Willie Nelson and Neil Young will join the 2020 edition of Stephen Stills’ annual autism benefit concert Light Up The Blues. The event is set for May 30 at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles and includes additional performances from Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, Lucius and Fantastic Negrito. Jack Black will serve as the event’s emcee.
This year’s benefit will also feature special performances from three artists on the autism spectrum, with The Voice‘s Will Breman already confirmed. Stills and his wife Kristen first launched the show in 2013 to raise money for Autism Speaks in honor of their son Henry, who falls on the spectrum.
“We want these three talented, musically gifted people performing alongside some of the greats that people know and recognize,” Kristen Stills said in a statement provided to Rolling Stone. “Whatever their challenges are, music is in their heart and soul. It’s at the center of what they do.”
Now entering its eighth year, Light Up The Blues has seen substantial growth since its launch. Originally held at the 2,400-person capacity The Novo, the show is now facing its biggest venue yet at the 5,800-seat Greek Theater. Over the years, the benefit has also welcomed a growing list of music superstars, including Beck, Lucinda Williams, Burt Bacharach and Crosby, Stills and Nash, to name a few.
The 2020 edition will mark the first time Stills and Young shared the stage at the Greek Theater in over 50 years, with their last stint there coming in 1969 after Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young’s Woodstock performance.
“When we play together it’s all guesswork and an accident,” Stills said of his longtime friend. “We just know each other so well, but I’m glad it’s taking on mythical proportions because the myth has always been more interesting than the truth.”
Tickets for Stephen Stills’ Light Up The Blues 2020 go on sale Friday, February 14 at 10 a.m.
