In an age when most recording artists, even some of the all time greats, seem to have an expiration date stamped on their song writing and style, Neil Young is proving once again that there is a catagory one notch above "great": Legend. Always a musical chameleon, Young has found a way to put out yet another volume to his already monumental musical career. Unlike many others who seem to put out hall of fame material while young and in their prime only to become a sort of tribute band to themselves years later, Young has found the fountain of youth because he still sounds fresh. His new band, which he calls His Electric Band, includes his wife Peggy and a couple members of the legendary Crazy Horse. The band and his new material, Chrome Dreams II, has given him the shot in the arm that he seemed to lack on his last tour a couple years ago. He defies nature in the way he seamlessly shifts from headbanging, epilepsy fueled rock classics (Rocking in the Free World, Powderfinger) to acoustic poems (Unknown Legend, Mother Earth) without diluting the beautiful power of any of them.
An intersting thing happened during Unknown Legend. When it came time for the harmonica solo, he played the first two notes only to discover he had forgotten to switch harmonicas inbetween songs and he had the wrong key. He tossed the harmonica to lucky fan in the crowd and played the rest of the song sans-harmonica. Afterwords, he said something like "I always wondered what those letters and numbers ment", a reference to the letter stamped onto a harmonica that denotes the key. Then he said "Since you guys paid the big bucks, listen to this" and he started the song over with the harmonica solo and finished it the right way.
Neil played about 2 1/2 hours, a half hour longer than the lady at the beer counter told me he was schedualed to play. Just the right mixture of classics and new material, electric and acoustic. He played a soaring cover of The Beatles "A Day in the Life" for an encore. After comparing this set lest to previous shows on this tour to find that he played two extra songs for us. His opening acts were Wilco and Everest, both of which proved my theory that they sound a lot better live than on record.
The set list:
Love and Only Love- Hey Hey, My My- Everybody Knows This is Nowhere- Powderfinger- Spirit Road- Cortez the Killer- Cinnamon Girl- Mother Earth- Needle and the Damage Done- Unknown Legend- Heart of Gold- Old Man- Get Back to the Country, Just Singing a Song- Sea Change- When Worlds Collide- Cowgirl in the Sand- Rockin in the Free World- Oh, Lonesome Me- A Day in the Life.
If you can't make it to see Neil in the near future, check out www.rustradio.org for free streaming Neil Young shows. I noticed today that they were playing his show from last night in Philly, which is pretty sweet. For some reason, it only streams on weekends, Fri thru Sun. Worth checking out none the less.
Slim P.