Talkin' Bout Neil Young.....

[Tracy 2112]

[Jaimoe]

Speaking of Neil, I write a weekly music article for the Canadian Music Hall of Fame called "This Week in Music History". Since it was Neil's birthday earlier in the week, I wrote a big - and I hope - fun Top 5 decade-by-decade tribute in the first section of the article, foregoing a typical biography.  For those interested, check it out. I'm sure some of you will have issues to my decade-by-decade rankings, but I'm admittedly biased:

http://canadianmusichalloffame.ca/this-week-in-music-history-november-12-to-18/

[oistheone]

No love for After the Goldrush?!

And those shots by Jay Blakesberg are something else. That third one will go down as an iconic later-period Neil shot, I reckon!

[Jaimoe]

No love for After the Goldrush?!

And those shots by Jay Blakesberg are something else. That third one will go down as an iconic later-period Neil shot, I reckon!

A favorite of mine. Historical importance weighed heavily.

[LeanneP]

A little funny Neil related story:  We were driving in the car today (in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada) and my husband was playing newer Neil and Crazy Horse. Neil started singing "I was born in Ontario". My 9yo son, pipes up from the back seat, "Yeah, so was I, ya big dork!"  Funniest thing we heard all week 

[weeniebeenie]

Got my Neil/ Crazy Horse tickets for next March last week. I'm so excited!!

[LeanneP]

Thanks Mr White!

We'll be seeing Neil tomorrow at the Aud in Kitchener (Ontario!) with The Sadies (one of my top 10 fave bands) and Los Lobos. It should be a fantastic show.

[ralph]

Got my Neil/ Crazy Horse tickets for next March last week. I'm so excited!!

It's gonna be awesome! Got tix for Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Geelong! Can not wait...

[oistheone]

Thanks Mr White!

We'll be seeing Neil tomorrow at the Aud in Kitchener (Ontario!) with The Sadies (one of my top 10 fave bands) and Los Lobos. It should be a fantastic show.

I'm PUMPED BEYOND BELIEF for the show at the ACC tonight, but I'm strongly considering making this a back-to-back effort and making the drive to Kitchener! I've just got this weeeeeeeird feeling that the Kitchener show is going to blow the Toronto show away.

Really hoping for Cortez or Like A Hurricane tonight. They've only busted each out two or three times this tour, but I'd kill to see either one of those epics.

[LeanneP]

Well, you're practically a neighbour, Oistheone!  Hope the ACC is good, but I'm secretyly hoping the Aud is better!   

[ralph]

Thanks Mr White!

We'll be seeing Neil tomorrow at the Aud in Kitchener (Ontario!) with The Sadies (one of my top 10 fave bands) and Los Lobos. It should be a fantastic show.

I'm PUMPED BEYOND BELIEF for the show at the ACC tonight, but I'm strongly considering making this a back-to-back effort and making the drive to Kitchener! I've just got this weeeeeeeird feeling that the Kitchener show is going to blow the Toronto show away.

Really hoping for Cortez or Like A Hurricane tonight. They've only busted each out two or three times this tour, but I'd kill to see either one of those epics.

Go to both, you may not get another chance...

[oistheone]

Still undecided about the Kitchener show tomorrow... but the Toronto show kicked ass! Neil and the Horse were havin' a ball on stage the whole night, and the playing reflected how happy they were -- it was just sublime. Neil gave a lot of love to the crowd, saying it was "home sweet home!" The sound was perfect, the crowd was into it, and even though the setlist was similar to shows I saw earlier on this tour, this night was completely different. "Fuckin' Up" and "Ramada Inn" were highlights as usual, but "Born In Ontario" and a brand-new electric arrangement of "Helpless" stole the show, with the crowd eating up the local lyrical references in each. A show I won't soon forget. Thank you Neil, for bringing the Horse out of the paddock!

http://youtu.be/xZHMQtaq4nY

http://youtu.be/ZqGMRKlrEhM

[weeniebeenie]

Got my Neil/ Crazy Horse tickets for next March last week. I'm so excited!!

