Remembering: Neil Young and the Restless - Seattle 2/21/89 show

Here's a 20th Anniversary review of the first live performance of Neil Young's song “Rockin’ In The Free World” by Chris Horn. Chris wrote the review back in 2003 and was completely blown away that night and holds this show as one of his all time favorite live performance experiences. During this tour Neil was playing new songs that would end up on his ‘Freedom’ release.

Here is what Chris wrote about that night:

It was a rainy night and along the sidewalk near the Paramount Theater not a spare ticket was in sight. Having just moved to the area and the delightful news of a Neil show so soon, came the reality of it being sold out. I was under an umbrella, a block away, with a finger pointed up as the cars rolled by toward parking lots. A van pulled over asking if I needed one. Instant friendships were established in that grateful dead sticker clad vehicle as I hopped in to ride with them as they found a place to park.

We were 13th row almost center and I was in heaven.

The show stared innocently enough. Some solo acoustic of the very familiar variety. “Comes A Time” “Sugar Mountain” “Needle” “Goldrush” all performed very well.

The first hint that something special was in store was when Neil introduced Ben Keith on slide guitar. He then grabbed a banjo and I couldn’t believe it when they played “For The Turnstiles”. That was amazing, performed to perfection, and I didn’t think I’d ever hear it live. There were chuckles as he sang “who charge $40 at the door.”

He then brought the band out.

“I’m goin’ to bring a few of my friends out here”

“How ya doin’ out there”

“Time to get warmed up little now”

“This is a song, uh. A song I wrote, um, back there somewhere, I never made a record of it”

They then played “Siver And Gold”.

I know he said at Bridge a few years back that he tried different versions of this song and solo acoustic was his favorite at that time, but I’ll always love this one with Ben on peddle steel.

Long live Ben Keith on peddle steel guitar!!!!!

“Some of you might find yourself in this song”, said prior to playing “Days That Used To Be”.

Neil said before the next song.

“This guy asked him ‘Roy (Orbison) do you get sick of doing your old hits?’. (Roy replies) ‘No. No I don’t. As a matter of fact there was a time when I didn’t want anything more in the world than a hit. All I wanted to get was a hit. Just one hit. I like to do hits.’”

“This hit’s for you Roy!”

He then played “Heart Of Gold”.

Prior to leaving the stage for a break he said “We’ll be back in a few minutes to play some other kind of music for you.”

Before the second set, as the band was getting ready to start again, some audience feedback – “Rock And Roll!!!!” “Turn It Up!” Turn It Up!”

Hehe, little did we know just how much Neil would turn it up and blow our socks off.

They came charging out with a blistering “Heavy Love”. But the next tune “Don’t Cry” really shook the building and everyone to their core during the earthquake crunch cords.

All the new songs were amazing and instantly joyful to hear.

“Box Car” was spooky and put me in a zone not felt very often during new songs. The clanging sound of banging on a railroad rail added just the right touch, same thing during “Don’t Cry”.

The extended ending during “Mr. Soul” was at times driving and at others moaning while a hint of “Like A Hurricane” was thrown in mix.

Band introductions where preceded by this: “The Restless, Lost Dogs, Buffalo Chips, we change our name every 15 seconds. Because we’re getting older and things are going faster now.”

On to the very special treat of treats of the night.

“None of us have heard this song before except me. I don’t even know the words. It’s not Bad Fog, no.”

“It’s Rockin’ In The Free World.”

“It’s the first time anywhere.”

“You might hear a few mistakes but that’s not really very different from our other songs.”

“Now I just have to remember it myself.”

“So what’s going to happen now, it’s going to be like no one’s going to know what’s going on. And then it’s going to take form. This is like an art thing and it’s going to take form.”

“By the end, we’re all going to be rockin’ in the free world.”

They launch into this instant classic and everybody is obeying the call, dancing, shaking, wooooping, almost levitating to this wondrous performance. Maybe for extra practice they play the ‘1,000 points of lights’ verse twice.

“Bad Fog Of Loneliness” then followed and another song I didn’t ever expect to hear live.

Yet another “Hurricane” riff during HHMM’s ending.

