Title:Concert By: Young, Neil Released by: Desert Sky Pavilion Released on: 2000 Rating (out of 10): 9 Date: 09/05/2001
Neil Young In Concert
Whenever you attend a Neil Young concert, you can’t be exactly sure what you’ll hear. Indeed, the audience at Desert Sky Pavilion in Phoenix was an eclectic collection of mankind, ranging in age from 10 to over 60, dressed in T-shirts of various music groups—AC/DC, Van Halen, Santana, The Cult, The Beatles, and hoards of Neil Young and CSNY. I did see a few mullets also.
The opening act was no small, local group. Just a few minutes after 7:30, Sheryl Crow stepped up to the microphone and announced “I’m your opening act.”
Accompanying herself on acoustic guitar (along with guitarist Tim Smith) on a bare stage that had a dark plastic cover over Young’s instruments, Crow sang all her numerous hits, plus a few others.
She opened with “My Favorite Mistake.” Her voice cut through the early evening on other notable hits with extended versions of “Leaving Las Vegas,” “If It Makes You Happy,” and “All I Wanna Do.” She also covered “American Girl,” using her ethereal voice and steady guitar rhythm, and was quite well-received during her hour-long set.
But this was a crowd gathered for Neil Young, and Crow supplied great opening entertainment while many in the crowd were getting up and heading for the beer stands in the outdoor venue.
About 9 p.m., Neil Young and his entourage took to the stage, to a thundering standing ovation that would continue during much of his 2-hour set.
Young has toured with many musicians over the years and played in styles ranging from folk to country to hard rock. This time, Young would be rocking, but nothing like the concerts you’ll hear on the Crazy Horse tours (with continual distortion and feedback). There would still be some of that, but his band would consist of great musicians who do know how to rock but play within themselves.
Young even had his wife and sister singing backup. The handful of other musicians accompanying Young all recorded Silver and Gold with him. On drums was Jim Keltner (who has been recording since the 1970s). Spooner Oldham played the keyboard, and Ben Keith played steel guitar.
The highlight for me, as far as the backup musicians, was seeing and hearing Rock & Roll Hall of Fame bass player Donald “Duck” Dunn, who played for Booker T. & The M.G.’s, and once laid down basslines for the Stax/Volt label.
Unlike Sheryl Crow, this was not a Neil Young greatest-hits night, but it didn’t matter; his true fans were there right in front, cheering everything he did, no matter how obscure it was, and rightly so.
There was no denying the artistry and musicianship that Young provided on that cool Phoenix evening. He opened with a moderately rocking and deliberate “Motorcycle Mama” and sang two songs from his new album. Then he went back to 1970 for a slow “I Believe in You.” Young sang an even older song from Buffalo Springfield that roused the more casual fans from the back, especially when he played the harmonica for the first time.
Though most of the evening saw an electrified Young playing in his characteristic spread-legged style, with his right leg steadily keeping the beat, he switched to an acoustic guitar to play “Razor Love” off his new album—a song about relationships and life on the road in a rock band.
Neil could do no wrong this night; every song received a tremendous response and the crowd up front was often standing throughout, with a few people grooving to everything he did. He may have done this song either to give himself a break or to give a few of the audience members a chance to recharge.
The second portion of the concert featured more of his older songs. I was happy that he did one of my favorites from Harvest Moon—“From Hank to Hendrix”—and he did an acoustic version of the title track, with an image of a full moon on stage.
For me, the highlights were when Young and his band went into jazzy, extended renditions of two songs that demonstrated the great musicians that were there. By far the most unique experience that night was hearing legendary bassist Donald Dunn go at it on the Harvest song “Word.” Deservedly, that performance got the longest and loudest cheers of the evening.
Also incredible: the encore number, during which they improvised their way through “Cowgirl in the Sand” for at least 15 minutes. It could’ve gone on for an hour and none of us would have left.
We continued cheering and refused to leave. Finally, Young and his band returned to do a quick “Tonight’s the Night,” thank us, and leave the stage.
If you go to a Neil Young concert, don’t expect him to do a greatest-hits concert of the songs on his Decade album, or do “Like a Hurricane,” as many from the audience were screaming at him to do.
What you will see is a legendary musician playing some great music with some other great artists and having a great time. I’d suggest seeing him and going with the flow of the evening. It’ll be worth the investment.
