To hell with you -- Neil Young's guitar is like a damn hurricane.
That black, shorn Les Paul, looking like it was pulled out from a den of berserk tigers, plugged into a stack of amps ranging in size from sewing-machine case to taller than a man and wider than two (the latter's MAGNATONE logo legible from the back rows), wielded at the waist by a man whose splayed hair and clawing right hand give him the look of a mad scientist ... that is a hurricane. It's no wonder Neil Young tends to play his most intense guitar solos hunched over with his back to the crowd, his head bowing to the top ridge of the kick drum.
If he didn't absorb the sound with his body, the fury that his guitar playing generates would suck everybody in the room down into its pickups, the way a bomb blast sucks all debris back inward on itself before spewing it out for miles in every direction.
Last night, Young brought that storm to the Sprint Center ... well, for part of his two-hour-plus show, at least. He also brought his folksy, crowd-pleasing Harvest self. And, as per his recent obsession, he rattled out some of those kooky new songs about getting behind the wheel of an eco-friendly Lincoln Continental and chooglin' on down to town to drop off the recycling and buy a six-pack of organic beer.
Young and his band took the stage around 9:15, and after the big, thundering, beautiful and ugly strains of opener "Love and Only Love" from 1990's Ragged Glory and a hot-wired version of a song 20 years older, "When You Dance You Can Really Love" from After the Gold Rush, Young turned the ignition on "Fuel Line," a groovy little ditty from his latest, Fork In the Road, which contains the daffy verse The awesome power of electricity/Stored for you in a giant battery/She don't use much though, that's smart for a car.
Well, Neil Young has never stayed in one place. Take Gold Rush. The furious indictment of "Southern Man" has for nearly 40 years stood just a few wax inches from the searching innocence of "Tell Me Why," to no complaints I'm aware of. In recent years, the man who told us about "Cortez the Killer" in '75 has lately been churning out albums every time he gets hung up on something. 2006's Life During War was an impromptu rant against the Bush administration post Katrina. Before that, on Prairie Wind, Mr. Young responded to life crises with a return to the easygoing-country mode of Harvest Moon. And now, we have Fork in the Road, about his passion for clean-burning fuels. It's a wonder he hasn't written an album yet about his frustration over trying to operate his universal remote. (Or has he? Did I miss an album -- or two -- about that very subject?)
Maybe his days of writing classics that sum up the human experience in a few gorgeous, aching lines are behind him, but at least Neil Young doesn't write crap songs. Re-ac-tor is behind him, too.
So, on to the show. Last night's hoedown was a make-up show for the show that got canceled last November. In one of the few times he addressed the crowd, Young apologized, saying "I hope we didn't put you through too much, postponing that other show they booked on Election Night." The Sprint Center, which normally seats about 13,000 or so, was bisected hamburger-style, with the stage at mid-court and a big black curtain behind it. (Creepy aside: Digital marquees around the middle rim of the arena encouraged concertgoers not to shake hands, hug or touch their hands to their face, lest they spread germs.) And the crowd was not sold out, which led to a bunch of people who had paid for cheaper tickets trying to claim empty seats closer to the floor. When it turned out those seats were not actually empty, small pockets of confusion sprang up.
On stage, Young was joined by his wife, Pegi (backup vocals), and his sideman of many decades, Ben Keith (guitar, lap and pedal steel), plus Rick Rosas (bass), Anthony Crawford (guitar, piano, backup vox) and Chad Cromwell (drums). There was also a guy painting abstract oil works on canvases and large planks of wood back stage right. I'm not sure what was up with that action. During the first part of the set, the painter created a Picasso-like picture that looked like an elephant with the head of a balding grocer (to me, at least). Then, during the dark guitar-meltdown of "Change Your Mind," on which the band was joined by the members of opening act Everest for backup vocals, the artist began slathering a sheet of plywood in solid black. That made sense. He vanished for a while, then came back to festoon his paintings with rows of cartoon skulls.
Despite these many brushes with darkness -- hell, do you think Neil Young looks HAPPY when he's rocking? -- the evening was a fairly light, joyous occasion. Neil was glad we came. And for those who didn't creep their lame asses out during "Get Behind the Wheel," the last of those new ones, which immediately and jarringly followed a 15-minute "Down by the River", Neil pulled out all the stops on a cover of the Beatles' "Day in the Life." It was goddamn life affirming -- better, I think, than "All Along the Watchtower," his recent encore closer on this tour, could possibly have been -- and at its raucous, improvisatory climax, he shouldered off his righteous, fucked-up black Les Paul and began ripping the strings out of the beast, whipping the pickups with the strings' beaded ends, creating a feedback storm that sounded like a skyscraper collapsing in slow motion. And then, he set the guitar on its stand and casually walked behind his cargo of still-humming amps and stepped behind the vibraphone his wife had been playing, way up at the back of the stage. He picked up the mallets, plunked out a couple of finishing chords, and flashed a peace sign to everyone in the house.
