Neil Young

I love Neil Young. What else is there to it? Every facet of his multi-coloured and sprawling career fascinates and excites me. So when he stepped out on-stage at the LG Arena in Birmingham on June 11th, 2013 I was in a dual-state of giddy, fanboy delirium and devotional, stoic reverence.
It was a Neil Young and Crazy Horse show so I knew more-or-less what I was in for; loud, distorted, extended jams. This description is accurate in a way but also does the whole thing a disservice as it suggests the songs outstay their welcome, which couldn’t be further from the truth. Also be sure not to be put off by the whole “loud” and “distorted” thing - this was one of the best-sounding gigs I’ve ever been to. A mix so well-done they managed to make every element so clear despite the turned-up-to-11 and close-to-breaking distortion of the guitars (easily 90% of the racket is from Neil and Old Black). I attended the concert with my dad, with whom I don’t share that much in the way of musical interests, and we were right at the front and atmosphere was incredible. This was the Alchemy tour and the stage was set to look like the Rust Never Sleeps and Smell the Horse / Weld tours of 1978 and 1991 - which meant huge, oversized replicas of amps and a microphone and the stage crew kitted out in scientist garb. During the build-up the stage scientists began theatrically exaggerating their actions and after a dramatic hoisting of the giant microphone over the climax of The Beatles’ “A Day in the Life” everyone cheered encouragingly. It was only after watching the scientist’s celebrating we noticed, entering from stage right, was some guy with long hair and a black hat. After a rousing rendition of the national anthem with the band and stage crew in arm the band got to their instruments and off they went.
The first song was “Love to Burn” - a 10 minute epic from Ragged Glory - and from the opening bars I knew this concert was going to be special as the usual opener was “Love and Only Love” - the other 10 minute epic from Ragged Glory. The setlist wound through mostly new material at first, stopping off at Psychedelic Pill tracks (the title track and “Walk Like a Giant” - which, with the ensuing feedback barrage, lasted about half an hour), a track from 1980’s Re-ac-tor (“Surfer Joe and Moe the Sleaze”) and some quieter songs (the unreleased “Hole in the Sky” and “Singer Without a Song” plus Neil solo on Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “Heart of Gold”) before kicking back into high-gear with “Ramada Inn” and a string of many of NY&CH’s finest sprawling epics (“Cinnamon Girl”, “F*!#in’ Up” complete with an extended and funky bridge section, “Cortez the Killer”, the Buffalo Springfield song “Mr Soul” and “My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)” done in the style of “Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)”).
After all that the most prominent thought on my mind was “Where’s “Powderfinger”??” - although I’m hardly one to insist on an artist playing a certain song. Sure enough they came for an encore and delivered the song with such power it exceeded all my wildest expectations. It was even more impressive (to me, at least) given the song is not usually played as an encore but here seemed to be in it’s rightful place. The band left and the stage stayed dark for a while, leaving us highly anticipating another return. The cases for the mock, oversized amps came down and when the house lights went up there was a fair amount (semi-joking?) booing and the stage crew began dismantling the place. My dad turns to me and says “That was f*!#ing mega!”. If this review was allowed to consist of just four words, it’d be those.