You may know The Village of Omemee as a small community of approximately 1,400 residents, located on Highway 7 between Peterborough and Lindsay – a mere 13 km from Bethany. But if you are new to the area, you may not know that Omemee is “the town in Northern Ontario…” from Neil Young’s song “Helpless”. Yes, Neil Young lived in the small town on the Pigeon River from the age of 4 until he was almost 12.
Source: Google Maps http://www.regionalguidebook.com/travel/kawartha-lakes/omemee.html
So what is all the excitement about December 1st?
“December 1st will be a big day for me. The Visitor (a new 10-song Reprise Records studio album by Young) will be coming to your town. I will be going to my town. You will be able to hear me and see me,” Young wrote on his Facebook page on Nov. 11.
He doesn’t give any further details about where the show will take place. But there was a time that Omemee was Young’s town!
Billboard Magazine has reported that it will be in a yet-to-be-determined venue that can hold about 200 people.
Young, 72, was born in Toronto and moved to Omemee with his parents – including dad and writer Scott Young. The family also lived in Winnipeg, Toronto and Pickering – but could those cities be referred to as “my town?”
Neil was in Omemee recently in late September. He was in Ontario to be inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. At that time he posted a cell phone photo taken in front of the Omemee Hall.
Photo source: http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/2017/11/21/neil-young-to-livestream-concert-from-a-canadian-hometown-stage
Photo credit: NEIL YOUNG Twitter photo
The broadcast, a partnership between CTV, Facebook and Shakey Pictures, has been scheduled for Dec. 1 at 8 p.m.
The date marks the release of The Visitor, a new studio album recorded over the past year and backed by his band Promise of the Real. The date also marks the launch of The Neil Young Archives, an online comprehensive chronological collection of Neil Young’s entire recorded music, films, videos and books.
We will have to wait until December 1st to find out if the concert will in fact be broadcast from Omemee – but we’ll all be able to watch it live, for free, regardless.
“Hi there, December 1st will be a big day for me. The Visitor will be coming to your town. I will be going to my town. You will be able to hear me and see me. My archive will open on that same day, a place you can visit and experience every song I have ever released in the highest quality your machine will allow. It’s the way it’s supposed to be. In the beginning, everything is free. Lots of Love, neil”
Bethany Ontario 
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