Concert Reviews of Neil Young: Hippodrome, Baltimore, MD, April 27 & 28, 2011
Hippodrome, Baltimore, MD, April 27, 2011
Photo by Thrashette
From Midnight Sun: Take Two: Neil Young at the Hippodrome Theater April 27 - Nightlife: Baltimore’s music, bars, clubs, events and night scene from Erik Maza - baltimoresun.com by Nick Madigan:
Neil Young is determined to prove he can do it alone.
Calmly strolling the stage of Baltimore's Hippodrome as though it were his living room, taking his time to decide what to play next from his vast repertoire and an array of guitars and pianos -- even a pump organ -- Young seemed on Wednesday night to be living his performer's ideal, a musician unencumbered by other musicians, true only to his muse and the vagaries of spontaneous choice.
At 65 years old, and with a five-decade career still going strong, Young long ago earned the right to do whatever he likes. Sometimes, the results are uneven, even startlingly so.
For all his renown as a composer of gentle sensibilities, Young's rock-and-roll has the force of a Sherman tank, all guns firing.
But Young, always self-effacing and painstakingly honest, has never pandered to the desires of anyone, whether acolytes or recording executives, and retains a bemused tolerance for the excesses of the entertainment world and the pressures it brings to others.
From Midnight Sun: Neil Young at the Hippodrome Theater April 27 - baltimoresun.com by Sam Sessa:
Few musicians have stayed as relevant as long as Young.
Even now, when many of his peers have settled into their umpteenth Greatest Hits tour, Young refuses to give people exactly what they want to hear. He'd rather give them what he wants them to hear. That was the case at the Hippodrome Wednesday night, where Young performed solo on acoustic and electric guitar.
Many audience members were expecting a hit parade or an all-request hour, shouting suggestions at Young, who brushed them off. While he did play a handful of his signature pieces, such as 'Ohio,' 'Helpless' and an excellent 'Cortez the Killer,' much of Young's set was music from his latest album, 'Le Noise' and other newer songs.
Young's dimly lit set, with its wooden Indian and hodgepodge of instruments, recalled a rustic saloon. Spotlights cast four rectangular panels on the dark curtain behind him, giving the impression of a church's stained glass windows at twilight.
Scroll down for reader comments on Midnight Sun: Neil Young at the Hippodrome Theater April 27 - baltimoresun.com.
Photo Gallery: Neil Young performing in Baltimore
Neil Young will be performing tonight at Hippodrome, Baltimore, Maryland. Special guest Bert Jansch will open concert.
Got a report? Drop a comment below.
Check Sugar Mountain for setlist updates and Chronological Grid, Recording Summary, Statistics and Extras.
Also, see Neil Young's "Twisted Road" Concert Tour Reviews and the right, middle sidebar for continuous real time RSS feed updates.
by thrasher@PermaLink: 4/27/2011 10:41:00 PM
29 comments
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29 Comments:
And can some at least tell me if Mr. Jansch does "Blacksidewater" or that one song about his sister?
Does he do an instrumental that sounds like "First Time Ever I saw Your Face?" (Anyone old enough to recognize the music?)
Mother Nature on the Run:
I'm sorry that I can't give you any titles of songs that Bert played, but what I can do is mention how beautiful his songs were! I had never heard his music before, but was anticipating hearing him since Neil wanted me to hear him.
I am so thankful that I got to hear this incredible artist play with such depth and glory! His music really touched my heart!
He put the audience in the perfect mood to be ready to hear Neil!
I hope future audiences will get to the theater early enough to enjoy the entire show!!!!
Marian M.
Friends,
Can anyone tell me approx. when Neil's been coming on stage?
Thanks,
Dan
Dan1:
For my show (April 25) Neil started at 9:20 PM and ended at 10:50 PM (exactly one and half hours).
Marian M.
@Marian M.,
Thanks!
Dan
Bert played Blacksidewater at both of the Boston shows. Beautiful song! Also played a lovely instrumental number that is probably the one you are thinking of. Hope that he plays both songs when you see him perform! Not sure as to a song about his sister, but hope that he plays that one too.
And I believe that Neil has started every show around 9:15 p.m. and plays for ninety minutes with no break. You can pretty much set your watch by his arrival on stage, without any announcement. But please do see Bert's set as well, which will begin right around 8 p.m.
He goes right into "Hey, Hey, My, My?"
Last time I saw him he started with "Hank to Hendrix" and people were still walking to their seats during the second song, "Ambulance Blues."
Some people walked in during the second set AFTER "The Loner."
Can you imagine attending a show and missing these songs? Okay, accidents happen and I'll try not to judge, but some of these people were in the bar next door and lost track of time.