It's gonna be awesome! Got tix for Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Geelong! Can not wait...

I will see you there (at least I will see you in Sydney)!

[oistheone]

Wow, LeanneP, I just got a look at the setlist from tonight in Kitchener and it seems like you got a HELL of a show! "Farmer John" for an encore?!?!? Are you kiddin' me?!?!? That's the first time in YEARS that they've played that! I want a detailed review! 

[LeanneP]

I am very sad to say that I missed the encore. 

So, are you sure you want my detailed review?

We were about 20 feet back, centre stage (well, a tiny bit stage left directly in front of Neil's mic (the actual mic!). We got there at 7pm just as the Sadies kicked off and they kicked ass: fast, furious cosmic country. Sadies are in my all time top 10. The young Good brothers Dallas and Travis pulled out their old, let's-play-each-other's-guitar-fret-parts-while-we-strum-our-own-strings schtick. We all ate it up like love-starved puppies!

Los Lobos went on just after 8pm. They played a blues-rock heavy set which blistered. This was my first time seeing them and tho I'm not super familiar with their catalog, I enjoyed the set. I much prefer when they pull out the Latin tunes but was only graced with one.

At 9pm - after 10 minutes of stage-hand dorkery (if you haven't seen this year's show, think the Rust Never Sleeps tour except the Jawas are now mad professors in lab coats and white hair) Neil, the Horse and the crew gathered on stage in two lines in front of the giant amps and an enormous Canadian flag dropped in front of the Crazy Horse backdrop. The Canadian anthem began playing. We all sang along, of course, as is our fashion as deeply proud Canucks and it was sweet to see that after 40+ years as an American guest/citizen, Neil sang along.

Up first: Love and Only Love. It was 20 minutes long. Jeebus-H-Cripes!  It just went on and on and on and I thought it would never stop!  Mind you, it rocked hard, but, well, I'm a girl, I want to dance!  I don't want to listen to feedback half the night. Hmmm, I probably should have re-thought going to this show, I suppose.

Powderfinger was good and least a normal length, helping me focus less on how I'm supposed to maintain a dancing rhythm through the guitar assault of Pancho and Young and more on how much I'm enjoying the tune.

Does Neil play I Was Born In Ontario at the shows that aren't in Ontario? This was a crowd favourite mostly because most of us there were definitely born in Ontario. I spent a lot of time thinking, "so was I, ya big dork!" in my head in honour of my 9yo and tried not to focus on how much I hate the lyrics and melody. I never have been able to separate myself from focusing on lyrics/melody first. My husband alienlanes claims he doesn't pay attention to lyrics. I think he's trying to cover up how much the melody sucks. Good guitar playing, tho.

Walk Like a Giant. Hmmm. That whistling is totally not even live!  Pancho is hardly even pursing his lips and Neil forgets to whistle half the time and the sound of the whistle never changes. Walk, walk, walk, walk. Gah!  Dagnabbit I hate this album! That being said, this probably the best song on the album. It's a nice touch that they revisit the coda from Hey Hey, My My (Black).

Neil walks out on stage alone with an acoustic guitar and his mic'ed harmonica holder. I bet this will be good. I shove my hands in alienlanes' back pockets and get ready to dance. Hey, did I mention that my husband was standing in front of me? He'd maneuvered me so that I stood behind a 6'4" giant over whose shoulder I peeped half the show and then to a spot directly behind himself!  He never even noticed till I pointed it out nearly 3 hours into the show!  Marriage, eh?  Anyway: Needle and the Damage Done!  Huzzah!  The crowd was so thankful, we gently sang along. It was beautiful.

He followed up with Twisted Road, which I told alienlanes was called I Was Born in Ontario, Pt 2. I know Neil had a heart attack or something and stopped smoking pot in the name of health, but maybe he could just run these lyrics and melodies by someone who is high?  It can't hurt these tunes any, can it? And, don't get me wrong, I LOVE some pot, but do people have to smoke it continuously throughout the show? I mean, can't you smoke up in your Taurus* before you go into the arena? That stuff's effects lasts hours!  You don't need to smoke pot for four hours!  (n.b. We drive a Taurus. We didn't, however, get high in it.)

