One of the most anticipated unreleased projects in Neil Young’s catalogue is finally set for an official release. Young has confirmed that the complete August 26, 1995 concert recorded at Dublin’s RDS Simmonscourt Pavilion with members of Pearl Jam will debut as part of Neil Young Archives Volume 4, while a companion vinyl release drawn from the same performance is also being prepared from the original analogue master tapes.
by Paul Cashmere
The announcement brings closure to a story that has lingered for more than three decades. The Dublin concert, recorded during the European leg of the Mirror Ball tour, has long been regarded as one of the great lost live documents of the 1990s.
Professionally filmed and recorded at the height of Young’s collaboration with Pearl Jam, the project remained unreleased despite years of speculation and occasional preview footage emerging through the Neil Young Archives platform.
The release is significant not only because of the concert’s reputation among fans, but also because it captures a unique meeting of generations. By 1995, Young had become an acknowledged influence on the emerging grunge movement, earning the unofficial title of “Godfather of Grunge”. Pearl Jam were among the artists who openly embraced that connection, leading to the creation of the Mirror Ball album and subsequent European tour.
Young recently revealed that work on Archives Volume 4 is now underway.
“The Volume Dealers have begun assembly of NYA Volume 4, the second last Volume of this life-time series,” Young wrote.
“Original performances are the base of this collection. We have the first recorded masters of every song, many that you have never heard, and I find each of them exciting and fun to hear as we mix them.”
Young also disclosed that the box set will include previously unheard recordings including Find Another Shoulder, High Heels, Ten Men Workin, 60-0 and Life In The City.
New details released through Neil Young Archives in 2026 have also confirmed the scope of the Dublin project. In February, Young revealed that the long-shelved concert film, originally conceived as a documentary, would finally be included in Archives Volume 4. In May, he confirmed that a separate audio release titled Mirror Ball Live Dublin was being mixed from the original 24-track analogue tape machines at The Village Studios.
The vinyl release will span three sides and feature seven performances from the concert. Side A includes Big Green Country, Song X and Act Of Love. Side B features Downtown, Buffalo Springfield’s Mr. Soul and Throw Your Hatred Down. Side C is devoted entirely to an extended 19-minute version of Scenery.
The Dublin concert documents one of the most productive and spontaneous collaborations of Young’s career. Released in June 1995, Mirror Ball paired Young with Pearl Jam musicians Jeff Ament, Stone Gossard, Mike McCready and Jack Irons. The album was recorded over just a handful of sessions in Seattle and produced by Brendan O’Brien.
Young later described the sessions as a largely instinctive process.
“The beauty of the thing is that hardly any talking had to happen at all,” he said at the time. “I’d bring the song in and run it down, then everybody would play it.”
Mirror Ball became a commercial success, reaching No. 5 on the Billboard 200 and later earning Gold certification in the United States. Songs including Downtown, Song X, Act Of Love and Throw Your Hatred Down became central components of the subsequent
tour.
The Dublin performance reflects that creative partnership at its peak. Alongside material from Mirror Ball, the set reached across Young’s catalogue with performances of Comes A Time, The Needle And The Damage Done, Don’t Let It Bring You Down, Cortez The Killer, Powderfinger and Rockin’ In The Free World.
For many fans, however, the greater story has always been why the concert disappeared.
At the time of the Mirror Ball project, Young was signed to Reprise Records while Pearl Jam recorded for Epic Records. Industry restrictions between the labels created complications from the outset. Epic reportedly would not allow Pearl Jam’s name or logo to appear on the Mirror Ball album cover, despite the band performing throughout the record. Only individual member credits appeared in the liner notes.
Those same legal and contractual barriers are widely believed to have prevented release of both the professionally filmed Dublin concert and its accompanying multi-track audio recordings. As a result, the material remained locked away for decades while unofficial copies circulated among collectors.
The release through Neil Young Archives finally resolves one of the most persistent questions surrounding the Mirror Ball era. It also provides an official document of a brief but influential partnership between Young and Pearl Jam, a collaboration that helped define a pivotal moment in 1990s rock history.
A preview clip of Throw Your Hatred Down previously appeared through the Neil Young Archives platform, while unofficial footage of the complete concert has circulated online for years. Archives Volume 4 will mark the first authorised release of the full performance.
Mirror Ball Live Dublin Vinyl Tracklisting
Side A
Big Green Country
Song X
Act Of Love
Side B
Downtown
Mr. Soul
Throw Your Hatred Down
Side C
Scenery
Neil Young And Pearl Jam Dublin 1995 Complete Concert Setlist
Big Green Country (from Mirror Ball, 1995)
Song X (from Mirror Ball, 1995)
Act of Love (from Mirror Ball, 1995)
Downtown (from Mirror Ball, 1995)
Mr. Soul (from Buffalo Springfield, Buffalo Springfield Again, 1967)
Scenery (from Mirror Ball, 1995)
Comes a Time (from Comes A Time,1978)
The Needle and the Damage Done (from Harvest, 1972)
Don’t Let It Bring You Down (from After The Gold Rush 1970)
Mother Earth (Natural Anthem) (from ragged Glory, 1990)
Throw Your Hatred Down (from Mirror Ball, 1995)
Cortez the Killer (from Zuma, 1975)
Powderfinger (from Rust Never Sleeps, 1979)
Encore:
Rockin’ in the Free World (from Freedom, 1989)
Like a Hurricane (from American Stars n Bars, 1977)
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