest to the equinox will be in October, rising Oct. 6, and therefore designated as the official Harvest Moon. The full moon in September this year will be on Sept. 6, and is therefore relegated to being a Corn Moon. Before the invention of clocks and Global Positioning Satellites (GPS), those that knew how could tell what time it was and where they were located by reading and charting the movement of the moon, sun, and stars. Explorers, scientists, and seafarers used sextants and other similar devices to measure angles, fixing on an astronomical object and the horizon. And with these ancient navigational tools they also charted distances. There's a bit of an irony that even today, our modern communication grid and entertainment devices are still dependent upon orbiting satellites, tiny, complex, but nonetheless, little metal moons that circle the earth, just like that big rock, 240,000 miles or so away. Our moon has been a spiritual and creative source, besides a timepiece and navigational aide, adding much to our art and culture, too, enriching our lives, from romance and love in art and entertainment to spooky times on Halloween. Hollywood struck a winning on-screen formula when it combined three sure-thing elements: beautiful women, heroic men, and fearsome creatures – but to set the stage … the key ingredient, a Full Moon. Maybe ancient and modern mankind's observations of the moon are not so far apart as it would seem. While the moon has been used as a navigational tool, explorers and scientists were often observed looking at the moon maybe too much, and a word was coined for it … being Moonstruck. Moonstruck? And not the romantic definition, like in the old crooner songs, 'When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's a'more.' Or more modern singers, like Neil Young's 'Harvest Moon,' 'Because I'm still in love with you, I want to see you dance again, because I'm still in love with you, on this Harvest Moon.' Moonstruck is defined in other ways, too. Even lunatic, which historically has meant a crazy person, or mental state (notice the moon reference, luna is Latin for moon), is derived from the moon. Some of us may even remember old TV cartoons named Loony Tunes, with the obvious moon reference. And we even have a legal term for moonstruck: non compos mentis, which is Latin for 'of unsound mind,' created way back in the 13th century by lawyers, referencing mentis from moon in latin. Back then, when someone was deemed as crazy, they were said to be diabolically influenced by the moon. Solar-Lunar tables have traditionally been published in numerous outdoors oriented magazines and newspapers, giving readers, mostly hunters but also fishermen, the peak times of fish and game movement. But as the moon rises, there are new theories on animal behavior being researched and studied. More: Why it's important for turkey hunters to know when it's 'quitting time': Outdoors column One would think that the old moon had been so studied and used for so many different types of thought and ideas, there's not much room for something new. What can we say about the moon that hasn't already been said? What can we think about the moon that hasn't already been thought? Wildlife science, by studying photoperiodism, defined as the functional or behavioral response of an organism to changes of duration in daily, seasonal, or yearly cycles of light and darkness, have to factor in the moon as a light source. For instance, people who live and work along many coastal communities are now advised to use red light bulbs on their beach front homes and businesses so that egg-laying turtles will not be confused by incandescent white lights, mistaking them for the moon. Not just turtles. Birds use natural light and dark cycles to time what is termed as their circadian rythmns and their singing patterns. Light pollution, or too much light, 24-7 in localized areas has been shown to screw up their singing, causing birds to sing earlier and later at night. The consequences have been shown to negatively impact birds' abilities to defend their territories, seek mates, overall health, and migratory patterns. — Oak Duke writes a biweekly Outdoors column. This article originally appeared on The Evening Tribune: Why July's full moon is called the Buck Moon'
The Irish Sun
30-06-2025
- Sport
- The Irish Sun
The Sunday Game pays subtle homage to Glastonbury Festival during RTE montage of Armagh versus Kerry
NEIL Young's "Harvest Moon" was used as the backing music to The Sunday Game's Armagh-Kerry recap in what was a clear nod to this year's Glastonbury line-up. Like the Somerset festival, this weekend saw swathes of colour and cheer in Croke Park including Orchard fans in orange contrasted with the 3 Paudie Clifford's introduction for the second half propelled Kerry's performance to new heights 3 Kieran McGeeney's side were obliterated 0-32 to 1-21 3 The Canadian's headline set on Saturday was unfortunately plagued by sound issues Credit: Alamy And They actually trailed by one point at half-time with that deficit extended to five by the 40 minute. However, the 38-time kingpins kicked into overdrive between that moment and the 55th minute by scoring 14 unanswered points and virtually ending the game as a contest. Afterwards it was clear that Jack O'Connor had used them largely being written off beforehand to fire his troops up to the nth degree. Read More On GAA And despite the crushing victory the 64-year-old O'Connor vented: 'What's to be gained by slating people? It's the easiest thing in the world. I'm in the business of building people, not knocking people. 