Encores:

“On Broadway” was quite the unexpected surprise in a show packed with them. I loved this cover complete with “gimmie some of that crack!”

Topping off the night was the most unreal “Tonight’s The Night”. I hold this one as my benchmark for all other’s I’ve heard/hear, very passionate. It’s painful to hear Neil go into a sequence where he is talking to Bruce and every time Neil would say something a loud note would interrupt him as if Bruce is blocking it out and not listening.

The band singing in the background, “tonight’s the night, tonight’s the night……’

“Bruce. Bruce put that shit down…” <>
“Put that shit away…” <>
“Put that shit away…” <>
“You sell your guitar…” <>
“Sell all your shit…” <>
“Sell it!” <>
“Trade it in…” <>
“shit”
“SHIT! Bruce”
“Play your guitaaaaaar” (in a soft moaning voice)

“GO BRUCE!!!!!”

They then pull out all the stops with Neil wailing on ol’ black for a pounding ending.


** 1st set ** Comes A Time / Sugar Mountain / The Needle And The Damage Done / After The Gold Rush / For The Turnstiles / Silver And Gold / The Ways Of Love / Days That Used To Be / Heart Of Gold

** 2nd set ** Heavy Love / Don't Cry / Cocaine Eyes / Eldorado / Box Car / Mr. Soul / Cinnamon Girl / Rockin' In The Free World / Bad Fog Of Loneliness / Down By The River / Hey Hey, My My

** Encores ** On Broadway / Tonight's The Night

What a night and above all the new songs performed so well I still treasure that special nugget “For The Turnstiles”.

Thanks for the memories of that historic night Chris! A great review.

You can read more of Chris Horn's work and see his photos on Winterland Stories -- the legendary San Francisco music hall.

Also, see lyrics analysis of “Rockin’ In The Free World” and more Neil Young Concert Reviews.

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Graham Nash Says Career Retrospective Is Just the Beginning

An interview with Graham Nash on his new box set Reflections from Spinner.com where he says his career retrospective is just the beginning:

Q: For the second album, 'Déjà Vu,' the band added Neil Young. How did that happen?

Graham Nash: It came about because we realized that with this great record, people would want to see us and therefore we had to go out on the road. David and I are decent rhythm guitar players, but we couldn't provide Stephen with what he was getting from Neil Young when they played in Buffalo Springfield. They were two stags on the sides of the stage dueling it out with their guitars and entering into a musical conversation with each other. After a few names were bandied around, Neil's came up and I quite frankly said, 'I know Neil's a great, great songwriter, but I don't know who he is. I would like to spend some time with him before we let him into the band.' So I went to breakfast with him in Greenwich Village, and after that I would have made Neil Young president. He was very funny, very confident. He was just a very solid individual and it was very obvious from the first day I met him."

More on Graham Nash's new box set Reflections.

(Thanks! You'll be supporting Thrasher's Wheat).

More on Graham Nash and Neil Young.

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Adam Sandler Covers Neil Young's "Like a Hurricane"

Adam Sandler Performs Neil Young's "Like a Hurricane" from David Letterman


This somewhat bizarre cover of Neil Young's "Like a Hurricane" by comedian-actor Adam Sandler is featured on the new Covered, A Revolution In Sound:Warner Bros. Records.



1. Mastodon: "Just Got Paid" (by ZZ Top)
2. The Black Keys: "Her Eyes Are A Blue Million Miles" (by Captain Beefheart)
3. Michelle Branch: "A Case Of You" (by Joni Mitchell)
4. Against Me!: "Here Comes A Regular" (by The Replacements)
5. Missy Higgins: "More Than This" (by Roxy Music)
6. James Otto: "Into The Mystic" (by Van Morrison)
7. Adam Sandler: "Like A Hurricane" (by Neil Young)
8. Taking Back Sunday: "You Wreck Me" (by Tom Petty)
9. The Used: "Burning Down The House" (by Talking Heads)
10. Disturbed: "Midlife Crisis" (by Faith No More)
11. Avenged Sevenfold: "Paranoid" (by Black Sabbath)
12. The Flaming Lips With Stardeath And White Dwarfs: "Borderline" (by Madonna)

More on Covered, A Revolution In Sound:Warner Bros. Records
(Thanks! You'll be supporting Thrasher's Wheat).

