Comment of the Moment: "They just don't know The Way"

Neil Young
Global Citizen Festival in Central Park on Saturday Sept. 29, 2012 in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Photos: Bakersfield Now
(Click photo to enlarge)
Lots of chatter thus far on the Neil Young & Crazy Horse tour on a familiar riff we've heard over the decades.

"Why didn't Neil play his hits?"

"I wanted to hear 'Old Man'"

"Too much feedback"

Over and over again, my friend.

To which many responded by saying, essentially, "Get a clue. It's a Neil Young concert. Expect the unexpected. Embrace it. Savor it."

Which brings us to the Comment of the Moment on Concert Reviews: Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Kingston, Ontario, Oct. 5 by Sandy H.:

I saw people walking out at Red Rocks. Not a lot, but some. One kid (well, to me he was a kid) stood up about 5 minutes into the feedback ending of WLAG, flipped off the band, and walked out. But I seriously doubt that he was someone who would come to this site.

I get that not everyone is into what Neil does. For some reason, that has never bothered me. To each his own I supposed. I have also never felt the need to try to convince someone they are wrong about what they think. Is that even possible??

It would be about as futile as someone trying to convince me that I am wrong for practically worshiping the man, his humanity, and his music.

If we all felt the same thing and believed the same way, what a bland and uninteresting world it would be. So, I really have no issues with folks of differing opinions, as long as they are respectful of the other point of view. And that goes both ways.

SO, Happy Saturday to my brothers and sisters who share the spirit.

Peace, Sandy

Oh, and in response to a comment posted recently, I would love to see a thread in which we could write/see comments about the book. I have read many reviews, but have not heard much from "us" yet. I'm thinking not everyone has had a chance to read it yet.

Thanks Sandy. Nicely put. We get it. Glad you and so many others do as well.

(And, yes, we'll have more on Neil's book Waging Heavy Peace in the near future. But as for us? We're on the road again...)

And so we leave with just a quote...

"When faceless and anonymous
Come to beat down your door
And say you're all washed up and done
You can just say they have nothing in store

To touch this soul
Because they just don't know
They just don't know
The way
The way
The way"

ny

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Concert Reviews: Neil Young & Crazy Horse - London, Ontario, Oct. 6

Neil Young & Crazy Horse will be performing tonight at the John Labatt Centre, London, Ontario, Canada.

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 & Crazy Horse 2012 Concert Tour Reviews and the right, middle sidebar for continuous real time RSS feed updates.



Neil Young & Crazy Horse


Don't Be Denied!

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TONIGHT: Thrasher's Wheat Radio Hour - Streaming Broadcast #7

Thrasher's Wheat Radio
Tune in on WBKM.org
Logo design by
Geoff Moore - Silver Moon Graphics
Tonight, Saturday, Oct 6 at 9:00 PM EST, (in about 3 hours) the Thrashers Wheat Radio Hour will begin streaming on WBKM.org.

Feedback will be back and we'll ride the rusty human highway to bring you the best Neil Young news and reviews, rumors and musings....plus rare and unreleased tracks that will help keep you rockin' in the free world.

Thrashers Wheat Radio Hour is presented and produced each week by WBKM.org in the heart of Burlington, Vermont.

Some suggestions for listening. Go to WBKM.org a few minutes before the broadcast/stream begins. In the upper right hand corner (the flower) click to launch. A small plugin applet will load and then launch your media player.

Apple MAC listeners - Use the Tune In Radio app in iTunes store.

If you have technical problems, either email wbkm@comcast.net or comment below.

We would definitely like your feedback on the program. Drop us a comment.

Also, a podcast will be posted soon after broadcast @ PODCAST: Thrasher's Wheat Radio Hour.

Don't Be Denied.

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Concert Reviews: Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Kingston, Ontario, Oct. 5

Neil Young & Crazy Horse will be performing tonight at the K ROCK Centre, Kingston,Ontario, Canada.

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 & Crazy Horse 2012 Concert Tour Reviews and the right, middle sidebar for continuous real time RSS feed updates.


Neil Young & Crazy Horse

Don't Be Denied!

