The bit started with Young being introduced by Steve Higgins, announcer of The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon, and there was Neil in a chair, the hair, the hat, the guitar and the voice. He started to play and sing “Old Man,” a Young classic from his 1972 album Harvest.
After a couple of bars though you weren’t sure…something was off. The guitar playing was fine, the singing good, but….yeah, the face was young (like the opposite of old) and then you realized it was Fallon. Many viewers have heard him do Neil Young before, usually with musicians from Young’s past, like David Crosby or Graham Nash.
Viewers got surprised all over again when after two verses the real guy sat on a stool next to Fallon. The two sang the rest of the song together and Young as Young and Fallon as Young mixed well. There was a bit of comedy at the end, an amusing look, a single note each from harmonicas, a little synchronized guitar tuning, but mostly it was just a nice song.
It was called “almost poignant” by Slate, who noted it was a departure from Fallon doing comedy singing with others on the show, such as Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel; those performances were more comedy than music.
Young, who said he’s seen Fallon do him before and was glad to finally sing alongside him, stuck around and did one of his recent songs, “Who’s Gonna Stand Up?” with the band and without Fallon. The best song of the night though was the one with his host.