More on the writing of "Like a Hurricane".

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“I head for the sticks with my bus and friends ”

I head for the sticks with my bus and friends,
I follow the road, though I don't know where it ends.
Get out of town, get out of town, think I'll get out of town.

Taking a few days off from blogging so hopefully things continue smoothly. We've loaded a few posts for auto-publish so we'll see how that works. And adjust the comments settings to try and keep things under control.

It's been a pretty amazing 2009 so far:

"Keep on bloggin'
`Til the power goes out
The batteries dead
Twist and shout"

- lyrics referring to bloggers on "Fork in the Road":



- A Wish For Harvest Moon comes true for Danielle and Steve when Neil "takes a request from the internet".



- our new logos by Geoff Moore and HM Osterhout.



- 1.20.09: Be the rain, be the change, a sea change, be the wheat

Peace.

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Grovel: Brisbane, Australia - 1/21/09

So we don't usually grovel here for concert recordings.

But we're really trying to get our ears on Brisbane, Australia - 1/21/09.

This show is real special to us after the heartbreaking song request for Harvest Moon in Brisbane, Australia.

And then, unbelievably, Neil "takes a request from the internet" and plays "Harvest Moon".

The requesting couple Danielle and Steve were over the moon in joy that Neil had heard about the request and performed the song.

This was a one-off performance not played elsewhere on the tour.

So please let us know about Brisbane, Australia - 1/21/09 at thrasher@thrasherswheat.org

Thanks!

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Randomly Blogged: Never Ending Tour Continues, Photos, New Neil website

- The never ending tour continues.

Lots of press on Neil Young coming to the New Orleans Jazz Festival, but not much notice of a Spring tour of the south as the never ending tour continues. Neil Young confirmed for New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival - Times-Picayune - NOLA.com

Trying to book Franklin and Young for 2009 wasn't an "either-or" situation, Davis said. He would have found slots for both while assembling the jigsaw puzzle-like schedule.

"There are so many things that click and turn and fall in and fall out. This one is ready to confirm, that one isn't, you're waiting to hear. Performance days, places and times move."

Young has long occupied a slot on the festival's wish list. "We tried to get him every year for 10 years," Davis said. "A lot of different factors were involved. Wanting it to happen is not enough."

Some years, Young would not be on tour in the spring. Or else he would be touring with show he didn't think would work at Jazz Fest, such as his acoustic show.

"Negotiating is easier than whether or not you can get the artist on tour, with his band, at that moment in his career when he's totally into rocking out," Davis said. "Neil Young has no shortage of great moments, but the current great moment is perfect for us."

Discussions with Young's camp about a 2009 performance began in November. Davis knows Young's legendary booking agent, Marsha Vlasic, who had previously booked Van Morrison at Jazz Fest. She assembled a string of Southern concert dates so Young's tour routing could include the festival.

"She gets a lot of the credit for working to make this happen," Davis said.

A Neil tour of the south could be truly interesting and make NOJF a mere footnote. Hopefully, Neil will have a better reception in Atlanta this time?

- Photos of Neil Young and Wilco - New York, NY - Madison Square Garden - 12/15/08 :: Paste (concert reviews).

- A Neil Young fan's office birthday party


Cheryl M's Office Birthday Party

Just wanted to thank you for all you do to bring the Neil news to all of us. My husband and I support you through a monthly donation. Keep up the good work!!! I also wanted to let you know that there are still a lot of us older Neil fans around. Today is my 53rd birthday and I wanted to share a couple of photos with you. My colleagues know that I am a Big Neil fan, so they made a huge birthday card for me from Neil (See Photos). Just wanted to share the fun and say thanks again for all you do.

Cheryl
Big Neil Fan in Texas

Happy Birthday Cheryl! That's great to have such cool office mates!

- Mark E.'s Tatoo of Continental Tour Logo



Ahh, the diversity of the Neil community.

