Neil Young Gets Unplugged, Continues Playing at BottleRock Festival

Photo by Erik Kabik

Don't mess with Neil Young's guitar.

Officials at the BottleRock Napa Valley festival found that out the hard way on May 25. As Young and his band performed "Rockin' In The Free World" at the California event, they flew past the festival's strict 10 p.m. curfew causing organizers to cut the main stage sound.

Young ignored the obvious signal to leave the stage and played through his onstage amps instead. The decision to cut the music elicited a mix of boo's and sing-a-longs from the crowd.

Apparently BottleRock has a history of unplugging artists, doing the same to The Cure in 2014 and Foo Fighters in 2017.

Click here to watch Young's sound get cut (courtesy of journalist Jim Harrington).