Neil Young News: Antwerpen, Belgium Neil Young Concert Reviews: 6/6/09

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Saturday, June 06, 2009

Antwerpen, Belgium Neil Young Concert Reviews: 6/6/09

Neil Young will be performing tonight at Sportpaleis, Antwerpen, Belgium.

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Check Sugar Mountain for setlist updates. Also, see Grid Chart on Rust Radio.

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23 Comments:

At 6/06/2009 06:48:00 PM, Michiel said...: This was my second time seeing Young (first at werchter) and I loved it! Great performance, Neil made some fun remarks and seemed really energetic. Beautiful Cortez. And I've been waiting for you was played (a debut I think?) They used the organ they use on like a hurricane for this, it was great! Entire performance was amazing in my opinion, my only complaint would be that like a hurricane was pretty short, maybe Neil wasn't happy with how that song was going? Overall an amazing show.

I think the setlist was something like this, I might have forgotten one but I'm not sure:

Love And Only Love / Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black) / Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere / Pocahontas / Spirit Road / Cortez The Killer / Cinnamon Girl / Mother Earth / Goin' Back / Don't Let It Bring You Down / Comes A Time (false start) / Heart Of Gold / Old Man / Mansion On The Hill / I've Been Waiting For You / Rockin' In The Free World // Like A Hurricane
At 6/06/2009 07:31:00 PM, Luc said...: Mixed feelings about the gig. Saw him for the 11th time, and left a bit disappointed.
It seems he's doing a "Greatest Hits" Tour in Europe, nothing of " Fork in the road", no "Tonight's The Night", or "Speaking Out".
Though I love the Grunge version of "Pocahontas" (in which he started with the second verse)
Got the impression that Neil is doing a Farewell Tour here in Europe, and that he wants to play itsafe.
Well Neil, If You might read this, and it should be a Farewell tour, don't give a sh**,do play songs of Fork in the road, and surprise us night after night, just like You did last year.
At 6/06/2009 08:31:00 PM, It's... said...: Michiel
Glad to hear you liked it - I'm going to see him today in Rotterdam.

I am no expert in what Neil Young has played before but he did play "I've Been Waiting for You" at Bospop 2008.
At 6/07/2009 02:08:00 AM, Anonymous said...: ... and at the Hop Farm.
At 6/07/2009 02:46:00 AM, Andy said...: He played 'I've Been Waiting For You' throughout his 2001 tour of Europe.
At 6/07/2009 03:23:00 AM, Michiel said...: I meant to say I think it was the first time he played it on this tour of course, sorry about that :)
I hope he isn't doing a farewell tour! I would have loved to hear the Tonight's the night songs too, but I wasn't really hoping for them too much.
At 6/07/2009 03:27:00 AM, Michiel said...: This setlist was on last.fm and I think it's a little more accurate:

1. LOVE AND ONLY LOVE (Ragged Glory)
2. HEY HEY, MY MY (Rust Never Sleeps)
3. EVERYBODY KNOWS THIS IS NOWHERE (Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere)
4. POCAHONTAS (Rust Never Sleeps)
5. SPIRIT ROAD (Chrome Dreams II)
6. CORTEZ THE KILLER (Zuma)
7. CINNAMON GIRL (Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere)
8. MOTHER EARTH (Ragged Glory)
9. DON'T LET IT BRING YOU DOWN (After The Goldrush)
10. GOING BACK (Comes A Time)
11. HEART OF GOLD (Harvest)
12. COMES A TIME (Comes A Time)
13. OLD MAN (Harvest)
14. MANSION ON THE HILL (Ragged Glory)
15. I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU (Neil Young)
16. ROCKIN' IN THE FREE WORLD (Freedom)