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Saturday in the Park with Neil Young & Crazy Horse

Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Global Citizen Festival in Central Park on Saturday Sept. 29, 2012, New York
(Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP) - Bakersfield Now
(Click photo to enlarge)
Last Saturday, Neil Young & Crazy Horse headlined a free concert for the Global Poverty Project in Central Park, New York City.

Here's a nice review Neil Young's Global Poverty Project Concert in Central Park : The New Yorker by Hendrik Hertzberg:

Neil Young, sixty-seven years old next month, is a wonder. His voice is rougher and lower than it was when I first heard it, forty-six years ago, at the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco. But it’s as strong as it was in his Buffalo Springfield days, and as distinctive, and as clear, with those emphatic Canadian “r”s. Even against the cacophony of Crazy Horse’s tsunami of sound, you don’t need a lyric sheet to understand the words he sings the first time you hear them. You get the music and you get the meaning.

Back then he was a diffident young buck. Now he’s a lion, thrashing and roaring. He’s a buffalo in an autumn field, snorting and pawing the plain of the stage. For more than an hour, every minute of it intense, he sang and played, loped and ducked and stomped. This is not an oldies act. There was no “Everybody Knows,” no “Heart of Gold,” no “Old Man” (except the ones on the stage). From the long-ago past, only “The Needle and the Damage Done,” which he sang accompanied solely by his own acoustic guitar. (The set was beautifully paced.)

The shortage of “greatest hits” mattered not at all. In his late sixties Young is a volcano of creativity. The song about hearing “Like a Rolling Stone” for the first time was proof enough of that. For me, though, the night’s high point was another new composition of his, “Walk Like a Giant.” The lyrics are about disillusionment ("I used to walk like a giant on the land / Now I feel like a leaf floating on the stream"), but the music, its thunderous, feedback-rich electric guitars set off by a jaunty whistled bridge, is about defiance. Its stunning conclusion was a long series of stomps: Neil in his thick farmer’s boots slamming the floor—thud! thud! thud!—and putting his whole body into it, with every thud augmented by a bone-rattling guitar chord. It was as if we were being stalked by a tyrannosaur as big as the Beresford.

The concert ended the only way it properly could, with everyone on stage with the master, “Rockin’ in the Free World.” The last note faded at exactly 10 P.M.

More on Neil Young & Crazy Horse in concert for the Global Poverty Project in Central Park, New York City.

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A RUST TRILOGY: The Alchemy Tour of Neil Young & Crazy Horse

Some pleasingly surprising news announced yesterday on Neil Young's official website Neil Young Times:

A RUST TRILOGY

October 3, 2012

The third episode of A Rust Trilogy, which began with Rust Never Sleeps in 1978, and continued with Weld in 1990, now concludes with Alchemy in 2012. Things have changed, yet they stay the same. Alchemy, like Rust and Weld, finds the boys at another stage of life's journey. Time has taken its toll, yet the spirit seems unstoppable.

We've long regarded the Rust Never Sleeps tour as the pinnacle -- not withstanding it was the only time we ever heard Neil play "Thrasher" live on acoustic. So RNS will always have its special place.

And when the Weld tour happened in 1990/1, we were thrilled to see those old stage props like big roadcases, that we thought we'd never see again.

And deja vu all over again.

The 2012 Neil Young & Crazy Horse now is The Alchemy Tour and revisits familiar themes and new songs. Our take on "alchemy" is that it's a turn on the phrase "rust". Turning either from or to rust -- literally or artistically.

Alchemy Tour Stage Setup
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Windsor, Ontario, Oct. 3

And others? From Bad News Beat, an open letter to Neil reacting to the latest development:

.... on the heels of Waging Heavy Peace?

Concludes?? The above is as sad as the book. You're killing *us*, Neil. Us Rusties.

One can only hope that this becomes a four album trilogy (a la' Hitchhiker's Guide.)

And then this.....

Pinned Image Pinned Image

Really? We have a choice?

The answer is clear.

al·che·my n
(Chemistry / Alchemy) the pseudoscientific predecessor of chemistry that sought a method of transmuting base metals into gold, an elixir to prolong life indefinitely, a panacea or universal remedy.

