Concert Review of the Moment: Neil Young - Tower Theater 4/30/11

There are those rare reviews that we actually print out on occasion to read at a more leisurely pace.

Such is this one which is one of the finest concert reviews we've read in awhile -- a very evocative and atmospheric report on the Neil Young concert at the Tower Theater on April 30, 2011 by Amused Cynic:

This seemed as much an acting role as a musical performance, but I’m not quite sure who the character was?

He wore a white sportcoat over a T-shirt and jeans, topped off with a straw Panama hat. He looked sort of like a tall, gangly Leon Redbone. The set had the feel of a living-space, but an eccentric one–at times it reminded me of an attic, or an old loft. I half expected to see clouds of dust, and cobwebs. Later, as he roamed among the furnishings wordlessly, looking at them if he was deciding to sit down, or play one of the keyboards (and sometimes seeming to consult quietly with the cigar store indian) it made me think of an avuncular version of the Phantom of the Opera in his subterranean hideout.

Between songs he would roam, like an absent-minded professor who had forgotten why he had come upstairs, but then he would approach an instrument, seize it and play with conviction. There was almost no direct acknowledgement of the audience, almost no conversation–any communication directed at us in particular was woven into the song.

It was as if he inhabited this odd space, and we were watching him through a huge two-way mirror, seeing him clearly while he could only catch faint glimpses of us, and really was barely aware that we were there.

The full must-read review by Amused Cynic.

Also, see Neil Young News: Concert Reviews of Neil Young: Tower Theatre, Upper Darby, PA, April 30 & May 1, 2011.

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