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Neil Young show
Last Post 07/20/2015 11:37 AM by Orange Crush. 6 Replies.
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thinline
Posts:325
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| 07/20/2015 10:02 AM |
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Saw Neil Young last night at an outdoor venue in Vermont. That was my first time at one of his shows. It was about what I expected, well done, tight band (Promise of the Real with 2 of Willie Nelsons sons in it) but freaking HOT AND HUMID! We had tickets in the standing only section in front of the stage and two of us bailed about halfway through and found some seats a bit back from "the pit." Much cooler!
The crowd, which was very large, was about 95% absolute Neil Young worshipping disciples. When he started with quieter tunes there were thousands of people singing them, almost drowning him out at times in spite of a massive sound system turned up pretty damn loud. The first time he blew a note on his harmonica, the place went crazy, people shrieking "GO NEIL" just for doing it, and he ain't much of a harmonica player. Sheesh. Weird. I have my favorite musicians, ones that I really admire and respect, but don't worship, so that was just a bit creepy. Saw a guy and his date singing to each other at the top of their lungs "Down by the river, I shot my baby" like it was a romantic lyric
I do have to give the man credit. At age 69, I think, he got out there and cranked it out for almost 2 hours, and the full on electric was high energy and he was having a ball beating the snot out of his Les Paul. Plus, they did a special little tune for us, putting out a crooning version of Moonlight in Vermont with one of the Nelson boys on vocals. Wow, he sounded just like a young version of Willie.
Glad I went to see a legend but probably wouldn't go again.
Anyone else seen him? |
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ChinookPass
Posts:809
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| 07/20/2015 10:39 AM |
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Haven't seen him. It's funny how we all have our bands that we like and don't get why others worship their bands. Put Neil Young in the category with Springsteen for me. I just don't get it and trust me, I've tried. But that's ok.
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79pmooney
Posts:3189
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| 07/20/2015 10:50 AM |
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CP, I was never a Springsteen fan, In fact, I managed to be totally oblivious to him. But one evening about '00 my wife and I were watching an NPR show of some great musician or singer with a band of assembled names. Watched this guitarist acting like he was hot stuff and kept thinking "who does he think he is?" Well it was Springsteen, and yes, he was that good.
So between that and the many, many reports of him doing shows that went on for many hours (and trying to steal James Brown's claim to being the hardest working man in show business?) I now give him a lot more credence.
Ben |
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Dale
Posts:1767
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| 07/20/2015 10:55 AM |
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| Saw him in Tulsa a year-and-a-half ago. The crowd went nuts at the first notes of Cinnamon Girl. He played some from Americana that he had just released. Nice to say I've seen him in concert. Same with Willie Nelson but I'm not a fan of bing in huge crowds so it might be one-and-done for me. |
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thinline
Posts:325
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| 07/20/2015 10:59 AM |
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| I always enjoyed the earlier Springsteen material much better than the later. When I say later I mean Darkness on the Edge of Town forward. I did see him in high school and it was a great show. I doubt I would go again today, but I give him big time credit for getting out and playing the length of show he does at the energy level he does. He could go out, play an hour or so, do a couple encores and call it quits and still sell out large venues and make a nice living, so major kudos to him for giving people a good show for the hard-earned dollars. He, in fact, showed up unannounced at a bar in Jersey last night and played for over two hours. Saw it on the news this a.m. |
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79pmooney
Posts:3189
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| 07/20/2015 11:05 AM |
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Sorta related: I've been a fan of Johnny Winter forever and owe him a lot. Because of one song on his breakthrough "Progressive Blues Experiment" album, I bought a harmonica and started playing the blues. Saw him that year and heard him say that if we wanted to hear the best, we had to see Muddy Waters. The next year I did. Spent 5 hours in a club, the only customer the final two hours to closing. Life changing. Saw Muddy Waters 8 years later with Johnny Winter.
In recent years, JW came through Portland almost every year. I saw him several times. At the first, he was proceeded by a local band with a hotshot guitarist/bandleader. The crowd there was men my age and a lot of late teen/early 20s young men, half dragged there by the dads, half to see Too Slim. First set, all the kids flocked to the stage to see the opening act. Then Johnny Winter and band came on. First couple of songs were old blues covers with the guitar work being long chords. You could feel the impatience of the kids. "Dad, you brought me here to see this? You said he was a guitar god." (He was arpeggioing through the chords, not strumming them, but you had to look hard to see that.)
Then he launched into a trademark solo. Those kids never sat down again.
Ben |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 07/20/2015 11:37 AM |
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| Saw him twice; first time was early 90s in Santa Cruz where he gave a free concert for a small crowd as kickstart for a new tour. Second time was in 2009 here in Vancouver as part of a benefit concert put on by Sarah McLachlan. Both were excellent. He's up there in terms of favorite artists for me. And a fellow Canuck of course :-) |
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