We find it all to be good. A trilogy of Rust?!

Folks, this is for us. Savor the moment.

See you on the rail on the Alchemy Tour road!

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TONIGHT: Neil Young & Crazy Horse Concert - Windsor, Ontario, Oct. 3

Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Photo by @Rustedshut45
(Click photo to enlarge)

From CTV:

It’s been eight years since rock icon Neil Young and Crazy Horse hit the road together. Tonight thousands of fans descended upon the WFCU Centre for their chance to rock out with the legend. CTV’s Gina Chung shares some of the night’s highlights with us.

Neil Young & Billy Talbot, Crazy Horse
Photo by NICK BRANCACCIO, The Windsor Star
(Click photo to enlarge)

Setlist
Photo by @Rustedshut45
(Click photo to enlarge)
Setlist from Sugar Mountain :
1. Love And Only Love
2. Powderfinger
3. Born In Ontario
4. Walk Like A Giant
5. The Needle And The Damage Done
6. Twisted Road
7. Ramada Inn
8. F*!#in' Up
9. Psychedelic Pill
10. Cortez The Killer
11. Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black)
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12. Tonight's The Night

From Young rocks WFCU Centre | Windsor Star by Ted Shaw:

Having become the Old Man he sings about, Neil Young refuses to let age rule his art.

The 65-year-old singer and iconoclast served notice Wednesday on the stage of Windsor’s WFCU Centre he’ll be ruffling feathers for a good while yet.

His two-hour show was equal parts folk and industrial grunge. Several of the songs droned on for more than 10 minutes, including a blistering rendition of Walk Like a Giant that concluded with nearly five minutes of hammering footsteps in imitation of the giant of the song.

It’s hard to imagine what the Heart of Gold segment of the audience thought of it. But that’s Neil. No prisoners. Many of those fans left early, complaining of the monotonous, self-indulgent soloing.

He followed this exercise in controlled noise with one of his most affecting acoustic songs, The Needle and the Damage Done.

Note, read some of the blistering comments that follow review.

From Neil Young Times:

A RUST TRILOGY
October 3, 2012
The third episode of A Rust Trilogy, which began with Rust Never Sleeps in 1978, and continued with Weld in 1990, now concludes with Alchemy in 2012. Things have changed, yet they stay the same. Alchemy, like Rust and Weld, finds the boys at another stage of life's journey. Time has taken its toll, yet the spirit seems unstoppable.

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Neil Young & Crazy Horse

Neil Young & Crazy Horse will be performing tonight at the WFCU Centre in Windsor, Ontario, Canada.

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 & Crazy Horse 2012 Concert Tour Reviews and the right, middle sidebar for continuous real time RSS feed updates.



Don't Be Denied!

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Joel Bernstein Photo Exhibit - London

(Click view the slideshow)
Joel Bernstein's first UK exhibition of work from his Neil Young archives from Oct. 4 - 11 in London at Snap Galleries.

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NPR Fresh Air Interview with Neil Young

Global Citizen Festival
Neil Young at the Global Citizen Festival in Central Park on Saturday Sept. 29, 2012 in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Photos | Bakersfield Now
(Click photo to enlarge)
An excellent Fresh Air Interview with Neil Young by Terri Gross on NPR. Neil discusses music, family, and medical conditions.

On performing 1971's Live at Massey Hall concert in Toronto

"First of all, the concert was a great time, because I was like coming home. The last time I'd been in Toronto before that, I was basically living on the street, and I had a flat that I was living in that cost like $12 a week. I had a little hotplate — cooked beans and stuff in my room. I'd really tried to get gigs as a folksinger and didn't do too well at that, so it was my formative time. So I wasn't a big success the last time I was there before this visit, so going back there and playing at Massey Hall and having a couple sold-out shows in one day — it was a real rush. So there was a great feeling. And plus, being Canadian and having reached a certain level of success in the States — it was a big deal, and I was in my early 20s. So when I showed up there, it was like all the Canadian kids that were there — they felt like, 'If this could happen to this guy, this could happen to me. It could happen to anybody.' Sort of a celebration of Canadian spirit."

