The small Webster Bank Arena usually hears the roar from its Sound Tigers (whatever the hell one of those are) but on this night the thundering came from an old rumbling Crazy Horse. Riding on the back of the outfit’s newest offering Psychedelic Pill, the band was pulling this successful tour to a close on this night in Connecticut.
Before they hit the stage though Patti Smith and her band played a short but inspired set, opening with “Dancing Barefoot”. Patti’s band had longtime cohort Lenny Kaye directing traffic as he and Smith started strumming acoustically for “Beneath The Southern Cross”. The song was dedicated to her deceased brother and was the highlight of her outing with a compelling rising climax and fluid electric guitar solo from the fisherman hated gentleman on the side of the stage who looked an awful lot like Tom Verlaine. The group closed with a powerful “Babelogue/Rock N Roll Nigger” connection as the older, firmly in society crowd, applauded.
The main set started right away as roadies dressed as mad scientists and construction workers got things ready before prerecorded versions of “A Day In The Life” and “The Star Spangled Banner” played. The foursome then suited up and ripped directly into “Love And Only Love”. The opener found the group huddled around each other weaving in and out like the oldest, most successful garage band in the world (which they are) seemingly ecstatic to be live on stage trading licks.
“Powderfinger” found one of the all time great electric guitarists in a languid and fluid mood, playing the classic riff in silky fashion. The band then focused heavily on newer material, the two best performances being, “Walk Like A Giant” and “Ramada Inn”. “Walk Like A Giant” was all aggression featuring multiple distortion breakdowns with the song proper lasting over 15 minutes before the band went full on noise freak-out that sent chills for over 10 minutes; a monster. “Ramada Inn” focused more on the broken home story telling, injecting melancholy yet powerful solos from Young when needed.
The band hasn’t switched up their setlist at all on this tour (minus some small encore adjustments) but their stage show, and playing have been well refined. After the abrasive “Walk Like A Giant” Young played “The Needle In And The Damage Done” to the largest ovation of the night, however it is always odd to hear a crowd joyfully singing along to this dark and painful song.
Other well received numbers were “Cinnamon Girl” whose meaty riffs rung out stoutly and “Mr Soul” with its 60’s feeling. The stomping crunch of “Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black)” was earth pounding to close the set before the hippy-fied “Roll Another Number” ended this tour (barring a recently announced Sandy Benefit).
When Neil Young locks sonic horns with Crazy Horse, magic always happens, no matter the decade. While the players on stage (and the crowd for that matter) may not look their best (or the part) they are certainly continuing to dig down deep and play some of the most spirited rock and roll around.
Setlist
Love and Only Love
Powderfinger
Born in Ontario
Walk Like a Giant
The Needle and the Damage Done
(Solo, Acoustic)
Twisted Road
Singer Without a Song
Ramada Inn
Cinnamon Girl
Fuckin’ Up
Mr. Soul
(Buffalo Springfield song)
Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)
Encore:
Roll Another Number
