Neil Young
Date: December 2, 2008 What a Killer A solid year of concerts came to a suitably grand conclusion, as I finally got to see Neil Young perform, when he touched down at Scotiabank Place. With a lengthy and impressive lead-in slot from Wilco setting the stage for a living legend, this was a very memorable night. The arena floor filled quite early, providing opening act Everest with a sizable crowd. The five-piece outfit offered a country-rock sound suitable for the acts to follow, which was fitting for a group signed to Neil Young's Vapor Records. Unfortunately, a chatty contingent in the tightly-packed crowd around me proved to be a distraction throughout the opening slot. Ultimately, Everest came across to me as decent but unremarkable, although it is difficult to say whether the shortcomings in the experience were coming from the stage or the floor. Fortunately, there were no doubts about the triumph of Wilco's 55-minute set. The sound was very good for an arena show; and the band was in top form for songs such as "War on War," "Handshake Drugs," and "Impossible Germany." If Everest had done a good job of setting the musical tone for the evening, Wilco's palette of laid-back acoustic numbers and fuzzed-out electric rockers was a perfect segue to Neil Young. Not content to merely arrange those contrasting styles side by side, Wilco delivered a great rendition of "Via Chicago," whose sudden cacophonous spasms surely shocked the portion of the crowd unfamiliar with the group. Overall, though, I'm sure that Wilco's performance earned a strong reaction from many neophytes. Frontman Jeff Tweedy was in notably positive spirits, repeatedly remarking how happy he was to be there, while guitarist Nels Cline was electrifying in his playing, captivating attention on many occasions. If the set could not quite match my previous experience seeing the band, which was the setting where I proposed to my wife, it's hard to fault them too much. By the time that they wrapped up with the uplifting, "I'm the Man Who Loves You," the already-obvious air of excitement in the crowd was raised even higher. Neil Young is a rarity, a veteran musician who continues to set his own path several decades into his career, without succumbing to resting on his well-earned reputation. As such, his live set is not entirely predictable. On this tour, though, he utilized a combination of well-worn favourites, which I thoroughly enjoyed as someone seeing the man play for the first time. Seeing a roadie set the height of Young's microphone stand with a measuring tape before the set, one might have expected a precise, controlled performance; but the word that most springs to mind, in the best possible sense, is ragged. Perhaps the fact that the opener, "Love and Only Love," was drawn from Ragged Glory planted that idea; but it was cemented as Neil slammed the chords of "Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black)." The sixty-three year old Young and his band played with more fury than a typical teenage punk outfit, and the sound flooding the Scotiabank Place hit harder than what you would feel being inches from the speaker stack at an average club. Arena shows have to fight hard to overcome a sterile ambiance; and this concert did that from the opening notes. Young and company stayed on the electric side of the spectrum for the opening forty-five minutes, which included my personal highlight of the affair, a spine-tingling take of "Cortez the Killer" that was worth the price of admission on its own. There were a few curious elements to the night, such as a scarcely-utilized backdrop of random letters; a red phone perched on the drum kit for no obvious reason; and an artist, deep on the dark stage, painting (and then painting over) a canvas while the band played. The setlist, though, had no such puzzles, touching on gems like "Powderfinger" and drawing sing-alongs on hits like "Cinnamon Girl." After the latter, Young switched to acoustic mode, starting with the tender, "Oh, Lonesome Me" and moving to his only stint on organ, for "Mother Earth (Natural Anthem)," with his wife, Pegi, contributing strongly on backing vocals The half-hour acoustic stretch was untouchable, moving through "The Needle And The Damage Done," "Unknown Legend," "Heart Of Gold," and "Old Man." For the last song, Young's long-time guitar tech, Larry Cragg, earned his share of the spotlight with his banjo skills. Young returned to the noisier side, living up to the namesake of his backing unit, the Electric Band--Ben Keith (pedal steel, guitar, organ, vocals), Chad Cromwell (drums), Rick Rosas (bass), Pegi Young (vocals, vibraphone, piano, guitar) and Anthony Crawford (vocals, piano, guitar). The band kept the pace brisk, jumping in to "Get Back to the Country" and following with a salvo of new songs. While one of those unreleased offerings repeated "just singing a song won't change the world," it was clear that the songs were enough on this night. The set wrapped up with "Rockin' in the Free World." I had thought that I had overdosed on that song its recorded form; but the live version had more power and emotion than I was anticipating. In the midst of thousand of overjoyed fans, at the culmination of an amazing night, it certainly felt that the songs were enough to change the world, after all. A one-song encore saw Young cover The Beatles' "A Day in the Life," before bowing out of an epic performance. While I attended and loved many smaller-scale shows in 2008, the year will be musically tied to my first experience with two legendary artists, Leonard Cohen and Neil Young. I am very happy to say that both performances were stellar, living up to my long anticipation. Wilco's fine warm-up stint and Neil Young's raw and powerful headlining set ended the year on an undisputed musical high. Wilco setlist Set
Neil Young setlist Main Set
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