- New look and feel over on NeilYoung.dk, the Danish Neil Young site. Peter Thielst in Copenhagen, Denmark writes us:

Hi there thrasherswheat!

Let me start by thanking you for this great site. It's in my opinion the by far coolest place get all the latest and most specific news about Neil.

After having started my own Neil Young solo cover project - The Loner - I needed a website for the thing. At the same time I thought that we needed a Neil Young fan site in Denmark.

So I combined the two and made www.neilyoung.dk.

First of all it's a fan site. The idea is to give the danish fans an introduction to Neil by finding and translating all the goodies I find on my way around the internet.
But during this spring the site will also be hosting my schedule and concert plan. Of course it's only danish venues for now, but anyway...

Feel free to take a look and link to www.neilyoung.dk.

You can see my banner ad for The Loner on the frontpage to the right.

Thanks again for being a big inspiration for me to make this site.

- Don’t Spook The Horse - The Neil Young Tribute Band » Recordings

- “They put me down for fuckin’ around with things I didn’t understand… for getting involved with something I shouldn’t have been involved with… well, FUCK THEM", says Neil Young regarding experiments like TRANS | Sound Affects | PopMatters

- Ear Candle Productions: DVD Of The Fortnight: CSNY Deja Vu

- Photos of 1983 Neil Young Solo Trans Tour by Gil Garcia

Be the Rain.
Be the Change.
Be the Wheat.

Peace,
Joe the Blogger

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Be On My Side, I'll Be On Your Side: The Myth of Washed Up Neil

UPDATE: 2/16 - Incredibly, the myth of the myth itelf is perpetuated even further in today's OregonLive.com's Hard Drive: A commuting blog by Joseph Rose "Neil Young's concept album about eco-friendly cars puzzles fans, critics - Has Neil Young lost his hybrid-loving mind?".

The Oregon Live article feeds off the following blog post. Right down to the exact quotes and link sources. Thanks Joseph. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Thanks Tony!

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Fans Cough Up The Buck$ for new Neil Young songs @
Madison Square Garden, NYC, NY - 12/15/2008
The Ground Zero of Capitalism

There's a Bailout comin'
And it's not for you.

Last month, we wrote about the new songs that Neil Young debuted on tour in 2008 and the extraordinary reaction by fans and critics.

We had been hearing them out on the road live for the first time and absorbing their freshness when it became apparent that not everyone was enamored with new Neil songs. Hmm, how odd?

The latest round on the uproar over Neil's unrelenting creativity was sparked by our blogging which led off with the truly despicably bizarre review of the MSG, NYC shows in the Village Voice by Rob Harvilla titled "Let's Avoid Neil Young's Next Record: The old stuff enthralls, but the new stuff terrorizes at MSG":

"I am struggling to think of anyone who could possibly give less of a fuck about what you think of his/her new album than Neil Young does. But each song tonight creates an unpleasant binary effect: Love it if we immediately recognize it; barely tolerate it if we don't."

"The crowd's restlessness is painfully evident, particularly in the case of two stupendously drunk older ladies in my row who start booing loudly and shouting, "You suck!" into the bug-/buck-coughing din. [sic]"

Harvilla's review goes on to report "that only 60% of the original audience remained by the end of the show" which was total utter rubbish as was his characterizations of the audience demeanor. See this photo from the concert's conclusion and note that it is 100% full and these 100+ ecstatic review blog comments.


Neil Young and His Electric Band
Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York - Dec. 15, 2008
Photo by penfifteenclub on Flickr

Village Voice critic Harvilla was contacted for this blog but he refused to provide comment.

In addition to blogging on Harvilla's lame review we then blogged this comment on the new song "FORK IN THE ROAD":

"The other car songs featured on tour are decidedly bad, but this 'Fork in the Road' song is so distressingly awful that it almost seems like a joke. So hideous that one almost has to laugh at the situation. Would a record company actually listen to this garbage and then agree to release it? At some point, they're going to have to take a stand - right? I'm actually rooting for the record company here."

