Neil Young [ tickets ] has released dates for the first leg of a solo acoustic tour which will set the stage for a boxed-set retrospective of Young's work to be released later in the year. The tour announcement comes amidst statements made by concert promoters and members of CS&N about plans for Young to join the trio for a 30th anniversary CSN&Y tour, rumored to launch in July.

Young's acoustic tour will launch on March 2nd in Vancouver, BC and work its way down the West Coast throughout March, currently ending with a two-night stand at Las Vegas' Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel. A statement issued Tuesday evening by Young's representatives indicated that a second leg of dates would be announced soon.

Reports of a CSN&Y reunion tour have swirled for weeks, peaking with statements made by Graham Nash on CNN last week and on CBS' Late, Late Show this week, where he stated that Young had been working with CS&N in the studio for the past several weeks. On the Late, Late Show, Graham added that the reunited foursome would announce a 40-date tour soon.

Managers for CS&N and for Young are currently not confirming that the tour is in place. In the Los Angeles Times on Sunday, CS&N manager Gerry Tolman said that currently, Young is simply making a guest appearance on a couple of tracks for the new CS&N album, noting, ''...beyond that, we've made no other plans.''

Should rumors of a tour and a July launch come to fruition, the tour would coincide with the tentative June 22nd date set for a Young release, according to his label, Reprise Records. Whether that release will be the first installment of a planned Neil Young boxed-set featuring recordings from every phase of Young's career or Young's next solo effort is unclear. Both projects are reportedly near completion.

For now, here's the current itinerary for ''An Evening with Neil Young'':