Singer Without A Song followed with Neil taking up on an old upright piano. More of his love of performance art ensued when a pretty young woman  (inviting numerous catcalls from the stoned and drunk jocks) with a guitar case wandered back and forth across the stage looking at big stuff pensively. Meh. That pot smell won't go away. It's not smoke, it's just smell. And if it's not pot smell I'm breathing in, it's patchouli, which I hate!

Ramada Inn went on forever!  Jeepers!  Again with the horrible lyrics. I just hate this latter day stuff. Those guitars are awesome, of course, but I'm having trouble keeping it together. I can't seem to breathe enough oxygen and I'm starting to feel like I might faint. I bite the bullet and tell alienlanes we need to move. I must have looked white as a sheet because he quickly marched me straight through to the back of the arena, found an usher and got me a seat on the player's bench.

Cinnamon Girl was fantastic and it only takes me a couple minutes to gulp down enough cool air that I'm starting to feel normal again. I immediately feel guilty about dragging us out of the pit. I mean, I could make out every contour of Neil's old turkey neck!  How could I give up those spots?! If only they'd loaded a few early tunes into the middle of the show, I might have felt compelled to hold on. Oh well.

As Fuckin' Up starts, two uniformed St John's Ambulance people approach me. I am no longer hearing much of the show because I have to affirm that no, I am not stoned, no, I am not drinking, no, I'm not pregnant and no, I'm not diabetic or have any other underlying condition that could compromise my stamina. However, yes, I am really hungry! Alienlanes leans over the boards and suggests we take off early. It is 10:37pm and he says Fuckin' Up is gonna last 20 minutes, guaranteed. I made sure he was ok with leaving and we took off. It was still playing as we walked up out of the floor area, bought a red arrowhead style Crazy Horse shirt, debated about buying a burnt umber coloured '78 tour shirt, and walked out the doors.

We didn't hear Mr Soul start up or we might have run back to the floor. That means we also missed Hey Hey, My My (into the black) and Farmer John, both a real shame.  We did, however, drive through almost total fog to a ridiculous corporate restaurant (Moose Winooski's) where we sat beside a fire and ate a leisurely midnight supper and enjoyed the fact that we didn't have to keep a 5yo from running around and a 9yo from calling his brother names.

Despite my cranky review - teehee! - I really enjoyed myself. I danced all night until my feet got so sore I could've cried and then got really dizzy from the stupid people who only go to concerts once a year and have to blow their drinking and stoning loads all in one evening. Neil himself is amazing on stage. He's lost none of his fire, his playing is fantastic and edgy and he stalks and stomps around the stage in that signature bouncy way of his with a look that suggests he's at the edge of madness, which is exactly where a guy of his passion for music ought to be.

[oistheone]

Damn, too bad you missed the end of the show! But at least you're okay -- feeling like you're about to pass out at a show is never a good time.

[Jaimoe]

If you don't like over-the-top guitars, then you shouldn't go see Neil & Crazy Horse. The one thing they've been consistent with over 40-plus years is uncompromising long and loose feedback-drenched jams. Neil at his most unpredictable and inspired - and I think best - is with Crazy Horse. Long Live The Horse!!

[bartel]

Rust Radio is online every weekend. Right now, it is streaming a Crazy Horse show from 2/25/1970.

Here is the link.

http://www.rustradio.org/

I had no idea thanks!

[johnnYYac]

Yeah, thanks for the heads up on Rust Radio.  Very awesome. 

So is the fact that I've got some Neil and the Horse tomorrow night in Boston.  Getting there early to catch Everest, too.  Any forumites going?  I'll be in the pit; look for the shiny dome!

I just checked my concert ticket archive... last time I saw NY & CH... Feb. 28, 1991!   

[Jpugdawg]

I'll be at the Boston show tomorrow night , In the pit also