Neil Young performed “My Boy” live on May 23, 2025, at a solo acoustic benefit for Lakefield College School in Ontario. The song’s previous reported live performance was February 10, 1983—an interval of about 42 years. Young played it on banjo during an 18-song set.
Watch Neil Young perform “My Boy”
JamBase linked to fan-shot video of the Lakefield performance in its report on the show. AXS TV also highlighted the performance in its coverage. The available reporting identifies the footage as fan-shot; it does not establish an official commercial video release.
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Why “42 years” is a rounded interval
The exact dates reported are February 10, 1983, for the prior live performance and May 23, 2025, for the Lakefield show. That makes “first time in 42 years” a rounded description, rather than a claim that the performances fell on matching calendar dates. JamBase gives the earlier date via Sugar Mountain’s performance records.
The Lakefield benefit and setlist
The concert was Young’s first full show of 2025, according to JamBase. It was a solo acoustic benefit for Lakefield College School, with proceeds directed toward restoring a historic cottage near the school. “My Boy” appeared seventh in the 18-song set, between “Love And Only Love” and “Mellow My Mind.”
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JamBase reported the setlist in this order:
- “Comes A Time”
- “Sugar Mountain”
- “I Am A Child”
- “Heart Of Gold”
- “Field Of Opportunity”
- “Out On The Weekend”
- “Love And Only Love”
- “My Boy”
- “Mellow My Mind”
- “Harvest Moon”
- “Homegrown”
- “Love/Art Blues”
- “Long May You Run”
- “Helpless”
- “Name Of Love”
- “After The Gold Rush”
- “Love Earth”
- “Old Man”
There were other rarities in the set: Young played “Love/Art Blues” publicly for the first time since 2008 and performed “Name Of Love,” from Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s 1988 album American Dream, after an 11-year absence, according to JamBase.
What “My Boy” meant to Young
Young recorded “My Boy” for his 1985 album Old Ways. JamBase describes it as an ode to his oldest son, Zeke. Before the benefit, Young wrote about practicing the song and thinking of his own father, sportswriter Scott Young. JamBase quoted his Neil Young Archives post:
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“My dad was a great guy and Zeke is a wonderful son. I think ‘My Boy’ is my favorite recording of all the ones I have done. I love Ben Keith and Spooner Oldham’s playing, as well as the others on it. They are soulful musicians. I have been so lucky!”
In the same pre-show reflection, Young wrote that while practicing for Lakefield he was thinking about his father, who “must have heard this song.” These were reflections shared before the concert, not remarks reported from the stage.
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Where to hear the original recording
The 2025 performance revisited the song live; it was not part of Old Ways. The album is the place to find Young’s original studio recording of “My Boy.”
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