’70s Rockstar Neil Young, 79, Performs This Controversial Song For The First Time in 28 Years

Neil Young had a surprise for his Toronto fans.

The legendary rockstar took the stage with The Chrome Hearts at the Budweiser Stage on Sunday night as part of their ongoing Love Earth World Tour. Young surprised fans by performing a fan-favorite song for the first time in 28 years, delivering a rare and unforgettable moment for the audience.

According to The Rolling Stone, the band kicked off their encore with Young’s 1988 song “This Note’s For You,” and it was the first time he had performed that song live since 1997.

The song used to be a part of Young’s setlist during his live shows in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but he dropped it in October 1997 after his performance for the Bridge School Benefit.

Originally credited to Young and the Bluenotes, which was the 79-year-old’s band at the time, “This Note’s For You” served as a protest against corporate colonization of the rock genre and was written at a time when many musicians such as Eric Claption, Madonna, The Rolling Stones and Genesis were licensing their songs to soda and beer companies like Budweiser, Coca-Cola and Pepsi, and even appearing in ads themselves or allowing them to sponsor their tours. Its music video also mocked the beer-commercial aesthetics of the day, and it won the VMA for Video Of The Year, even though MTV initially banned it. The song title itself mocked Budweiser’s “This Bud’s for You” ad campaign from 1980.

The track appeared in Young’s 18th studio album with the same title, which was released in April 1988.

His performance of this controversial song comes three days after the “Heart of Gold” singer announced on Thursday that he was going to stop using Facebook and Instagram for promotion purposes because of Meta’s policy that it would allow its AI chatbot to “engage a child in conversations that are romantic or sensual.” He also said this back in November 2019 that he would not use Facebook anymore due to its “obvious commitments” to right-wing politics.

Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts are set to perform at Toronto’s Budweiser Stage again on Tuesday evening. Their Love Earth World Tour will go on for the rest of August and will end in Los Angeles on September 15.

’70s Rockstar Neil Young, 79, Performs This Controversial Song For The First Time in 28 Years first appeared on Parade on Aug 18, 2025

This story was originally reported by Parade on Aug 18, 2025, where it first appeared.

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