On writing music and guitar distortion

"I try not to think while I'm doing it. Hopefully, I'm completely gone somewhere and I'm just making a sound, and I just like to hear the sound. So it's all about having a good time and making a sound, but you really have to have a reason for making the sound. So that's why I write songs and the songs have got the message. But after a while, you forget about the message — you just get the sound going, and then the two things go together, and then if you're lucky, you write another song. There has to be something to say that gives validity to what I'm playing, so that you can't just play for the rest of time."

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CONTEST: Win "Waging Heavy Peace" Book by Neil Young

'Waging Heavy Peace' by Neil Young
(Click to preview pages)
(To win a free copy, see contest details below)
Thanks to the folks at Blue Rider Press, we have five (5) copies of Neil Young's new book "Waging Heavy Peace" to give away in a contest (see contest details below).

In the meantime, here's a comment by Old Black on the book:

I would like to see some discussions on "Waging Heavy Peace" - has anyone (but me) read it? Any comments on Neil with regard to his appearance on Letterman, Psychedelic Pill, et al., should be made in the context of what I think is a very amazing and revealing (or at least, confirming) book.

First, "Waging Heavy Peace" is very well written. This is an incredibly intelligent man with dry (Canadian) wit and an ability to turn a phrase. Should we have expected anything else? He wrote the whole thing straight (no more weed, not even a beer) and he often marvels at his state of mind in this condition as well as worry (he really is worried) that his creative song-writing muse will not visit unless he has burned one. He notes that all (nearly all?) of his songs have been written while high.

He is struggling with loss and the process of losing and it is quite poignant. He continues to miss Briggs, as well as Larry Johnson – his two great collaborators, cheerleaders, and truth tellers in the media he works mostly in – recording and film. Over and over again, he goes back to these two losses. He misses his friend Ben Keith a lot, too. But mostly, he misses his earlier days – the quality of the music (especially the sonic quality), the immediacy of creating, the LP album as an art form, the great studios, and is relevance in the music of the day. He sees it all going, like the passing of the cars he loves (and collects). Pono (which was PureTone before they found out that had already been trademarked) is, in part, his way of trying to resurrect, preserve, and/or protect the sonic quality of music (especially as it relates to his music but it’s not about him). He sees it all slipping away.

But mostly, one gets the sense that even as he looks forward, he is aware that the end is approaching. Time might be running out. As he puts it, he is all about closure now – wrapping up all of the loose ends before it’s too late. And because he has so many projects (Pono, Archives, Lincvolt, his many unfinished car restorations a Rockets retrospective) he feels pulled between finishing those to the highest quality (he often quotes Briggs “Go big or go home” and LA Johnson about the need for quality) and creating new things. I was so taken by how much he wants and needs Crazy Horse, which seems at odds with the fact that he didn’t play with them for almost a decade. He is beginning the consolidation of his affairs – his properties and the financial well-being of his family.

And there is a lot of regret; regret at not be a nicer person, regret at the need to follow his muse to the exclusion of his friendships, and regret at the pain he has caused people. His discussions about Danny Whitten are quite moving. Whitten originally sang the high harmony on Cinnamon Girl but Neil took him off and overdubbed himself, even though he admits Danny sang it much better. And Danny’s death haunts him. He also seems to regret some of the ways he has treated his fans, too. As he notes, he is most alive on-stage in front of an audience with the music echoing through a hall and the fans really into it as much as he is. Nothing seems to piss him off more than pseudo fans in the orchestra pit on cell phones telling their rich friends how cool they are because they got the best tickets in the house from a scalper.

If you haven’t read this book yet, please do yourself a favor and rectify the situation.

Thanks Old Black! We're still working our way through WHP but find we're learning something new every chapter.

While we didn't read this in the book, the title refers to Neil's battle against the iPod and low quality MP3 sound. Someone (maybe Jobs?) said it seemed like Neil was declaring war on Apple to which Neil responded, "No, I'm waging heavy peace."

Incidentally, Waging Heavy Peace is now the #16, #18, #19 best selling book on Amazon.com

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CONTEST: Win a free copy of "Waging Heavy Peace" book by Neil Young

Thanks to the publisher Blue Rider Press, we are pleased to be able to announce that we have five (5) copies to give away in a contest.