Bis

17. LIKE A HURRICANE (American Stars 'n' Bars)
At 6/07/2009 04:05:00 AM, pieceofcrap said...: Sure sounds like a bit less-than-adventurous setlist this time around. Of course, the 2008 Europe setlist (especially the acoustic half)was mind-blowing (almost as good as the archives ;-)
I'm seeing the show tonight in Rotterdam. We'll just have to wait and see. Just hearing Goin'Back live can make it all worthwhile, as far as I'm concerned.
Would love to hear "Fork in the Road" performed, though, and will yell out like a maniac for it. Song is something like a latter-day, grown -up version of 'Sugar Mountain' anyway, so shouting for it seems appropriate.
At 6/07/2009 07:02:00 AM, Anonymous said...: way too many "hits" on this early part of the tour...what has happened to you Neil?
Two months ago you were rocking albuquerque, speaking out and tonight's the night! Sorry but no one wants to hear heart of gold, old man or needle and the damage done! Revolution blues, change your mind, bad fog or the FITR stuff!
At 6/07/2009 07:16:00 AM, Luc said...: To anonymous 07:02

Exactly my Point.
But let's stay friendly to the Man who gave us so much pleasure, so much good music...
And Admit : he was in a hell of a mood yesterday. Never saw him challenging the seated folks like he did yesterday.
Maybe the fact that he wàs having a good time,made me expect more...
Nevertheless : NEIL YOUNG IS RELIGION
At 6/07/2009 08:26:00 AM, Anonymous said...: Funny - some months ago all people were complaining about Neil only playing new stuff, and FITR-stuff. Now we are complaing about Neil only playing old stuff, and no new songs, no FITR-songs. It's not easy being Neil... ;-)
At 6/07/2009 08:28:00 AM, Anonymous said...: And by the way - Neil, if you read this: Please play Words. It's one of your best songs, and real good in concert.
At 6/07/2009 08:47:00 AM, Luc said...: I don't think that here in Europe, we were complaining about Neil playing new songs. E.G. Colmar, where he played Sea Change twice, and the crowd went berzerk.
I just wanted to point out that Neil built enough credibility in Belgium (& the Nethelands) to take some risks.
So, indeed it's not easy being Neil; and on the other hand, Neil will always be Neil(=doing what h wants to).
That's why we love him and his music.
At 6/07/2009 09:15:00 AM, RSS said...: its unfortunate neil only plays the hits in his live concerts.

fortunately he has over 600 of em to pick from.

tonight will be my 6th show in 2 years and each has been a bit different and unbelievable.

I saw him in Amsterdam in early 2008 and again in the summer and no hidden path was awsome......with everyone complaining about a 20 minute solo. I complained too....it was too short.

I just hope he is in a great mood tonight and we get yet another night of "greatest hits"

On to Rotterdam in an hour.

Cheers

RSS
At 6/07/2009 09:35:00 AM, Anonymous said...: I was at all three concerts Neil played in Belgium the past two years and this was definitely not my number one: very "safe" setlist and the sound balance was not optimal, the Sportpaleis is notorious for that. Neil's voice seemed to drown out during the electric set. Finally is it just me who is longing back to hear for example the Ragged Glory songs performed with Crazy Horse again? Nothing against Rosas or Keith, they are fine musicians. But not rockers. The only (and lonely?) rocker I saw yesterday was good old Neil himself!

Bert from Antwerp
At 6/08/2009 04:16:00 AM, Leslie in Utrecht said...: As a non-jaded Neil concertgoer I loved the Antwerp show. I've only had the fortune to catch him a couple of times, so announcements like "sorry but no one wants to hear..." seem arrogant, pointless and just plain silly. Don't speak for me. I want to hear them, and I enjoyed all of the songs that were played!

I "did my homework" this spring listening to FITR and getting into it more and more but I'm not demanding a refund due to the lack of inclusion of these songs. Neil is not a jukebox to respond to your drop a quarter demands, geez, this fan entitlement business is sad.

Back to the good stuff: for a stadium rawk show the sound was fine, and the high tech screens on either side of the stage made it a more intimate experience, seeing the little splotches of colored ink stains on Neil's white shirt, and all the gouges and scratches on his guitar, for example.

The crowd was lovely. In front of us there was a family with two kids, maybe 8 and 11 years old? They were having a great time, too. Reminded me of going with my parents to rocking good shows in the late Seventies at that age, what a treat.
At 6/08/2009 09:51:00 AM, franz said...: Well, I've been attending Neil's concerts since Roma 1982 and I've been to a good number of shows (plus all the other ones I listened to). I was in Antwerp and I do not agree with the negative comments about the show. Sure they only played 17 songs, sure the set-list was quite 'safe', sure I would have preferred Crazy Horse on Hurricane and Cortez. But did you notice how intense the whole performance was? Did you notice how "big" the slower version of HHMM sounded? Did you notice the energy into RITFW? Plus we got electric Pocahontas, Goin' Back, Mansion on the Hill, I've Been Waiting For You. How many times did you hear them live in the past?
Nevertheless I still have one big complaint myself: not having the chance to catch another show this time around.

