Chicago, IL Concert Reviews: Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Oct. 11
From Neil Young concert review; Neil Young and Crazy Horse at United Center reviewed - chicagotribune.com by Greg Kot:
But there was nothing particularly genteel or overly familiar and comforting about this music. Like one of Young’s beloved trains, Crazy Horse is a large beast that tends to ease into its work. But once it gains its bearings and picks up speed, it’s awfully difficult to slow down. At least five of the 13 songs performed Thursday surpassed the 10-minute mark. “Love and only Love” began like an extended exhale before finding its pace, with Young, Sampedro and Talbot huddled in front of the drum riser. Whereas most bands spread out to fill a big stage such as the United Center’s, Crazy Horse bunches together, as if defending their home against invasion.
The group works itself into a trance-like frenzy, Young’s guitar piercing through a thicket of bottom-heavy tones and rumbling drums. For the relatively pithy “Cinnamon Girl,” the feedback that shut it down lasted nearly as long as the song itself. The band turned the period psychedelia of Young’s old Buffalo Springfield hit “Mr. Soul” into churning acid-punk. Molina’s drums on “Hey Hay, My My (Into the Black)” pumped like pistons in a factory.
Normally, the encore is a time of a celebration, of release. But Young and Crazy Horse instead shook loose the ghosts of the harrowing “Tonight’s the Night.” Expanded to 10 minutes, the song became a long, lonely howl for fallen friends, a séance. “Tonight’s the night,” Young whispered. “Yes, it is.”
Neil Young & Crazy Horse will be performing tonight at the United Center, Chicago, IL.
Got a report? Drop a comment below.
Check Sugar Mountain for setlist updates and Chronological Grid, Recording Summary, Statistics and Extras.
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Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Don't Be Denied!
Labels: 2012, chicago, concert, crazy horse, neil young, review, tour
by thrasher@PermaLink: 10/11/2012 09:01:00 PM
22 comments
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22 Comments:
Took my eleven year old son along to the show. He had seen the Twisted Road stop in Milwaukee, but this was his first with the Horse.
Awesome show, with a little change in the setlist. After "Twisted Road", Neil sat at the piano, Poncho played on the acoustic, and Billy and Ralph took vocals. Best guess for a song title is "Singer Without a Song". He also squeezed in "Mr. Soul" before HHMM, and dropped "Psychedelic Pill" from the set.
Zach gave the show a Thumbs Up, but that's a given when TTN is the encore.
Well worth the trip from Northern Wisconsin.
How was the new song?
The new song was absolutely amazing. Perhaps the highlight of the show.
Neil played a new song on right piano, a really beautiful one! A melancholic melody.
Poncho playing acoustic guitar and billy singing backing vocals.
"She's a singer without a song" and a young girl walked on stage with a guitar case.
it has been played after "twisted road".
What a show!.. played with intensity and charged with emotion.
"Walk Like a Giant" was a master performance, with Neil building and building to a terrible climax, which ended in raw power of explosive feedback.
Great moment during "Into the Black" when the crowd started adding "Johnny Rotten!/Rotten Johnny!" between lines. . . Neil started doing the same, and then floated away from the mike and lost it into his guitar.
The beauty of Crazy Horse is that it is not the loudness of the music that makes the show, like a lot of other rock bands try to do- it's the pure passion in every song, the tightness of the band, and the searing tone.
When The Horse hits that groove and stay in the pocket, it hits you like a tidal wave.
I'm still feeling it 12 hours later.
Walk Like a Giant turned into an apocolyptic frenzy. At first it seemed like te song was ending, but it became readily apparent it was really just beginning, with thundering guitar sounds scanning the landscape. I want to see that played again. Any videos available of that United Center vesion or similar version? I need an encore of that incredible work.
Haven't seen The Horse since the Ragged Glory tour in 91. They did not disappoint!!! Love and Only Love right out of the gate was everything that is beautiful and wicked about Crazy Horse, long, swampy jam and beautiful harmonies. Walk Like A Giant was cool. That ending was truly inspired, it was nice to hear the band making new noise.
As far as all of the new tunes, I thought they were all good. Maybe some need a little more time for me to digest. I dug them though. But more importantly that is truly one of the reasons why I love Neil Young. He could be an oldies act right now, playing the greatest hits from night to night but he doesn't. He moves forward. And it's honest. I can't wait to hear the rest of the record.
If I had one complaint, and this will make me sound old, it was kind of a drag to see so many people checking their email and texting while The Horse was killing it. I watched some of Weld this morning and it kind of saddens me to see the difference in audience attention spans over the years. It was so cool to see The Horse huddled together with the same staging they have had forever and it just kind of bothered me to see so many people 'missing it.'
