Neil Young returns home for intimate concert in Omemee, Ont.
No public tickets available for the show; will be live-streamed for fans
Neil Young is officially headed back to his hometown of Omemee, Ont., for an intimate concert on Friday night — but good luck scoring last-minute tickets.
Most fans of the Heart of Gold singer will be shut out of the invite-only event inside Coronation Hall, a small venue which seats about 225 people.
Instead, they'll be able to catch the acoustic concert livestreamed by CTV at 8 p.m. ET on various platforms, including CTV.ca, iHeartRadio.ca and on Facebook outside Canada.
The broadcaster said no public tickets were available for the show, which will be mostly attended by friends and family of the singer, as well as contest winners.
Anticipation for Young's return to Omemee, where he lived for a few years as a child, has been growing on social media over the past several weeks.
The location of the show was originally withheld, leaving fans to speculate on where it would be staged.
In early November, Young posted hints that he'd be "going to my town" to coincide with the release of his new album The Visitor and the unveiling of an online archive of his work.
Earlier this week, local media reported the streets around the venue were closed through Saturday to accommodate the concert, while large transport trucks marked as "sound and light staging" were parked near Coronation Hall.
Several Twitter users in Omemee — population 1,271, according to the 2016 census — also posted photos of trucks and other activity outside the hall.
Preparations continue for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NeilYoung?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NeilYoung</a>'s show in Omemee, Ontario. I'm stoked for this town. He's coming home. <a href="https://t.co/EFDZE4qxcf">pic.twitter.com/EFDZE4qxcf</a>
—@neilmorton
<a href="https://twitter.com/Neilyoung?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Neilyoung</a> on my drive to Lindsay today. <a href="https://t.co/AYp0JkPrIu">pic.twitter.com/AYp0JkPrIu</a>
—@clubsoda67
On Friday, CTV said proceeds from the show would be donated to the local Scott Young Public School, named after Neil's father who was a novelist, journalist and early host of Hockey Night in Canada.