Now it gets interesting. Next, Thrasher's Wheat blog gets picked up by the U.K.'s The Guardian newspaper headlined "Neil Young fans upset that he is releasing a new album" by "reporter" Sean Michaels:

For months now, Young obsessives have been awaiting the release of Archives Volume 1 – a vast library of early recordings, in the form of 10 Blu-ray discs. This week, however, reports have emerged that an album of new Neil Young material – called Fork In the Road – will pre-empt Archives, pushing its February release back into spring.

Often, this would call for celebration. Who needs old material when you are being offered shiny, new songs by a music legend? Alas, that's not what Neil Young's fans seem to be thinking. They have heard these new songs – on Young's recent tour, or in a new viral video – and let's just say they don't like them very much.

"Would a record company actually listen to this garbage and then agree to release it?" asked one fan at the popular Thrasher's Wheat site. "At some point, they're going to have to take a stand – right? I'm actually rooting for the record company here."

With Fork In the Road, Young seems to be exploring three things – dirty blues, direct lyrics, and his LincVolt electric car project. That all sounds well and good until you hear the opening lyrics of the title track.

"Got a pot belly," Young sings, "It's not too big / Gets in my way / When I'm driving my rig."

The video – clearly a webcam recording of Old Shakey chomping on an apple, mouthing along, cotton buds in his ears – doesn't inspire much confidence. A few minutes in, he sings about blogging. Later in the video he plays air guitar as a flat-screen TV seems to be repossessed. Commentary on the financial crisis? Maybe. Revelatory rock music? Says a fan of his for the past 20 years: "This new stuff is simply the most tired music I've ever heard from Neil."

Instantly, The Guardian newspaper article using Thrasher's Wheat original premise with Harvilla's angle and then cherry-picking, an out-of-context quote from Rust starts to ricochet through the internet echo chamber.

- Neil Young to Release Potentially Batshit Concept Album | Pitchfork

- Neil Young's Electric Car Songs Make Some Regret That 'Rust Never Sleeps' - Business and Media

- Neil Young's Archives delayed - Peterborough Examiner - Ontario, CA

- Neil Young’s New Album To Be All About Eco Cars // Archives // ecorazzi.com :: the latest in green gossip:

"The other car songs featured on tour are decidedly bad, but this ‘Fork in the Road’ song is so distressingly awful that it almost seems like a joke,” said one reviewer on the Thrashers Wheat website. “So hideous that one almost has to laugh at the situation."

- CANOE -- JAM! - Neil Young box set delayed again

- Neil Young loses mind, legitimacy on new album – Spectator Blog

- Neil Young to Release Album About Eco-Cars | RiverWired

- Neil Young to release worst album (all electric car songs) in history of music - I Hate the Media: "You won’t get much of an argument from anyone if you say Neil Young is the worst singer in the history of rock ‘n roll."

The pedantically opining critics with their false assertions, canards and tropes on Neil's creative decline and fan revolts seems to play into the hands of all the deniers and doubters.

So let us take some creative license here with one of our all time favorite bloggers Glenn Greenwald who does the smackdown so diplomatically:

"There are times when the glaring ignorance one encounters from people who are paid to write about music issues is so severe -- so illustrative of how distorted and misleading our musical discourse is -- that it's impossible to ignore even though one would really like to.

This is what happens constantly -- ill-motivated and/or ill-informed people spout the most blatant falsehoods, using their venues and credentials to mislead others on these sorts of issues.

It really isn't that hard to refrain from writing about things or making statements about matters that you know absolutely nothing about, or at least to spend a small amount of time finding out before using a platform like The Village Voice or a large blog or a college degree to spout whatever pops into your head."

Thanks Glenn! (fyi - good blog by Glenn).

Obviously, folks who don't "get Neil" just don't have a clue.


"Fork In the Road" Video

But there are those who do "get it" like over on the blog Seeking Alpha "Neil Young's Message to Wall St." regarding the new song and video "Fork in the Road":

"Are we listening?

