Come Again?
The same fall that Van Halen toured with Black Sabbath and Thin Lizzy went out with AC/DC, an even crazier double bill was scheduled for arenas and amphitheaters across America
At first glance, this ad for the September 1978 concert lineup in Cleveland, Ohio, seems like a weird joke or some sort of AI hallucination. There are indeed listings for very famous, very real tours like Black Sabbath/Van Halen, Thin Lizzy/AC/DC, Yes, and Frank Zappa. But there’s also a Sept. 22 announcement for Neil Young and Crazy Horse with special guest Dolly Parton at the Richfield Coliseum.
This double billing seemingly makes no sense, since Dolly was near the pinnacle of her fame in 1978, scoring crossover hits like “Two Doors Down” and “Baby I’m Burnin’,” and even appearing on the cover of Playboy. And this was Young’s legendary Rust Never Sleep tour with Crazy Horse, where he debuted aggressive new songs “Sedan Delivery” and “Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black),” and played epic renditions of “Like a Hurricane” and “Tonight’s the Night.”
As crazy as it sounds, this isn’t some dispatch from an alternative universe. Neil Young did originally book Dolly Parton as the opening act for four dates on his 1978 fall tour of arenas and amphitheaters. “We are not the least bit concerned about how she will go over with Young’s fans,” Jim Morey, Parton’s manager, told Billboard in their Sept. 23, 1978 issue. “Nobody knows Young’s fans better than he does, and he wouldn’t have put Dolly Parton on his show if he did not think that she would appeal to his audience.”
