10-25-2007, 04:02 PM
Not really any changes night-to-night...
Neil Young Tour! At Massey Hall - November 26, 27 & 29
10-25-2007, 04:20 PM
chris Wrote:Not really any changes night-to-night...
yea...i think things might start changing up once he starts playing multiple nights per city. i hope.
10-25-2007, 04:33 PM
if anybody has an extra ticket or two for the show on the 29th let me know. ya i know ya right.
j
j
10-25-2007, 04:45 PM
Young's humanity shines through in concert
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
BY GREG JAYNE, Columbian staff writer
PORTLAND - Maybe it was during the sparse and haunting delivery of "After the Gold Rush."
Maybe it arrived in the terse-yet-poignant notes of "The Loner."
Maybe it came during the opening notes of "Cinnamon Girl," with the seminal passion of a riveting guitar riff.
Whenever it was, there was an epiphany during Monday's Neil Young concert at Keller Auditorium, and the epiphany was this: The secret to Young's genius is his unrelenting humanity.
Sure, that might sound overly simplistic, and it might sound like a well-beaten cliché. But over the past 40 years, the underlying key to Neil Young has been his understanding of the human condition.
Consider the lyrics of "Love is a Rose," which was written more than 30 years ago:
"Love is a rose, but you better not pick it; it only grows when it's on the vine;
"A handful of thorns and you'll know you've missed it; you lose your love when you say the word, 'mine.' "
Simplistic? Of course it is. But it somehow tugs at the most basic of human emotions. And that, in all its glory, is what has given Young a place in the pantheon of rock 'n' roll.
So there was Young on Monday, at the age of 61, playing to a sold-out crowd in the 3,000-seat venue.
First, he performed an 11-song, 52-minute solo set, just a man and his guitar and his piano and his harmonica. After an intermission, he returned for a 10-song, 69-minute electric set, with a four-piece band fronted by Young's familiar screaming guitar.
And along the way, Young reminded the crowd of why they were there. He reminded the fans of why Neil Young has been famous for four decades, and yet remains underrated.
A place in rock history
It is possible to overstate Neil Young's place in music history. But it's not easy.
He's not Elvis and he's not The Beatles. He's not even U2 or Frank Sinatra. Young has rarely broken new musical ground, and he has rarely been at the pinnacle of popularity.
But who he is and what he has done has been the result of a remarkable combination. Consider:
- In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Young at No. 34 on its list of the greatest artists in rock history.
- In 1996, Mojo magazine ranked Young as the ninth-best guitarist in history.
- In 2006, Paste magazine listed Young as the second-greatest living songwriter, behind Bob Dylan.
Young was a significant part of Buffalo Springfield in the mid-1960s. And he helped Crosby, Stills and Nash reached their artistic peak, although the appropriate assessment is that CSNY should be named Neil Young and three other guys who were holding him back.
All those attributes have combined to make Young highly influential. In the early 1990s, a quarter-century after he first appeared on the public scene, Young was hailed as the "Godfather of Grunge," being acclaimed as an influence on innovative groups such as Pearl Jam and Nirvana.
So, that was a quite a résumé Young brought to Portland on Monday. And he did nothing to taint it.
Acoustic set is highlight
All of that brings us back to the humanity inherent in Young's work.
For nearly an hour - following an opening set of country-rock performed by his wife, Pegi - Young delivered a solo acoustic set. Mostly sitting at the front of the stage, he sang the heartfelt songs that reflect the best of his work.
"Here I am with this old guitar, doing what I do," he warbled on the opening number, "From Hank to Hendrix," off the 1992 album, "Harvest Moon."
Throughout the 11 songs, climaxing with the classic "Heart of Gold," one thing was clear: There must be no more naked feeling in the world than appearing in front of thousands of people with nothing more than your guitar and your voice as a shield.
"I want to live; I want to give; I've been a miner for a heart of gold," says the biggest single of his career. And few musicians can pull it off as well as Young.
The electric set included several songs off Young's new release, "Chrome Dreams II," with "Spirit Road" serving as a highlight.
Mixed in with "The Loner," and an encore of "Cinnamon Girl" followed by "Like a Hurricane," the new songs fit tightly within Young's catalogue, sounding as though they were written 30 years ago. Which, in fact, some of them were.
But in the context of Monday's show, after the riveting acoustic set, the electric performance seemed slightly flat.
It's not that the performance was subpar; it's just that there was something remarkably intimate about Young's singing, playing, and bantering with the audience when it was just Neil and 3,000 of his closest friends.
It's just that there is something remarkable about the humanity that Neil Young can bring to his music.
