Neil Young and Bob Dylan made their first stage appearance together in a quarter of a century when they performed “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” in Ireland yesterday.

The last time they shared a stage was at New York's Roseland Ballroom in 1994. The latest appearance took place at the end of their co-headlining show at Nowlan Park in Kilkenny, and featured Young on guitar and Dylan on piano.

"Will the Circle Be Unbroken" was the first piece of music they ever performed together, at San Francisco's Kezar Stadium in 1975.

You can watch video clips of the performance below.

Rolling Stone notes that “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” was a traditional hymn that rose to popularity around a century ago. “In 1935, it was recorded by Carter Family patriarch A.P. Carter, which is likely the version that Dylan first heard,” the report said. He’d been heard performing it as early as 1961 and recorded it in 1967, although he hadn’t played it onstage since 1976. Young, meanwhile, performed it between 1995 and 2018.

“They had been admiring each other’s work for many years at that point, but it was the first time they’d ever played together,” Rolling Stone said of the 1975 duet. “Whether or not they meant to mirror their first onstage encounter by playing the song again at Kilkenny is unclear.”

Young's organization told fans that, due to technical issues with his website's streaming service, his Ireland set would be rebroadcast during the week, but added that the duet with Dylan wouldn't be included. "This is just a little snippet from a cellphone, peace," read an Instagram post.

 

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