Neil Young - Hammersmith Apollo
Artist profile:
Neil Young
Date: 09/03/2008
Rating: *****
Neil Young, with Rick Rosas, Ben Keith, Ralph Molina, Anthony Crawford & Pegi Young.
Setlist: From Hank To Hendrix / Ambulance Blues / Sad Movies / A Man Needs A Maid / No One Seems To Know / Harvest / After The Gold Rush / Mexico / Try / Old King / Love Art Blues / Don't Let It Bring You Down / The Needle And The Damage Done / Heart Of Gold // The Loner / Dirty Old Man / Spirit Road / Down By The River / Hey Hey, My My / Too Far Gone / Oh, Lonesome Me / The Believer / Powderfinger / No Hidden Path // The Sultan
Neil Young is a man that’s seen it all, done it differently and, despite moments of darkness in both his career and personal life, has remained an inspiration to his legions of acolytes for more than thirty years. While the Neil Young live experience can range from a sit-down set of country tunes to a three-hour blast of angular rock, one can never accuse him of resting on his rather expansive laurels.
Tonight, as part of a world tour that echoes the format of his legendary ‘Rust Never Sleeps’ jaunt of the late ‘70s, Young brings to London a taster of the two extremes of his output with a solo acoustic set followed by a mighty full band set that both cherry-pick from his vast and influential back catalogue.
Opening to a deafening standing ovation, Young strums out ‘Harvest Moon’ highlight ‘From Hank to Hendrix’ – the voice is otherworldly, every lyric crisp and pointed with emotion, the guitar playing, as always, immaculate.
Stunningly, old Shakey then launches into the never-released combo of ‘Ambulance Blues’ and ‘Sad Movies’, the latter of which, to further astonishment, proves to be one of his finest moments – melancholic and sentimental certainly, but incredibly affecting.
As a painter interprets Young’s music behind him and random snatches of the alphabet illuminate above him, Young turns variously to a banjo ('Old King'), piano ('After The Gold Rush') and a selection of alternately tuned acoustic guitars.
Amongst this, an unexpected moment – taking to the organ, Young delivers a version of ‘A Man Needs A Maid’ that quite literally pins the crowd to their seats in hushed awe – it’s elemental, it’s otherworldly and it’s heartbreaking, conjuring a surreal feeling of simultaneous uplift and upset.
Young banters a little with the crowd and makes great play of appearing confused as to which instrument he’s intending to use next – it’s all part of his sly charm; his ‘old man’ persona, despite his actual age, as much a show as he chooses it to be.
Closing the set with the stone-cold classic triptych of ‘Don’t Let It Bring You Down’, ‘Needle & The Damage Done’ and finally the beloved ‘Heart Of Gold’, the die-hard audience is sated.
As the ovation rises once more and the interval is called out, the room collectively exhales, awed by the sheer magnificence of this man, of these seemingly eternal songs and his seemingly eternal ability to make them sound as if they were all written this afternoon.
Crashing into 1968’s ‘The Loner’ with abandon, the full band set begins – we now have a painting stage left to represent the title of each song played as well as the company of Young’s long-time cohorts including his wife Peggi.
Drenched in fiery reds and yellows, wind machine galing across the stage, Young breaks out ‘Old Black’ (his faithful Les Paul) and tears through a set that’s ear-cracking in volume, stunning in virtuosity and high on adrenalin and aggression – his ‘old man’ persona replaced by the quaking, lurching character that lead him to be termed the Godfather of Grunge.
The absolute unequivocal highlight of a show packed with them is the soaring tragedy of ‘Down by The River’, stretched into a soloing frenzy interspersed with those unmistakable sweeps of chorus – again, Young reaches out into the ether and takes you with him.
The ragged punk of ‘Hey Hey My My’ is as taut and brutal as ever, it’s intonations of ‘rock and roll will never die’ perhaps even more bitter now than ever before. It’s an indelible, incredible song.
‘Powderfinger’ of course, has chord changes you would elect to government over actual humans and ‘Chrome Dreams 2’ highlight ‘No Hidden Path’ has blankets of feedback you could sleep in for a week – and it’s on the latter that Young unleashes the full Crazy Horse magic, squalling, crashing and fretboard-surfing through to its’ vocal harmony close a good 18 minutes later.
Coming full circle, Young closes with his very first single as a member of high school band The Squires dating back to the early ‘60s, a throwaway instrumental named ‘The Sultan’ that proves quite conclusively that he’s always going to do things his way – which often is not the way anyone would expect.
Long may he shake.
