Neil Young is not a man caught looking back for long and tonight's show is all about giving the audience the live experience of the new album ‘Psychedelic Pill’ with Crazy Horse at full blast with the throttle wide open.
Before the band comes on stage there is the play activity of the white coated roadies as they uncover the giant stage prop amps i.e. the stage is dominated by what looks like three floor to ceiling amps. The band arrives on stage and promptly its hats off for ‘God save the Queen’ before the gig starts.
Neil, Frank and Billy hoist those guitars around their necks, Ralph settles behind the drum kit, and the band fire up 'Love to Burn'. The volume level (sonic) is set for the evening.
A surprise of ’Surfer Joe and Moe the Sleaze' follows from ‘Re-Ac-Tor' after which we are into the title song from 'Psychedelic Pill' and a lengthy and feedback-drenched 'Walk like a Giant'. This is the point of the set where the audience who came for a greatest hits selection of a gentle acoustic Neil, realise perhaps, it's not going to be their night. On the other hand, those audience members who relish the might and raw power of Neil with Crazy Horse must have felt like they'd just taken their first ‘psychedelic pill’.
An unrecorded 'Hole in The Sky' is next before that acoustic interlude - 'Heart of Gold' (one of those early songs we all reached for when first learning to guitar), Dylan's 'Blowin in the Wind' and another new unrecorded song 'Singer without a Song' which was lovely and had a lost girl with a guitar case in hand, wandering around the stage for effect.
With still not much, if anything spoken from the stage, the band saddle up for a quite incredible 'Ramada Inn'. sung with real feeling - lyrics like "so many years now together", " ups and down”, "She Loves Him So", " She does what she needs to", "He loves her so”, “he does what she has to" - and the inevitable ending of the song, perhaps striking a cord with some of a certain age in the audience.
The crowd holler for some songs and suddenly Neil is chatty, "We played those last night "
'Cinnamon Girl', ' Fuckin up' ( with playful interaction with Frank) and now the show is on the cusp of two hours. As we approach 11pm we sail past curfew with an immense 'Cortez the Killer' and the rest.
In the end everyone seems to leave with a smile, some broader than others.
Pete
1.Love to Burn
2.Surfer Joe and Moe the Sleaze
3.Psychedelic Pill
4.Walk Like a Giant
5.Hole in the Sky
6.Heart of Gold
7.Blowin' in the Wind
8.Singer Without a Song
9.Ramada Inn
10.Cinnamon Girl
11.Fuckin' Up
12.Cortez the Killer
13.Mr. Soul
14.My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)
Encore:
15.Powderfinger