Concert Review of Moment: Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Sydney, AUS - Mar 10, 2013

Neil Young & Crazy Horse
A Day On The Green, Hunter Valley, AUS on Mar 9, 2013
Photographer: Kevin Bull | Reverb Magazine Online
(Click photo to enlarge)
Contrary to whatever perception one might have of the current Australia leg of the Alchemy World Tour of Neil Young & Crazy Horse, not all is lost, by far.

Now witness the quickness with which we get along.

The Concert Review of Moment is from Neil Young News: Concert Reviews of Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Sydney, AUS - Mar 10, 2013 by AlbaN:

Sydney 2013-03-10 - Crazy Horse at their finest

Last night I (53 years) and my 20-year-old son got to experience the horse at their absolute finest.

Yes that's right, at their absolute finest! This experience left me in no doubt that the horse are at the top of their game right now; raw, rowdy, grungy guitar-based primal stomp music. The muse is still flowing, my foot is still tapping, even after a few hours sleep. Still in awe how they do it. If you're a horse fan it don't get any better than this I can assure you.

I was a little concerned before going re some of the comments about the concert and the extended endings & huddles etc, but I was more than impressed and it was above all expectations, far far above. These guys were on fire; they threw everything they had into the performance and they were having so much fun. We were right on the rail (front row GA) in front of Poncho. What a gentleman he is, gave me the finger and I gave it back twice as hard. He was in party mode and loving it, he was singing along to the songs even though he was far from the microphone. You could see and feel he loved them and doing his thing. Who would think they are all 60+ years. It was really great to see them interacting and how they interplay the guitar bits and to see them play their new stuff, artists doing what’s closest to them at the time. And we got to hear a new song performed prior to most of the world, what a treat. And the piano song (Singer without a song), none of us have really heard that before, how sweet it was. Neil provided one acoustic staple old fave in heart of gold, but it was then back to the new and how great they are, twisted road what a tale.

The concert had a range of emotions, power and drama. Ramada Inn, what a classic this will become, and the analog time warp classics of Cinnamon Girl and Mr Soul, how solid and powerful were they.

And I reckon Neil & Poncho interacted with the crowd more than I have seen before, they were both humorous, gesturing with the crowd and joking with each other. And the horse huddles were not too much, this is how they interplay and to experience how they work it with each other was really a treat. Maybe you need to be down front to really appreciate all this, and to actually see and feel how they play together. Hey, but that's where rock n roll is, in the mosh (not so moshy with all the oldies), but not to be sitting back in some far-away stand where you can’t really feel the muse and see what the band is doing. Its all part of the experience; seeing and feeling how they interact. Neil’s voice was great and the harmonies from Billy and Poncho, wow much better than expected. Much, much better. And the guys are looking good too! And it was good to actually see Ralph on stage after he crawled out from behind those drums, felt him all night though.

And the encore, Prisoners & Opera Star – how unexpected was that, what a treat to hear some hidden gems (even with some nuances and the odd bit of slop) from some mostly forgotten about albums (or not even known albums by the non-horse lovers). They pulled no punches here. Thumped it out till the final note came down. Clearly they were loving it and we the horse-lovers right at the front loved every second as well.

Whatever substances these guys are not on now, feed em more of it! Hopefully the horse will capture the magic they have at present and get some of their new songs recorded (am sure Neil has a bucket load stashed away in that brain of his). Can’t wait for the next album, preorder now as it will be a cracker. No doubts here, No fading away here, And it surely ain’t over. Long live the horse. Keep fuckn’ up guys!

Wonderful review AlbaN! What an experience with your son, too!

Here's another review from a non-doubter [Live Review] NEIL YOUNG | Reverb Magazine Online by Stephen Bisset.

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