Back in 2003, when Neil Young and Crazy Horse performed Greendale in its entirety to thousand of fans across the globe, you got a sense that no one knew exactly what he was trying to pull off. I was fortunate enough to attend three of those shows, and as satisfied as I was, many people came to the performances expecting more than what they actually got. Of course, it was really just Neil Young being Neil Young – welcoming the moment, and basking in the glow of his new material. It’s what he’s always done, and if you ever buy a ticket to one of his shows, you should know better than to predict anything he might do. But let’s get one thing clear: these days, he’s a million miles from the Double E ranch in Greendale. And even still, he’s the same energetic performer he’s always been.
So when Young came dancing across Lake Michigan to perform at Allstate Arena in Chicago, once again, he had a different bag of tricks. This time, it came packed with hit after hit: an electric and acoustic dream on a snowy and frigid evening.
Opening with Ragged Glory’s “Love and Only Love,” Young proceeded to perform a 21-song set that featured many classics. His legendary guitar, Old Black, was ready for the task – sounding as raw as ever, getting an extreme workout from the 63-year-old Canadian who refused to go through the motions on songs he’s been blasting for years.
You knew the night was special when the second song, “Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black,” sounded as if he had just explored the melody for the first time just minutes before the show. “You pay for this, but they give you that,” he belted out with an intense frown. No one else in the crowd had the same expression.
Young wasted no time to deliver the concert’s highlight, Zuma’s “Cortez the Killer,” which featured a lengthy jam, terrorizing Old Black into creating sounds that only it could produce. After the assumed closing lines to the song, you thought that was it – but there was one more seizure-like solo that made Young’s worn face tremble. The same focus remained through the next tune, a ferocious take on Everybody Knows This is Nowhere’s “Cinnamon Girl,” a moment that Young refused to let die as he played the final riff to both corners of the stage, soaking of the applause of his adoring following.
He did let Old Black rest for a nice acoustic set, highlighted by Harvest’s “Old Man,” complete with Larry Cragg on banjo, and Harvest Moon’s “Unknown Legend,” where Young often smiled at his wife, Pegi, who did her part on upright piano. The set also featured a new tune, “Light a Candle,” which featured the lyric, “"There’s something ahead worth fighting for."
Young continued to fight, knocking out four new unrecorded songs, the best of which featured a chorus of “just singing a song won’t change the world.” The new tunes aren’t necessarily world changers; they appeared to focus on Young’s new goal of building a more fuel-efficient vehicle for the 21st century. He appeared to lose a few fans along the way as he experimented with his new-found love, but he brought the show back into focus with a fiery version of “Cowgirl in the Sand” and the set-closing “Rockin’ in the Free World,” which featured altered lyrics where he sang, “We got a man of the people, says, ‘Yes, we can.”
As usual, Young saved one of the best moments for last: a freaky cover of The Beatles’ “A Day in the Life.” An awkward tune to perform in a live setting, Young mastered the words and music of John Lennon and Co., ultimately ending the song in heroic fashion while completely obliterating Old Black’s guitar strings, swirling them around as if they were on a high-speed rollercoaster. He finally set his precious instrument down in front of a vintage eight-foot Magnatone amp, leaving it as a cathartic display while its feedback consumed every inch of the arena. As Young appeared to leave the stage, he instead walked up to where his wife was standing by the vibraphone, plucked away the mallets that she was holding, and played a final chord.
He had a crazy smile on his face, waved one final time, and he was gone — out of the blue and into the black. Long live Neil Young.
Set List
1. Love and Only Love
2. Hey Hey, My My
3. Everybody Knows This is Nowhere
4. Powderfinger
5. Spirit Road
6. Cortez the Killer
7. Cinnamon Girl
8. Oh, Lonesome Me
9. Mother Earth
10. The Needle and the Damage Done
11. Light a Candle
12. Unknown Legend
13. Old Man
14. Get Back to the Country
15. Just Singing a Song
16. Sea Change
17. When Worlds Collide
18. Fuel Line
19. Cowgirl in the Sand
20. Rockin’ in the Free World
Encore
21. A Day in the Life