PS. I'm a big Lobos fan and I thought they sounded great.
Sorry to hijack this comment thread, but I've not seen any discussion of this elsewhere, and I think the ever-loving NY community might want to talk about it:
Why is the price of the Psychedelic Pill vinyl set so utterly, utterly ridiculous?
I really wanted to buy it on LP, but not at 10 times the price of the CD. Hard Times, friends, depression blues...
Anon. I don't think people realize how expensive it is to press albums. This is a triple vinyl and knowing Neil, it's probably 180 gram. Neil doesn't cut corners on anything. The CD is $13, vinyl is $75 so your assertion of 10x is a bit of an exaggeration. As the release date gets closer the cost on Amazon will go down too. They always start high and drop as the release date gets closer.
Great explanation Preacher Man. Do you know date of BluRay disc availability & price?
I"ve seen every Crazy Horse Tour since 1976. They're all different. What I liked about last night's show was the energy of the new songs....NY & the "Horse" are always better with fresh material. Walk Like a Giant hit just as hard as the "Rust Never Sleeps" tour did in 1978. The emotion of Ramada Inn reminded me of Philadelphia.
The vocals sounded great....spot-on. Playing was creative, inspired, and urgent.
They sounded straight, clear & focused.
FANTASTIC!
Can anyone compare the new "Singer Without a Song" to anything?
It is all one song afterall...
I'm assuming it's similar to Lotta Love judging by the instrumentation...
12:09 anon: you are sooooo spot on on the cell phone issue that has ruined the concert experience. It aint about being old - people have become distracted and rude. I am the last person you want to sit beside and talk on a cell phone, cause I will single you out in front of the entire section and tell you to shut to F up or lose your teeth. You have all freaking day to talk on the phone and check your emails. What, you cant spend two hours without having to use your stupid phone. get over yourself. these concerts are special..
wow, spirited ver. he looks happy:)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmXYR7Y19_g
you go boy, you go
@Michael: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQZndthAUTU&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Like a lot of people, I still buy a lot on vinyl, and Neil's still sticks out as being madly overpriced. The recent Dylan album, for example, was a double, on 180gm, with the CD included, and cost less than a third of PP...
In the UK, the CD is priced at £8.99 and the vinyl at £75 - so, yeah, okay, it's only 9 times more expensive.
Value for money.
1) Quality. Neil vinyl is the best sounding vinyl you can get. Lot of work. Vinyl mastering by Chriss Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering is sublime.
2) Gary Burden. The cover art goes with the music. The vinyl covers for Neil are more expensive to fabricate. Paper looks cheap but in fact is more expensive. Printing on this paper takes more time. The paper is applied to the cover. For example: Bob/Tempest is very cheap paper. No foldout cover. And the cover is a marketing tool that doesn't go with the music.
3) On vinyl you get 7 times more sound than on a cd. 20 times more than on a MP3 file.
4) Extra's. With Americana there was a very nice booklet that came with the vinyl. Americana and PP will have one side with an etching. On Americana that was really beautiful.
5 Pressing. The pressing of Neil's vinyl goes with the highest standards. Also compared to Tempest it is much better with Neil.
All these things make it more expensive. I only want to say I understand it and that doesn't mean I like it. But I will buy it anyway because I love the man. But for PP it might be better if the released it cheaper on vinyl because a lot of young kids will love to buy that album.
Ps. It's all one song.
The last adventure from Neil in this statement is the new song "The Singer Without A Song".
It sounds exactly as his old song "Try".
But it still is a very beautiful song.
BSM
http://youtube.com/watch?feature=plcp&v=uXX5nSFQBaQ
Video of the new song. Blurry as hell but sound qualities good.
Thanks, PreacherMan, for posting the link to my video. It's blurry as hell because I forgot to focus due to overexcitement at being on the rail and having Neil right in front of me! My next video, part of "Ramada Inn," was more in focus:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwarodt3A9g&feature=plcp
I wrote a review for my blog. I also posted full show audio and some good videos.
http://www.thebarnpresents.com/setlist-neil-young-crazy-horse-united-center-chicago-101112-9241.html
I must say I was so stoked when I recieved my tickets. But after getting to the concert, it was a fast becoming disappointment. Maybe its my age (54) but I dont think Im the only one to feel this way. Im sure those that are around my age and love Neils tunes, it saddened me to hear tunes that all I wanted to do was plug my ears or for lack of better words, make my ears bleed. Im sure if he would of played more of his older tunes the ROOF would of have raised. At one point I looked at my husband and said, is he on drugs~~~ Maybe Neil is trying to get some of the younger generations attention, and thats fine, but for me, it killed my anticipation of a GREAT show, beings it was my first concert ever to go to.
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