You can dismiss it as 'just a rock song,' but personally I think that's a mistake. Neil Young is not only a big rock star, but a profoundly patriotic guy who is engaged in the issues of the day. He's turning his old Lincoln into an electric car and he performs at benefits for farmers and the poor and the other left-behind people he sings about. He's also been a good barometer of what people are thinking; remember, long before the outcome of last year's election was obvious to anyone, he sang:

Someone walks among us, and I hope he hears the call.
Maybe it's a woman, or a black man after all.

No business exists without public permission, and in finance that means the trust and confidence of investors and the public at large. The events of the last year have wiped out any good will that the Street might have had. Neil Young has just delivered a little musical reminder that we have a long road ahead to get it back. And if it's not too corny for me to say it, the road back is paved with transparency and good practices."

And the mainstream press continues to perpetuate the burned out Neil the hippie meme in TIME magazine "Neil Young's Bailout Song" by Claire Suddath which frames the old versus new debate:

"The song, 'Fork in the Road,' is allegedly the title track off a forthcoming album, and its home-movie quality video features Young wearing headphones plugged into an apple (oh, he is so clever) and moving around in quasi-dance motions like an aging hippie rocking out to the same classic jam he's been listening to for the past four decades.

To be fair, it's hard to write music about the economy. No one has ever come out with a great 'Invisible Hand' anthem or a theme song about price elasticity and wage rates. But that doesn't stop Young from trying; the latter part of his 2008 world tour concerts were peppered with angry rants about the financial collapse. Last November he even released his own plan for saving the U.S. auto industry. Young aimed to tackle 'the issue of global warming from our automobiles while enhancing our National Security and keeping Detroit working.'

Wow, did the Woodstock generation get boring or what?"

And this from Snapped Shot on "The Grammy-Baiting Neil Young":

"I bet if the other tracks on Neil Young's new albums deal with other such controversial material, such as shrinking rainforests, the depleted ozone layer, and global warming, he'd be a shoo-in for this year's Grammy Awards, despite the fact that this could quite possibly be be the worst song, ever."

From Consequence of Sound "Neil Young goes “mental” on new album" by Michael Roffman:

Neil Young is, for the lack of a better word, insane.

But that’s why we love him, right? His music is turbulent and fierce, always engaging the listener with apocalyptic discourse that’s both surreal and rather grim, and his image is iconic. Just by looking at him, one could assess that not everything’s all together with the ol’ Canadian songwriter. He looks like an ex-grunge rocker, and even though he’s pushing sixty-four years of age, he carries it off like a teenager. So, it should come as no surprise that he’s just as angsty and bitter as one, too."

But many Neil fans do "get it" like the oh-so elegant Anonymous:

Neil to his credit seems to take it in stride in the 'Fork' video. I think he's often way ahead of many fans. He's been criticized for things over the years, but he just keeps going forward, and then in retrospect many fans come around to seeing (and appreciating) where he was coming from, or that he's so prolific they move onto focus on his next great project.

Either way, the criticism seems petty when seen in context of what he's done and what he'll do. Second, I think the journalist on Guardian.com deserves a black mark for writing a very slanted Anti-Neil article. For every complaint there is another fan praising but few if any of the positive comments were highlighted in the article. The cynic in me says that most journalists are at heart focused on getting paid so critical, slanted articles create controversy and they sell better. I don't think that author had something unique or sincere to say.

Finally, I think some people are wired to complain so they'll complain no matter how many great projects, shows, songs, album Neil does, they'll focus on the one aspect they don't like and blow it out of proportion. To Neil's credit he's made a career of completely ignoring the complainers, the journalists, and even devoted fans and all the while managing to stay a few steps ahead.

Gary A. adds:

I would be the last person to tell Neil what to play and what to release, and I think we all do a great disservice to him, and also disrespect him, to ask him to not follow his heart and release whatever the hell he wants to release.

So, for the critics in all of us, here's a little song for you from Martin:

Come gather 'round whiners
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the songs they are a-changin'.

Complainers and whiners
Throughout the land
Do not criticize
What you can't understand
The songs and the lyrics
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin'.
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the songs they are a-changin'.

Had enuf? No??? Then you'll just love "Neil Young Officially Washed Up For All Time" reverse chronology by Bluejay Young.

Or just light a candle my friend because just writing a blog won't change the world.

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