James O’Connell
Neil Young Myspace
Buy Neil Young CDs | Buy Neil Young mp3s | Buy Neil Young Tickets | Buy Neil Young Merch
Date: 09/03/2008
Rating: *****
Neil Young, with Rick Rosas, Ben Keith, Ralph Molina, Anthony Crawford & Pegi Young.
Setlist: From Hank To Hendrix / Ambulance Blues / Sad Movies / A Man Needs A Maid / No One Seems To Know / Harvest / After The Gold Rush / Mexico / Try / Old King / Love Art Blues / Don't Let It Bring You Down / The Needle And The Damage Done / Heart Of Gold // The Loner / Dirty Old Man / Spirit Road / Down By The River / Hey Hey, My My / Too Far Gone / Oh, Lonesome Me / The Believer / Powderfinger / No Hidden Path // The Sultan
Neil Young is a man that’s seen it all, done it differently and, despite moments of darkness in both his career and personal life, has remained an inspiration to his legions of acolytes for more than thirty years. While the Neil Young live experience can range from a sit-down set of country tunes to a three-hour blast of angular rock, one can never accuse him of resting on his rather expansive laurels.
Tonight, as part of a world tour that echoes the format of his legendary ‘Rust Never Sleeps’ jaunt of the late ‘70s, Young brings to London a taster of the two extremes of his output with a solo acoustic set followed by a mighty full band set that both cherry-pick from his vast and influential back catalogue.
Opening to a deafening standing ovation, Young strums out ‘Harvest Moon’ highlight ‘From Hank to Hendrix’ – the voice is otherworldly, every lyric crisp and pointed with emotion, the guitar playing, as always, immaculate.
Stunningly, old Shakey then launches into the never-released combo of ‘Ambulance Blues’ and ‘Sad Movies’, the latter of which, to further astonishment, proves to be one of his finest moments – melancholic and sentimental certainly, but incredibly affecting.
As a painter interprets Young’s music behind him and random snatches of the alphabet illuminate above him, Young turns variously to a banjo ('Old King'), piano ('After The Gold Rush') and a selection of alternately tuned acoustic guitars.
Amongst this, an unexpected moment – taking to the organ, Young delivers a version of ‘A Man Needs A Maid’ that quite literally pins the crowd to their seats in hushed awe – it’s elemental, it’s otherworldly and it’s heartbreaking, conjuring a surreal feeling of simultaneous uplift and upset.
Young banters a little with the crowd and makes great play of appearing confused as to which instrument he’s intending to use next – it’s all part of his sly charm; his ‘old man’ persona, despite his actual age, as much a show as he chooses it to be.
Closing the set with the stone-cold classic triptych of ‘Don’t Let It Bring You Down’, ‘Needle & The Damage Done’ and finally the beloved ‘Heart Of Gold’, the die-hard audience is sated.
As the ovation rises once more and the interval is called out, the room collectively exhales, awed by the sheer magnificence of this man, of these seemingly eternal songs and his seemingly eternal ability to make them sound as if they were all written this afternoon.
Crashing into 1968’s ‘The Loner’ with abandon, the full band set begins – we now have a painting stage left to represent the title of each song played as well as the company of Young’s long-time cohorts including his wife Peggi.
Drenched in fiery reds and yellows, wind machine galing across the stage, Young breaks out ‘Old Black’ (his faithful Les Paul) and tears through a set that’s ear-cracking in volume, stunning in virtuosity and high on adrenalin and aggression – his ‘old man’ persona replaced by the quaking, lurching character that lead him to be termed the Godfather of Grunge.
The absolute unequivocal highlight of a show packed with them is the soaring tragedy of ‘Down by The River’, stretched into a soloing frenzy interspersed with those unmistakable sweeps of chorus – again, Young reaches out into the ether and takes you with him.
The ragged punk of ‘Hey Hey My My’ is as taut and brutal as ever, it’s intonations of ‘rock and roll will never die’ perhaps even more bitter now than ever before. It’s an indelible, incredible song.
‘Powderfinger’ of course, has chord changes you would elect to government over actual humans and ‘Chrome Dreams 2’ highlight ‘No Hidden Path’ has blankets of feedback you could sleep in for a week – and it’s on the latter that Young unleashes the full Crazy Horse magic, squalling, crashing and fretboard-surfing through to its’ vocal harmony close a good 18 minutes later.
Coming full circle, Young closes with his very first single as a member of high school band The Squires dating back to the early ‘60s, a throwaway instrumental named ‘The Sultan’ that proves quite conclusively that he’s always going to do things his way – which often is not the way anyone would expect.
Long may he shake.
James O’Connell
Neil Young Myspace
Buy Neil Young CDs | Buy Neil Young mp3s | Buy Neil Young Tickets | Buy Neil Young Merch
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