Career-defining songs
Need some guidance for compiling your own Neil Young CD? Here are some recommendations from his 40-year career:
1. "Mr. Soul" (1967): This isn't Buffalo Springfield's best song, but it has the heaviest Neil Young influence of any of their hits.
2. "Cinnamon Girl" (1969): The most accessible of Young's rockers, it remains a radio standard with an infectious riff.
3. "Down by the River" (1969)
4. "Cowgirl in the Sand" (1969): According to the liner notes from "Decade," Young wrote "Down" and "Cowgirl" on the same day while suffering from a 103-degree temperature. And they sound as though he was drifting in and out of delirium. Both are extended, rambling, ethereal rockers, clocking in at more than nine minutes.
5. "Southern Man" (1970): A bristling critique of racism, "Southern Man" led to one of the great answer songs in rock - Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama."
6. "Ohio" (1970): The finest work of Young's career, he wrote, played guitar and sang lead on this Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young meditation on the shootings at Kent State.
7. "Heart of Gold" (1972): By far Young's highest-charting single, this reached No. 1 on the pop charts.
8. "Old Man" (1972): This plaintive generational ode ranks among Young's most thoughtful songs.
9. "Needle and the Damage Done" (1972): In this poignant acoustical number, Young explores the damages of drug use.
10. "Sugar Mountain" (1977): A ballad about idyllic teenage years, Young wrote this when he was 19, but it didn't appear on an album until the retrospective, "Decade."
11. "My, My, Hey, Hey (Out of the Blue)" (1979)
12. "Hey, Hey, My, My (Into the Black)" (1979): On the concert album "Live Rust," Young delivered an acoustic version and an electric version of the same song, long before MTV decided that having artists perform "unplugged" was a grand idea.
13. "Rockin' in the Free World" (1989): After a decade of off-and-on experimental recordings, Young returned to straight-forward rocking.
14. "Country Home" (1990): A year after returning to rock with "Freedom," Young delivered "Ragged Glory." The album lives up to its name, and it might as well have been a sequel to the earlier effort.
15. "Bad Fog of Loneliness" (2007): Earlier this year, Young released an extraordinary live album that was recorded 36 years ago, "Live at Massey Hall 1971." Along with many of his hits, it includes some previously unreleased songs such as this one.
- Greg Jayne
http://www.columbian.com/lifeHome/lifeHo...oncert.cfm
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
BY GREG JAYNE, Columbian staff writer
PORTLAND - Maybe it was during the sparse and haunting delivery of "After the Gold Rush."
Maybe it arrived in the terse-yet-poignant notes of "The Loner."
Maybe it came during the opening notes of "Cinnamon Girl," with the seminal passion of a riveting guitar riff.
Whenever it was, there was an epiphany during Monday's Neil Young concert at Keller Auditorium, and the epiphany was this: The secret to Young's genius is his unrelenting humanity.
Sure, that might sound overly simplistic, and it might sound like a well-beaten cliché. But over the past 40 years, the underlying key to Neil Young has been his understanding of the human condition.
Consider the lyrics of "Love is a Rose," which was written more than 30 years ago:
"Love is a rose, but you better not pick it; it only grows when it's on the vine;
"A handful of thorns and you'll know you've missed it; you lose your love when you say the word, 'mine.' "
Simplistic? Of course it is. But it somehow tugs at the most basic of human emotions. And that, in all its glory, is what has given Young a place in the pantheon of rock 'n' roll.
So there was Young on Monday, at the age of 61, playing to a sold-out crowd in the 3,000-seat venue.
First, he performed an 11-song, 52-minute solo set, just a man and his guitar and his piano and his harmonica. After an intermission, he returned for a 10-song, 69-minute electric set, with a four-piece band fronted by Young's familiar screaming guitar.
And along the way, Young reminded the crowd of why they were there. He reminded the fans of why Neil Young has been famous for four decades, and yet remains underrated.
A place in rock history
It is possible to overstate Neil Young's place in music history. But it's not easy.
He's not Elvis and he's not The Beatles. He's not even U2 or Frank Sinatra. Young has rarely broken new musical ground, and he has rarely been at the pinnacle of popularity.
But who he is and what he has done has been the result of a remarkable combination. Consider:
- In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Young at No. 34 on its list of the greatest artists in rock history.
- In 1996, Mojo magazine ranked Young as the ninth-best guitarist in history.
- In 2006, Paste magazine listed Young as the second-greatest living songwriter, behind Bob Dylan.
Young was a significant part of Buffalo Springfield in the mid-1960s. And he helped Crosby, Stills and Nash reached their artistic peak, although the appropriate assessment is that CSNY should be named Neil Young and three other guys who were holding him back.