What's more important? Arriving impaired so you don't care what you missed? Or arriving on time because you don't want to offend the performer?
Okay, where are you Baltimore???
Where were you sitting, Thrasherette???
Great photo, great review:
But Young, always self-effacing and painstakingly honest, has never pandered to the desires of anyone, whether acolytes or recording executives, and retains a bemused tolerance for the excesses of the entertainment world and the pressures it brings to others.
The Red Wings are comin' to town....
Up late watching Sharks vs Red Wings with my son. Wondering if Neil is also watching the game, and if Ben is watching it with him. Or is Ben back home and at the game right now?
Great game tied 1-1 and OT is just about to start. Sharks tied it up late in the third with a beautiful shot by Joe Thornton that was deflected in by Pavelski. I always loved seeing the Bruins in person when Joe was playing for them. Wish they had never traded him; wonder if Ben and Neil are fans...I bet that they are.
There was a group called The Thornton Gang that was at every Bruins home game. They sat in Section 325 of The Garden, way up at the top in rows 14 and 15. It was lots of fun and great theater just to watch them. Some dressed in these wild costumes, including one as a cow and another who dressed as some kind of outlandish Kabuki character that looked like something out of The Road Warrior. They had this wild minimalist chant that went "Go!!....Go!!...Joe!!!!!!" and was funnier the more they did it.
Back to the game...Sharks are on the power play and I hope that you're watching out there Neil and Ben. Go Sharks!
Hey there~what a night, I am still on cloud 9 after the shows!
After the show, I finally got a chance to meet Ben and tell him "thank you" for being such an inspiration to his dad. He reached out his hand to me, it was an incredible feeling. Later on, we were hanging by Zuma hoping for a glimpse. Neil's tour manager came out and said "Mr. Neil will sign a few autographs but absolutely no pictures were to be taken or Neil would be outta there."
Needless to say, me and the 5 or so other people were more than happy to follow his request. When Neil signed my ticket stub, I told him "thank you" for the many years of amazing music that he has given me and that my dad got me into him about 35 years ago. I said my dad passed away this past January but that I still feel connected because of his music. Neil looked at me and said,"when did he pass away?" I said January and at that moment Neil reached out to give me a hug.
I would say the hug lasted for a good 20 seconds because it was hard for me to let go:) LOL I had such an amazing connection with him last night~I still feel like I am in a dream. I am super excited for the Philly shows this coming weekend!
Peace & Neil,
Stacy
That is an amazing story Stacy! Very sorry to hear about your father. But that encounter with Neil must have really been something.
I'm strongly considering waiting out by the bus after one of the Massey Hall shows to try and get an autograph. I figure after all these other missed opportunities I've had, I may as well try now or I may regret it forever. After your hug, was it just a rushed sign and dash by Neil, or did the other people waiting get a chance to say "thanks" and get a quick autograph?
Go Neil & GO WINGS!
Stacy B.
I was so excited to see your post. I was there with you waiting in Baltimore and was so honored to get an autograph with you. May I say this is one of the highlights of my life? Loved the hug Neil gave you and there were so many things that I wanted to tell Neil but all I could do was say thank you 4 times. This was the 26th time that I have seen him but still want more. I was so fortunate to have PIT seats both nights right in front of Neil. Neil is my inspiration.
Stacy, as long as there are musicians, artists, and songwriters like Neil who are willing to write the words and music, or create the art, we'll remain connected through our humanity -- our willingness to reach out to one another.
It sort of sounds like an extra-terrestrial experience. Who was reaching out to whom?
That's a beautiful story Stacy. You have my vote for Comment of the Tour! Getting to meet Ben and then an autograph and hug from Neil...so incredibly nice for you and at the perfect time.
So very sorry for the loss of your dad and you have all my deepest sympathies. I feel what you are going through, and know that right now is a very hard time -- maybe the toughest there will be. It does get better but it never goes away...and that's okay if you can keep him with you. But you've already figured that all out...God Bless and take care.
Wanted to mention that I have no favorite in the Sharks vs Red Wings series (if anyone even cares!). Last night I was just enjoying a great game and rooting along with Neil and Ben...at least how I thought they might be rooting. My son has been a Wings fan for years and I've rooted heavily for them during past seasons.
My boy has trained and received instruction from Bobby Hull Jr at his Shooting Camps. If you have kids and they play hockey, I can't recommend his camp highly enough. Anyway a few years back there was a session that started early in the morning, and the night before the Wings had won a triple OT game when Bobby's brother Brett scored the winning goal. That was the year when it seemed like every other playoff game went double or triple overtime.
Checking in that morning, I said to Bobby "so did you get any sleep last night?". He laughed and replied "maybe a little but not much". But he said it was worth it and then conducted an outstanding camp, without a hint of fatigue.
