“I thought we could start with just a little bit of Neil”
Lana Del Rey kicked off her set at Neil Young’s Harvest Moon charity concert on Saturday with a quiet, haunting nod to the legend himself: a rendition of ‘The Needle and the Damage Done.’
Speaking to the crowd at Painted Turtle Summer Camp in Lake Hughes, California, she said, “I thought we’d get started with a little bit of Neil,” before letting her band sink into the familiar, fragile chords of the Harvest classic.
It was a delicate, faithful take that reminded everyone why Young’s songs stick with you—and why artists like Del Rey keep returning to them.
She balanced the reverence with her own catalogue, performing ‘Arcadia,’ ‘Video Games,’ ‘Summertime Sadness,’ and ‘Norman Fucking Rockwell,’ plus a first-ever solo version of ‘Let the Light In.’
While this marked her last planned show of 2025–and possibly her last live set for a while–there’s always the possibility she could appear somewhere unexpected.
The event also featured Beck, John Mayer, and Young himself with the Chrome Hearts, raising funds for Painted Turtle, a camp for kids with serious medical needs, and the Bridge School, which supports children with severe speech and physical disabilities.
Del Rey’s cover of ‘The Needle and the Damage Done’ slots neatly into the long, strange lineage of interpretations, proving that some songs never lose their pull- and that sometimes, the best covers are the ones that feel quietly inevitable.