All those attributes have combined to make Young highly influential. In the early 1990s, a quarter-century after he first appeared on the public scene, Young was hailed as the "Godfather of Grunge," being acclaimed as an influence on innovative groups such as Pearl Jam and Nirvana.
So, that was a quite a résumé Young brought to Portland on Monday. And he did nothing to taint it.
Acoustic set is highlight
All of that brings us back to the humanity inherent in Young's work.
For nearly an hour - following an opening set of country-rock performed by his wife, Pegi - Young delivered a solo acoustic set. Mostly sitting at the front of the stage, he sang the heartfelt songs that reflect the best of his work.
"Here I am with this old guitar, doing what I do," he warbled on the opening number, "From Hank to Hendrix," off the 1992 album, "Harvest Moon."
Throughout the 11 songs, climaxing with the classic "Heart of Gold," one thing was clear: There must be no more naked feeling in the world than appearing in front of thousands of people with nothing more than your guitar and your voice as a shield.
"I want to live; I want to give; I've been a miner for a heart of gold," says the biggest single of his career. And few musicians can pull it off as well as Young.
The electric set included several songs off Young's new release, "Chrome Dreams II," with "Spirit Road" serving as a highlight.
Mixed in with "The Loner," and an encore of "Cinnamon Girl" followed by "Like a Hurricane," the new songs fit tightly within Young's catalogue, sounding as though they were written 30 years ago. Which, in fact, some of them were.
But in the context of Monday's show, after the riveting acoustic set, the electric performance seemed slightly flat.
It's not that the performance was subpar; it's just that there was something remarkably intimate about Young's singing, playing, and bantering with the audience when it was just Neil and 3,000 of his closest friends.
It's just that there is something remarkable about the humanity that Neil Young can bring to his music.
Career-defining songs
Need some guidance for compiling your own Neil Young CD? Here are some recommendations from his 40-year career:
1. "Mr. Soul" (1967): This isn't Buffalo Springfield's best song, but it has the heaviest Neil Young influence of any of their hits.
2. "Cinnamon Girl" (1969): The most accessible of Young's rockers, it remains a radio standard with an infectious riff.
3. "Down by the River" (1969)
4. "Cowgirl in the Sand" (1969): According to the liner notes from "Decade," Young wrote "Down" and "Cowgirl" on the same day while suffering from a 103-degree temperature. And they sound as though he was drifting in and out of delirium. Both are extended, rambling, ethereal rockers, clocking in at more than nine minutes.
5. "Southern Man" (1970): A bristling critique of racism, "Southern Man" led to one of the great answer songs in rock - Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama."
6. "Ohio" (1970): The finest work of Young's career, he wrote, played guitar and sang lead on this Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young meditation on the shootings at Kent State.
7. "Heart of Gold" (1972): By far Young's highest-charting single, this reached No. 1 on the pop charts.
8. "Old Man" (1972): This plaintive generational ode ranks among Young's most thoughtful songs.
9. "Needle and the Damage Done" (1972): In this poignant acoustical number, Young explores the damages of drug use.
10. "Sugar Mountain" (1977): A ballad about idyllic teenage years, Young wrote this when he was 19, but it didn't appear on an album until the retrospective, "Decade."
11. "My, My, Hey, Hey (Out of the Blue)" (1979)
12. "Hey, Hey, My, My (Into the Black)" (1979): On the concert album "Live Rust," Young delivered an acoustic version and an electric version of the same song, long before MTV decided that having artists perform "unplugged" was a grand idea.
13. "Rockin' in the Free World" (1989): After a decade of off-and-on experimental recordings, Young returned to straight-forward rocking.
14. "Country Home" (1990): A year after returning to rock with "Freedom," Young delivered "Ragged Glory." The album lives up to its name, and it might as well have been a sequel to the earlier effort.
15. "Bad Fog of Loneliness" (2007): Earlier this year, Young released an extraordinary live album that was recorded 36 years ago, "Live at Massey Hall 1971." Along with many of his hits, it includes some previously unreleased songs such as this one.
- Greg Jayne
http://www.columbian.com/lifeHome/lifeHo...oncert.cfm
11-27-2007, 09:03 AM
amazing show last night. "no hidden path" was epic. absolutely amazing. wonder what tonight will bring.
gord was there but i didnt see him.
gord was there but i didnt see him.
11-27-2007, 09:19 AM
I'll be there tonight - who else is going? I'm planning to hit C'est What? beforehand...
11-27-2007, 09:27 AM
girlfriend and i will be there. seats are rcf row r i think. the show started promptly at 7.40pm lastnight with peggy doing about a 45 minute set. neil came out around 8.30 for an hour. then a 20 minute intermission and from 10.55 or so to 11.15 was the last set.
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