It's more about the journey than the ending point...and I think that Neil and Ben would totally agree.
Stacy, your comment was so moving - wow, what a night! You must have been on a rollercoaster of love and emotion. Thanks for sharing that with us.
Sorry about your dad, I feel for you. As Mr H said, it does get easier.
Typical of Neil that he would empathise with you, he is on personal terms with loss as we all know.
For Neil and Stacy
The evening star must be drooping and shedding her sparkler dims on the prairie, which is just before the coming of complete night that blesses the earth, darkens all rivers, cups the peaks and folds the final shore in, and nobody, nobody knows what's going to happen to anybody besides the forlorn rags of growing old, I think of Dean Moriarty, I even think of Old Dear Moriarty the father we never found, I think of Dean Moriarty.
--Jack Kerouac from On The Road
I was out this morning running some errands; had the radio on and was tuned in to WBUR, Boston University's station. They've always had great programs over the years, but the long time best-in-show has been their Sunday a.m. shows. This morning there was an excellent piece about the music scene in Nepal, and how ancient music has joined with jazz, blues, rock and roll and all other types of music to create this unique music for the new century. Played some guitar that sounded like Elmore James meets Ravi Shankar. Really wonderful music that I plan to search out soon. At the end of the piece, the man they were interviewing said that "...it eventually seems like all one music". Or in other words, it's all one song.
After this very cool segment, next up was the 11 am service from Marsh Chapel on the campus of BU. During the sermon, the pastor spoke about the mystery of faith and talked of the difference between believing what you see and seeing what you believe. He also spoke of how you can see someone that you no longer love, but that you can also love someone that you can no longer see.
Finishing up my morning duties, I made two trips to the local dump. On the way out, there were a bunch of kids from the Youth Mission Group at our local church. They were collecting donations for an upcoming trip, and I gave them money both times as I exited.
The first time was an offering for Divine Mercy Sunday. The second donation (for which I plan a follow-up offering) was made in the memory of Stacy's dad, my dad and Neil's dad. Peace Be With You...Namaste.
Dedicated to the memory of Jeffrey Coombs....9.11.01
Let's Roll
In all the world one may always hope to recapture something lost. But sometimes we are obliged to set the memory of certain things in a dresser of small regrets. Yet occasionally we discover in the folds of an old handkerchief a shell or insignificant stone that had once embodied our happiest of afternoons. We experience a moment of respite when all sense of bad luck vanishes.
--Patti Smith from Just Kids
Hey, Hey, Hey...Goodbye
God Bless America and the World!!!
Maybe tomorrow
When He looks down
On every green field
And every town
All of his children
Every nation
There'll be
Peace and Good
Brotherhood
And Crystal Blue Persuasion
--Tommy James and The Shondells
As he reached the other side of the stream, the rats were swarming. The rats grabbed at Elliott and blocked him from getting to the ticket. Elliott punched at them with a left hook, then with a right. He stomped his feet and yelled, "I am Elliott!"
The rats scampered away and Elliott made one last leap. He caught the Forever Ticket just before it hit the water.
At that moment, Elliott knew that Walter would be proud.
--Tobin Sprout from Elliott
But Leander got the last word. Opening Aaron's copy of Shakespeare, after it had begun to rain, Coverly found the place marked with a note in his father's hand. "Advice to my son," it read.
Avoid kneeling in unheated stone churches. Ecclesiastical dampness causes prematurely gray hair. Fear tastes like a rusty knife and do not let her into your house. Courage tastes of blood. Stand up straight. Admire the world. Relish the love of a gentle woman. Trust in the Lord.
--John Cheever from The Wapshot Chronicle
The silence of Whose tears shall fall
Like bells upon your alien tomb
Hear them and come: they call you home
--Thomas Merton
I'm sorry little girl
We'll find another world
--Thalia Zadek/Come....German Song
Longing on a large scale is what makes history.
--Don DeLillo
The Buddha first cultivated a mind concerned for the welfare of other sentient beings, then enhanced it, and finally perfected it. This is how he actualized all the wonderful qualities of a Buddha. Therefore, we should realize that here and now we have found this precious human life endowed with excellent qualities, and we are free to engage in spiritual practice. In our spiritual endeavor, the most profound practice is the practice of compassion and the altruistic wish to achieve Buddahood for the sake of all sentient beings. There is no better practice than this. Therefore, all of us, including the lama, should endeavor to cultivate a compassionate mind in our daily life.