To enter the contest for a free copy of "Waging Heavy Peace" by Neil Young , follow these steps:

#1) Subscribe (or if already subscribed, go to Step #2) to one of our blogfeed channels either via Facebook (LIKE us), Twitter (FOLLOW us) and/or subscribe to our email list.

2) Then just email us (thrasher@thrasherswheat.org) with your name, postal mailing address, and which blogfeed channel you signed up for (Facebook, Twitter, email list options noted above in Step #1). *Be sure to identify your complete Facebook ID, Twitter handle, or email address.*

Entries must be emailed with SUBJECT line (exactly): Contest - Waging Heavy Peace

Include name, postal mailing address with *country*.

Deadline: October 19, 2012

We'll then randomly select Thrasher's Wheat readers as winners. Publisher Blue Rider Press and Thrasher's Wheat have agreed that winners will be selected from the entire planet Earth including Canada, Europe, and countries other than the U.S.A. (CLARIFICATION: That last rule was not intended to mean that USA entries are ineligible. USA entries are eligible.)

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FULL VIDEO: Neil Young & Crazy Horse Set from Global Citizen Festival, September 29, 2012

Here's the full video of Neil Young with Crazy Horse at Global Citizen Festival, September 29, 2012 on YouTube.

A comment by Kimball who left a new comment on Photo of the Moment: Dave Grohl & Neil Young & Crazy Horse":

Neil said: "We're joinin' forces for you up here."

I loved at the beginning of RITFW how Neil walked up to his wedge (guitar pedal system) and started to weave up an effect loop like he was throwing a pizza crust in the air or making some kind of rock and roll cacoon or something. It sounded awesome, then when Grohl brought in some heavily distorted power guitar riffs as the song spooled up to speed, man that was the most powerful start to that song I've ever heard. Unbeleiveable, I hope they put the full resolution video on youtube.

There was generally a good vibe on stage during the song with all the people up there singing and playing. I know that Neil was giving it his all, and I know that he felt the load of all those people wanting their socks knocked off. I think he did a great job leading the mob through the song.

I don't know if Neil has ever jammed with Grohl before, but I can say that I was getting some pretty heavy feelings back to Change Your Mind and Kurt Cobain and Nirvana. I think both Neil and Grohl were experiencing one of those rare connections through time back to where major waves changed them forever. Full circle type stuff. Anyway, I thought the Neil and Crazy Horse performance was top notch.

Thanks Kimball! Loved that full circle observation.

More Reports, Photos, Videos on Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Central Park, New York City.

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Photo of the Moment: Dave Grohl & Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Central Park, New York City, 9/29/12

Rockin' In The Free World
Neil Young & Crazy Horse w/ Dave Grohl
Photo by Twitter / zakclaxton
(Click photo to enlarge)
The Photo of the Moment is Dave Grohl & Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Central Park, New York City, 9/29/12. (Thanks Zak!)

Zack H. commented:

I read through comments before watching the video of "Rockin' in the Free World" and I was expecting to see a really pitiful performance by an old man well past his prime. That's not what I saw.

I saw a rock n' roll genius and legend who commanded a stage full of some twenty or thirty musicians and an audience of tens of thousands more. He was yelling and barking into the mic like a man possessed, wailing on his guitar, and stomping around the stage like some kind of...well...giant.

All of those other musicians seemed to be in complete awe, even the long-time members of Crazy Horse could look on at the younger guys with an expression on their face like "we still can't believe it and we've been playing with this dude for DECADES."

And how about that coda of the chorus? All that feedback and screaming guitar, and then Neil counting the band right back in? Everyone lost their mind at how much energy and passion that "old man" was showing. Neil himself couldn't help but smile at how well it had pulled off.

Retire "Rockin' in the Free World"? I don't think so. Neil just gave that song as much life as it's ever had, and I wouldn't put it past him to be able to top it yet.

Thanks Zack! A true rock & roll giant if there ever was one, we'd say.

More Reports, Photos, Videos on Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Central Park, New York City.

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