It doesn't get much completer than that.
Set List
Love and Only Love
When You Dance You Can Really Love
Fuel Line
Are You Ready for the Country
Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
Pocahantas
Change Your Mind
Cinnamon Girl
Mother Earth
Needle and the Damage Done
Light a Candle
Heart of Gold
Feel Your Love
Old Man
Hit the Road
Speakin' Out
Tonight's the Night
Down By the River
Get Behind the Wheel
Just Singing a Song
Encore
Day in the Life
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Thanks very much for sharing this interesting post. I am just starting up my own blog and this has given me inspiration to what I can achieve.
I am still blown away at the intensity of that show. The dude is in his 60's and he rocked way harder than most people in their 20's. WHat about the wicked guitar cut-out sound during Pocahontas? That was retarded. I am so glad that you went to and reviewed this show.
+800 points for the word "chooglin'"
but great review. neil really is a treasure, and i feel lucky to have seen him in recent years too.
Nice write-up, Jason. The concert rocked. It was my first time seeing Neil by himself (I saw him at Red Rocks with CS&N in '06), and I'm glad I did.
One minor criticism of your article, though. Neil's 2006 album was "Living With War," not "Life During War."
great review. My nipples are still hard from that show. He blew me away. Thank you Neil.
That show at Sprint KICKED ASS!!
I got my rolling pappers, and I am
mamazed at Mr Young. He still hat "IT"
after all these years. He is 2nd only
to the Rolling Stones as the greatest
performer I have ever seen, and I have
now seen him live 10-15 times.
He did KC good,
THANK YOU MR YOUNG, please come back soon
Thanks for the comments, chaps. I guess Neil's gotten to the point where he's going to write songs about whatever he damn well wants to. I just wish I didn't feel like he's lost some depth as a songwriter over the years. With the new stuff, he seems kind of like an old man singing about his hobbies. Fortunately, he's into cars and not, say, carving wooden duck decoys.
This was my first time seeing Neil solo. I had seen him with CSNY at Royals stadium in the early 70's and this absolutely blew me away. A tremedous show that spanneda career of amazing, ballads and rock solid command of his l paul. The bashing he's taking on his new album are not felt by this fan. I loved his selection of new material, and could not have been more pleased with this show. There is nothing he could have done that would have made this any better. The only down side to his heavy rockin' is that when he goes accoustic for awhile, there is someone who can't relax and enjoy the moment withoutyelling out in the Rock venacular. It's understandable that the crowd is so into the classics to want to join in song but I prefered to enjoy hearing Neil. But it was easy to concede and join in.
i last saw neil in january 1989 in kansas city front row center. my son was 3 weeks old. front row automatically makes it kick ass. last night was better. my son now 20 and attending osu and me living in tulsa were blown away. Neil is better than ever. Thank you very much sir. Please come to tulsa.
That was amazing! Last night kicked my ASS..
There is something to be said about the crowd last night, it was unreal! The obvious cool dads who took their teenage kid to his first rock concert. What an introduction!! I wish that was my first show! There were the young hippies, old rockers, and even the 70 yr old couple looking for a good show, and the classic 40-50 yr old "playboy" fella dragging around his lady-of-the-night...
I was in line waiting to buy an Everest CD, which btw, they rocked, and still are in my car... while in line this kid no more than 14 who was sheltered by mom, was holding the official "Neil Young 2009 Tour" rolling papers, and turned and asked his dad, "What do you do with this?" The dad quickly backpeddled and said something about that smell in the bathroom, which was thick, musky and beautiful...
I would also like to tell you that never before would I have EVER wanted to see, or thought I would have ever seen the Neville Brothers...
WOW... I guess it helps that my family is from New Orleans originally, but they sounded GREAT, and a complete shock to watch and listen to Aaron Neville belt out Amazing Grace and leave a few thousand people with jaws they had to pick up off the floor... The crazy drunk lady in our section was weeping like a girl, I still get shivers thinking about it.
Thats my peace.
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