--The Dalai Lama from Stages of Meditation
Sing a song for freedom
Sing a song for love
--Neil Young
It was a roaring spring morning with green in the sky, the air spiced with sand sagebrush and aromatic sumac. NPR faded from the radio in a string of announcements of corporate supporters, replaced by a Christian station that alternated pabulum preaching and punchy music. He switched to shit-kicker airwaves and listened to songs about staying home, going home, being home and the errors of leaving home.
The road ran along a railroad track. He thought the bend of the rails unutterably sad, those cold and gleaming strips of metal turning away into the distance made him think of the morning he was left on Uncle Tam's doorstep listening for the inside clatter of coffee pot and cups although there had been no train nor tracks there. He did not know how the rails had gotten into his head as symbols of sadness.
Gradually the ancient thrill of moving against the horizon into the great yellow distance heated him, for even fenced and cut with roads the overwhelming presence of grassland persisted, though nothing of the original prairie remained. It was all flat expanse and wide sky.
--Annie Proulx from That Old Ace In The Hole
A computer program makes it possible to rationalize activities more comprehensively than if they had been undertaken by a human being.
--Shoshana Zuboff from In The Age Of The Smart Machine
The third way is taken from possibility and necessity and runs thus. We find in nature things that are possible to be and not to be, since they are found to be generated, and to be corrupted, and consequently, it is possible for them to be and not to be. But it is impossible for these always to exist, for that which can not-be at some time is not.... Therefore, not all beings are merely possible, but there must exist something the existence of which is necessary.
--Saint Thomas Aquinas
We are all born mad. Some remain so.
--Estragon in Waiting For Godot by Samuel Beckett
And the dreams that you're having
They won't let you down
--Neil Young
Songs for Today and Tomorrow
Some things are beyond words....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRJm12Rcw3w
If I want more trust in the world
I must learn to trust in myself
Try again tomorrow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dFIatCrYs4&feature=related
The healing powers of music....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGbxrNqK4-4
May you stay forever young....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_n0zvoHlVk
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3T8xr274q8
All you can do is turn the bad stuff into something else....
--Jayne Anne Phillips from How Mickey Made It
For John and Joel Gallen
@Mr H - Songs for Today and Tomorrow
Thank you.
Much needed. I'm having trouble today. Why am i not in the streets celebrating with my fellow americans the assassination of OBL?
what does it say about us that our reaction is to chant USA, USA, USA??
what has really chnaged from yesterday? what will be different tomorrow?
Your not the only one, Thrasher.
Shot him in the face and buried him at sea?
WTF?
Thank you so much to the people who commented on my hug from Neil and of course about my dad. Reading all of your posts brought back that amazing feeling of that night~well almost:) Actually I am still in complete disbelief from that experience.
Hi T,
Glad that you enjoyed my song choices. I spent a full day going through a rainbow of mixed emotions and thoughts about what happened late Sunday night and all day Monday. The comment piece on Neil and Stacy was being written and just about finished when I went to the NPR website for some additional information. That's when I saw the news...this was around 11:45 pm or so. I decided to finish that up quickly and go from there. So everything after that was post something...and it's the "something" which is what we're all trying to figure out right now.
I can say that I am very glad that he's gone, and I fully believe that is the case. If people want to spend time following conspiracy theories and such, that's their business; I choose to look forward. And I don't want to see any photos, but I understand why they might be shown. I think that we're at a turning point where things are starting to get better -- both in reality and in the general perceptions and mindset of the world and nation's majority. I wish that I could call my dad and talk with him about all of this.
For the first twelve hours or so, I was just absorbing the news and watching as yet another New World Order seemed to be taking shape. That's where all the quotes came from. Then I started thinking about what will happen next. That's where Songs for Today and Tomorrow comes from. I was remembering those who are no longer here or had their lives altered forever, people I know who have carried this with them every day. I was hoping there was some relief and a bit of closure...pretty sure that there was.
My mom grew up in a small town down South. When she graduated high school, there were only around thirty students in her senior class. Out of this class, a number of the men enlisted shortly after graduation. Four of them were best of friends and were all stationed together at Pearl Harbor. All four perished on December 7; I believe they were stationed on the USS Arizona. Although she didn't talk about this much, I knew it had a profound effect on my mom and was something that always stayed with her. The war that followed changed her life along with everyone else. When it was over, everything was somehow better and everyone could move on with their own lives.
It's my fervent hope that this will happen with us, at least to some extent and for the most positive and life affirming reasons. I know this isn't the end and that things could get worse. But for now, I'm feeling better and I hope that you are too. And I wish that I could hear this story once again from my mom, ask her what she thinks about the world and everything that is going on right now, and just get some much needed perspective.
"The realization of the summum bonum in the world is the necessary object of a will determinable by the moral law."
--Immanuel Kant from
The Immortality of the Soul as a Postulate of Pure Practical Reason
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