Francesco
At 6/08/2009 10:58:00 AM, Anonymous said...: I was there, my first Neil concert, shame on me as I do own 15 of his LPs and played them zillion times. The concert was simply fantastic and I'll definitely be there when he's in my neighbourhood again.
One comment about the "safe" setlist. As with Dylan, his songs are a constant work in progress. The way he treated Pocahonts, for instance, which rose out of a lot of grungy noise, was beautiful and unexpected. But maybe I'm saying this because I'm a first timer.
And something else: he's singing better than ever, isn't he? What stopped bme becoming a real fan was the all too high-pitched voice. It has deepened a bit, and there's a slight voice reverb that makes his voice just a tad richer.
So yes, at 41 it finally dawned on le that Neil is the Real Deal.
At 6/08/2009 11:33:00 AM, Anonymous said...: Its funny how last tour some (4%) fans were upset by the inclusion of FITR tunes, now the issue is exclusion of those very songs ... fair enough, but it seems standard that Neil moves on pretty quickly and then resurrects the songs years or decades later ... its interesting to see a number of "Comes A Time" tunes and I'm wondering if he's already tinkering with Archives II and that's why we're seeing more mid 70s tunes creeping into the set lists, kinda like we saw Harvest tunes creeping in a year and a half ago when they were hard at work on Archives I ... in terms of the comments about a fairwell tour of Europe, I would say just the opposite, Neil has been touring extensively on Europe over the past couple years and seems to be loving it ... finally, with respect to the songs he's playing it seems like the best way to be pleased is to go in with the realization that whatever Neil wants to play is better than what you want to hear .. since he seems to play what's relevant to him at the time the songs are fresh, powerful, moving ... I'd rather hear any song in his cannon fresh than a tired version of a classic song ... and that's one of Neil's great qualities, he doesn't play tired versions of classics ... if its tired he doesn't play it.
At 6/08/2009 01:54:00 PM, Popmaniac said...: Well, Antwerp on 6th June was my first time in a Neil Young concert though I have been a fan all my life and waited 20 years for this!!

The reason (tied to my comment)?

I am Greek and have been living abroad only for the last 4 years, and unfortunately the concert circuit in Greece is ran by a cartel who never bring big names that are not by definition going to make a huge hit.

Well, in my case the 'greatest hits' concert was actually everything I could ask for - not that I would not want new songs but having waited 20 years and having bought all his records, well.... You get the picture!!!!

So, without a doubt it was FANTASTIC with one major comment:

The crowd was so passive that it irritated Neil Young (reming you all his comment "I xould introduce you to my friends on stage but you are so quiet I am afraid I will scare you?) for sure...

What is wrong with you Belgians?????

A rock concert is a ROCK concert, get off your confy butts, stop just standing there, stop clapping as if you are watching a tennis game and dance!!!

This is sort of a constant in Antwerp as I have seen the same thing with so many other concerts.

Liven up people!!!!!
At 6/09/2009 01:21:00 PM, smudger said...: Excellent gig. Thankfully he played nothing from Fork in the Road, which is one of his worst CDs ever. Come to think of it, he's recorded nothing brilliant since Rust Never Sleeps. OK, so this was bit of a "Best of..." gig, but nothing wrong with that, particularly when he was on such good form, and his backing band were also top-notch.
At 6/14/2009 04:04:00 PM, This Note's For You! said...: Beetje later dan anders, maar daarom niet minder: wel integendeel: perfect concert!
http://users.telenet.be/piet.vercaempst/Muziek/Concerten/2009/neilyoung.htm
At 6/15/2009 04:41:00 PM, Anonymous said...: Hi, I'm seeing Neil for the first time on the 23rd (my excuse for it being the first time is that i'm only a kid!) and was wondering if anyone knows what sort of time he's usually on stage for? Thanks!!

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