Getting Blown Away
We saw a Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde performance from one of my rock gods last night. Neil Young walked out and sat down alone in the middle of these guitars last night and did a one hour acoustic set. He started with Hank To Hendrix and ended with Heart Of Gold. The highlight for me was when he grabbed his banjo and did Mellow My Mind. Thanks Neil, I needed that.
Then after a 20 minute intermission, he came back with his black Les Paul strapped on and unleashed a torrent of rock and roll that is still ringing in my ears.
The finish was a 10+ minute version of Hurricane that proved to me that Neil has lost nothing. I was blown away.
Here’s a photo I took of Neil wailing away during one of about five solos during Hurricane. It’s something to see a 60 year old rocker go at it like that.
Comments (Archived):
So. Very. Jealous.
wat greg said
A year or two ago I saw Crosy, Stills, Nash & Young. Great show. And it was fun to watch the interaction amongst the four. Very happy playful collaboration. Except, that is, when Neil Young would take his turn and just… take over the show, either during a guitar solo on a CSNY tune, or when they played one of Neil’s solo tunes. Then C S and N would simply hang back, maybe absentmindedly strumming, maybe just watching in shock and awe and amusement, as Y went totally rockingly nuts, with the charisma and energy and LOUDNESS of a young strapping hard rock animal. Eventually he would segue pretty seamlessly back down to earth and rejoin the others and the lovefest would continue. Great stuff.
Wow, sounds amazing. Like the Live Rust tour – remember that? Now I am really bummed I missed the Philly shows! Argh!
The live rust show is one of my top shows everI posted about it at newcrtics recentlyhttp://newcritics.com/blog1…
God that was a great tour!
One of my all-time favorite quotes was where Neil talked about how musicians generally mellow as they get older, but he’s gone the opposite direction- from folk-rock with Buffalo Springfield, through CSNY and eventually on to stuff like Rust and the Arc Weld 40-minutes-of-feedback record. He’s a legend for sure.
A rock god
Wow! I echo the “jealous” comment.I’m always impressed when I see him, but I’ve never seen him do an electric “Hurricane” (had to go to see “Rust Never Sleeps” in the theatres YEARS ago to have that experience)…it must be “old rockers week” with Led Zeppelin getting back together (and exceeding all of the expectations of the online nay-sayers)Who know? Perhaps Peter Gabriel will re-join Genesis for a gig?;-)
I am note sure I could take gabriel on the same stage as collinsOne of the greatest shows I ever saw was gabriel in 1982It was like nothing I’d ever seena and like nothing I’ve seen sinceFred
The 16 minute live version of “Cowgirl in the Sand” off of the Live at the Fillmore East disc is otherworldy, simultaneously harrowing and hopeful. Of course, reading this post set me off on repeate listenings of “Powderfinger.” Right now, it stands at 7 and going for 8.
What a great picture. The blur kind of says it all, doesn’t it?For me, the highlight was “Hurricane”. According to the set lists from the earlier shows on the tour, he played it maybe once every two or three shows, and always last. He had just played it the previous two nights, so I figured the odds were against us. But it was a great moment when just before the last song, Neil looked over at Ben Keith, who was sitting at the slide guitar, and pointed him over to the silly winged organ, which meant “Hurricane”. And it was an unbelievable version of it – much better than the Rust Never Sleeps tour. It seemed to go on forever. I thought his voice was excellent, too. If you find a recording of this show, please let me know.If anyone is a Neil fan and has a chance to see this tour, make an effort to do so. He’s playing in venues that are ideal for him. Certainly beat sitting in the last row of the Nassau Coliseum, which is where I was for the Rust Never Sleeps tour.(I found out later that the organ comes out every night, whether he plays “Hurricane” or not. What a horrible tease.)
Nice! I went in Philly on the 10th. I’m jealous that you got hear Heart of Gold, he didn’t play much Harvest at the show.
Yes, Neil still has it. For music enthusiasts, I highly recommend the Bridge School Benefit Concert that Neil puts on at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Palo Alto, CA. The line-up is bar none, World Class. All artists play acoustically for wheel chair bound children. I’ve spent some time with Neil and his manager Elliot, both are very supportive of our company and amongst our favorite clients.http://www.bridgeschool.org…
* Add me to the long list of ” Envious! “* also thx for the tips on Massey Hall and fillmore CDs. They are awesome!