'I'd ask people who are knocking that group and knocking people involved with the group to look in the mirror and say, 'What have you contributed?' 'It's very easy to knock people. Go away and coach a team. Go away and coach a development squad. Go away and coach a minor team. That's how you help Kerry football, not knocking people.' Most read in GAA Football A The nine-point loss caused Darragh Ó Sé to claim that 'the mood isn't great' in the county as the former Kerry midfielder tipped Armagh to bring an end to their season. 'Lots of fight' - RTE GAA pundits react to Sean O'Shea's 'very interesting' interview after Kerry dethrone Armagh O'Connor said: "We think we have a lot of good footballers but sometimes we're being judged on different criteria to other teams. "For example, Dublin got beaten by Meath in the Leinster Championship and I didn't see any ex-Dublin players coming out slating the team or slating the management like we had down south in our county. 'There's a sense of commitment to the team and a sense of loyalty to the team. Unfortunately a few pundits down our way let themselves down in that regard.' FAN FACTOR The Kerry cohort in the 70,530 attendance revelled in seeing their team turn a five-point deficit into a nine-point lead during a blistering 15-minute spell. O'Connor beamed: "A big performance and a big Kerry support came up and backed the team, which is great. We love seeing that because a lot of people had us written off during the week. 'But obviously the supporters felt there was another kick in the team. They've seen it happen before. "They saw it happen in 2006, they saw it happen in 2009. Kerry is a proud county and we weren't going to fizzle out of the Championship without a hell of a fight.' Meanwhile, Armagh boss Kieran McGeeney admitted "it's hard to know" what the future holds after he was asked about the prospect of staying on for a 12th season. He said: "It's all about the players first and foremost – what they want and how much they want to push on. My appetite for football has always been the same. I love it. I enjoy it, despite the abuse. "It's just one of those things. I don't know. Maybe it's an addiction. I haven't even thought about that.'
Daily Mirror
27-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Have your say on whether Neil Young should let the BBC air his Glastonbury set
Grizzly rocker Neil Young has blocked the BBC from livestreaming his Glastonbury headline set, meaning fans at home won't see a note of his performance as it happens. And it's all blown up Like A Hurricane. What do you think? Is Neil well within his rights or being a spoil sport? Neil Young has decided the BBC won't be livestreaming his headline Glastonbury set this weekend - a move that's cast a bit of a cloud over Worthy Farm's usually sunny skies. While the broadcaster is set to showcase performances from all five main stages, when the moment comes for Young and The Chrome Hearts to step onto the Pyramid Stage, viewers at home will be watching Charli xcx on The Other Stage instead. Young believes in the live event and retaining its mystery, but should such a legend really keep his Glastonbury magic from fans eager to watch it as it happens at home? Should Harvest Moon, Heart of Gold, Like a Hurricane, and other classics be shared beyond the field, or kept only for those lucky enough to be there in person? Scroll down to take our poll below and have your say in the comments. In a festival built on the spirit of sharing music far and wide, some might wonder if this silence from the Pyramid Stage is really in keeping with the free and easy spirit of Glastonbury. A BBC spokesperson exclusively told The Mirror: 'On Saturday on BBC iPlayer, our Glastonbury Channel and five streams for the main stages will bring a range of live performances to audiences. At the artist's request, we won't be live streaming Neil Young's set. Our plans, including those for our TV highlights shows and on-demand coverage, continue to be finalised right up to and during the festival.' Young announced last year he would play Glastonbury in 2025, only to retract his decision upon learning of the BBC's involvement, but then later changed his mind. BBC presenter Colin Paterson explained this week: "I asked [event co-organiser] Emily Eavis what was going on and she says she does not believe that Neil Young's set will be broadcast by the BBC. "There's been all kinds of backstage wrangling and negotiations, but as things currently stand, Neil Young's headline set on Saturday night will not be broadcast by the BBC. Instead, they'll be showing Charli xcx." Should Neil Young let the BBC air his Glastonbury set? Take our poll below, and if you can't see it click here The Mirror revealed on Tuesday how the Hey, Hey, My, My singer, 79, was still wrangling with the corporation about what they could show amid fears it could be heavily cut. It came after we told how a BBC schedule of live sets released to the public omits Young, while mentioning headliners such as Charli xcx and Doechii who play other stages on Saturday. When Young played Glastonbury in 2009, only five songs were televised. Speaking at the time Mark Cooper, then executive producer of the BBC's Glastonbury coverage, said: 'Neil Young's career has been conducted on his own terms. They believe in the live event and retaining its mystery and that of their artist. They have decided to make one song available online over the weekend to give a flavour of his set. That's Rockin' in the Free World and that's their decision. You probably won't find too many Neil Young performances available freely on TV or online.'
