LIVE: Neil Young at Hyde Park, London (7/12/14)
People’s reactions after a Neil Young show are always interesting, and his latest headline slot at Hyde Park in London was no different. “Neil was clearly phoning it in! It felt like the opening night where the band was finding its feet!” one fan moaned to his friend. “That was incredible; his guitar work is mind-blowing,” enthused another. “I wandered off before the end, it was so dull. So many tedious guitar solos,” I heard another complain as he rejoined a friend, while someone else in front of me exclaimed, “He was so inspired tonight, even better than last time he was in London!”
After 50 years in the music business, Neil Young sure knows how to divide opinions. But here’s the thing that makes him such an exciting and unpredictable performer, even though he’s close to 70 now: he doesn’t care what you think. More than that, he never has. In fact, during the show, he half-jokingly called the crowd “sad bastards” before telling us to “stop crying and complaining,” presumably because of the pissed-off faces thinking they were going to hear acoustic renditions of “Old Man” and “Heart Of Gold,” but instead getting three 20-minute, feedback-infused guitar jams on songs like “Love And Only Love,” “Goin’ Home” and “Love To Burn.”
What others found ponderous and maddening, I found quite simply electrifying. It was everything I wanted to hear from Neil Young and old comrades — and most faithful backing band — Crazy Horse: loose, grooving, and completely raw and alive. It’s magical seeing him perform with a band he has so much chemistry with. He may be a lone wolf in his career, but onstage with Crazy Horse, he is definitely part of the gang and it feels like there’s some kind of electrical current, an invisible bond, if you will, that holds them together and lets each member of the band feed off each other.
Although bassist Billy Talbot had to sadly pull out of this tour due to suffering a mild stroke (thankfully, he’s expected to make a full recovery), Rick Rosas, who has played with Young for many years, is actually a more fluid player than Talbot and makes an interesting replacement. More importantly, you can tell these guys have had years of experience playing with Young and following him wherever he wants to go. It really is a wonder to see, especially since, within one song, things can flow beautifully one minute, then teeter on the edge of completely falling apart.
Young did eventually take pity on those pining for the hits. “This is for the sad bastards out there,” he said with a smile, treating us to a tender, yet uplifting, version of “Only Love Will Break Your Heart” that sounded spectacularly soulful, perhaps due to the added vocals of his talented backing singers Dorene Carter and YaDonna West (a welcome new addition to the band). Then, to even more cheers, he finally dug out his acoustic guitar, as Crazy Horse exited the stage, and performed a faithful cover of “Blowin’ In The Wind” that sounded more like classic Dylan than Dylan does these days. Funnily enough, this song was the one that got the biggest and most enthusiastic reaction from the crowd, with people all around me singing along. I guess some people were happier hearing Young play Dylan than his own songs.
Perhaps sensing this, Young followed up with “Heart Of Gold,” probably his biggest hit ever, and the song Dylan himself felt was Young doing Dylan better than he was at that time. Naturally, it got a tremendously positive response from the thrilled crowd and there’s no doubt the acoustic interlude made a lovely contrast to the powerhouse jamming.
There were also a couple of nice surprises in the set, the first being a rare outing of “Separate Ways,” which he seems to have dusted off just for the European tour. The song, maybe one of Young’s most scathing (and clearly about his breakup with Carrie Snodgress, the mother of his first child) was slated for the ill-fated (and subsequently shelved) 1975 Homegrown album, which is said to be included on the forthcoming second volume of Young’s Archives project. I hope it is, because “Separate Ways” is perhaps Young at his bluesiest, guitar-wise, while the lyrics are bitter, lonesome and incredibly poignant. Live, it sounded fantastic. Another highlight was a full-band version of “After The Gold Rush” and an absolutely rocking “Barstool Blues,” which I’d never heard live before.
The final two songs of the main set were absolute barnstormers, with the brutal but beautiful riffage of “Cinnamon Girl” and the rousing singalong of “Rockin’ In The Free World” with Young screaming halfway through, “Who’s gonna stand up to the oil man? Who’s gonna tell him he’s had enough oil?” and wailing his way on guitar through about five fake endings. It was hands in the air, life-affirming stuff for sure.
Afterwards, Young, obviously in a really great mood, didn’t want to leave the stage, even when Crazy Horse was long gone, standing at the front in his backwards baseball cap — again, Young doesn’t care if you think he’s too old to do this and this will always make him cooler than any of us — and pointing at his t-shirt that boldly proclaimed, “EARTH.” This wasn’t just Young making a fashion choice; he had something to share with us. After strapping on his Telecaster, he launched into “Who’s Gonna Stand Up and Save the Earth?” a fantastic new song with a clear message that’s as powerful as it sounds, and surprisingly rocking. Young then left the stage, but after enough coaxing from the crowd was enticed back for one more number: a long and atmospheric version of “Down By The River.” Knowing it would be hard to beat, he and the band finally took their leave.
There’s no doubt that there will always be people out there who attend a Neil Young show expecting something they are never going to get: a nostalgic greatest hits show, with perfect performances that sound just like the records. There are those of us, though, who love his rawness, his unwillingness to compromise, and know that he hasn’t let us down yet. What a joy that he’s still out there doing his thing, following his heart and his muse, and not caring what anyone else thinks. It’s what makes him Neil Young and thank God for that.
(Photo via Flickr.)
