Saturday afternoon brought me over to Mike’s place for a quick beer with Mike and Trish before we headed out to the Neil Young and Crazy Horse show that night.
It was the first time that we would be seeing Neil Young so anticipation was high. I can’t say I am a connoisseur of Neil Young but I would say that I have a higher than average knowledge of his work. I’ve been listening to Psychadelic Pill for the past few weeks and I must say it’s a great album. NY&CH have a good thing going when they get together, and it’s a sound that is distinct. Crunchy guitars, great harmonies…this is what the people want!
We headed over to Vero and Martin’s to pick up a hungover Martin. It was his birthday weekend so the party didn’t stop too much the night before! Vero was nice enough to drive us to the Crazy Horse restaurant where I enjoyed some excellent jambalaya which was on par with Mike’s personal recipe. We also met up with Chantal and her father Marcel who was a good time. I had a good laugh when we would switch from speaking french and English and he said it was playing with his brain too much and we would stick to one language! Ha ha.
I had always assumed the restaurant was owned and operated by the people who owned the previous one down the road, but no such thing. Completely different franchise altogether.
We arrived at the Scotiabank Place to realize we had missed most of the Sadies set. Too bad! They seemed to be a sharp-dressed fun band who had this surf rock + country thing going on.
Can I just point out that compared to my previous concert at the same arena, the floor was empty. Bruce Springsteen had so many people on the floor, whereas we could easily move in and out of the crowd at this event. We were fairly close up to the front for Patti Smith who was quite an entertaining act, but once the Neil Young show started up, we stayed for a bit but realized that it would just be easier to stay in the back after we grabbed a few extra beer.
The show has some good spectacle…the video screens to the side of the stage are framed to look like old TV sets. On the stage there are road cases 50 fifty feet tall and when the show started, lab technicians came out to the tune of Day in the Life of by the Beatles and acted out the removal of the road cases to produce fifty foot tall Fender amplifiers. I have a feeling this is something familiar to Crazy Horse fans as I think I heard someone say it’s like the Live Rust film.
The band took the stage for a singalong of the National Anthem and then proceeded to rock like rockers do. Swaying their guitars back and forth, close together on stage and taking the microphone with their three party harmonies. Love it!
The beginnings of the set were excellent and overall, I really enjoyed the selection of songs. I was happy to hear some classic tunes like Needle and the Damage Done but the crème de la crème was Cortez the Killer. NEVER expected to ever hear that one live. Mike and I were blown away. I may have also grabbed Mike’s phone to call his brother. I’m sure there is an interesting phone message with some distorted guitar and he’s wondering what the heck it is!
What I love about the band is the fact that they embrace the song and just ride it’s coat tails as long as they can. They aren’t a pop song kind of band with three minute songs. The average time of each song was probably around the ten minute mark. I love the fact that I can just lose myself in the music for awhile and just enjoy the ride instead of putting my focus on three minute chunks at a time. It’s definitely a different way of experiencing a concert and I’m glad I could lose myself in the music for the entire concert.
Excellent show put on the band and I think I’ll start going to see Neil Young and Crazy Horse shows whenever I can.
Love and Only Love
Powderfinger
Born in Ontario
Walk Like a Giant
The Needle and the Damage Done
Twisted Road
Singer Without a Song
Ramada Inn
Cinnamon Girl
F*!#in’ Up
Cortez The Killer (!!!)
Mr. Soul
Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)
Roll Another Number