Amsterdam: Neil Young & Crazy Horse Concert Reviews - June 5, 2013
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Holland National Anthem
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Amsterdam, June 5, 2013
(Click photo to enlarge)
Tonight's Amsterdam concert was the same setlist as Berlin, Germany with "Like A Hurricane" plus "Roll Another Number" encore.
"Walk Like A Giant" continues to evolve in its massive sonic, psychedelic maelstrom of scorching feedback and primordial grunge.
The rustie chatter from the concert was that "Like A Hurricane" was pretty remarkable in that it was so powerful that building shook from the vibrations and folks were literally plugging their ears with their fingers after the relatively modest volume levels earlier in the evening. For us - with earplugs deeply implanted - we were ready and found the full body experience totally beyond exhilarating.
Let it be said for the record that the Amsterdam "Like A Hurricane" was a full blown, Category 5 hurricane. FULL STOP.
The other major rustie chatter from the concert was the semi-aborted "Ramada Inn". "Ramada Inn" continues to remain a fan favorite of the set so to have the song have a somewhat abrupt conclusion at about 2/3's of the normal 16+ minutes was a disappointment for some.
Here's how Mr. Henry puts it:
Remembering (of course) that this is the "Real World" and that everything is not always perfect just because we want it to be. And also let's remember this:Also, of note is Neil's dialogue at the end of the concert where he refers to "All of the Crazy Horse Personnel" and thanking the audience for attending and wishing everyone and their family safe passage.
Neil Young is a human being who is pushing toward the better side of 70. Life is an ongoing process that wears down most mortal human beings, and even kind of wears down super human beings. So every show he plays, and every song that he plays, will not be the most amazing song that he has ever played. But it will be the best ever song that he plays right then, at that time, when he is playing it.
And that, my friends, is why this is really something and why this if what life and love is all about.
"For the thought that I caught that my head was the event of the season
Why in crowds just a trace of my face could seem so pleasing."
Neil Young & Crazy Horse will be performing tonight at Ziggo Dome, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Got a report? Drop us a comment below.
Check Sugar Mountain for setlist updates and Chronological Grid, Recording Summary, Statistics and Extras.
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Labels: concerts, crazy horse, europe, neil young
by thrasher@PermaLink: 6/05/2013 02:32:00 PM
29 comments
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29 Comments:
Rolling Stone:
The 10 Most Annoying Rock Star Behaviors
3. Play too much from the new album
. Neil Young has occasionally taken this to the next level by playing an entire new album before it comes out. In June 2004, he took Crazy Horse out on the road and played Greendale straight through two months before it hit shelves. Three old songs were tacked on at the end. The ticket said "Neil Young and Crazy Horse" and there was no indication in any of the advertising that this was the case. The crowd at Germain Ampitheater in Columbus, for example, were beyond livid. By the end, they were singing "Hey Hey, My My" to themselves between songs, and you could practically taste the hostility and disappointment in the place.
http://music.yahoo.com/news/10-most-annoying-rock-star-behaviors-140022852-rolling-stone.html
"We don't wanna be watered down
Takin' orders from record company clowns"
NIce video of "Blowin in the Wind" from Berlin:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARrfJapb4FE
Luv ya Neil!!!
Just got back from the Amsterdam concert. I think everyone left happier!
What is the volume like on the current tour?
Dan1-thanks for the Video!!
Inspiring to me. I watched it and went downstairs and grabbed the songbook, Martin and harmonica and put that Neil to it, how fun!!..I could never get that thing right trying it like Bob. Ol Neil feels it all and delivers again.
Another fantastic night in Amsterdam!!! Neil was a little sloppy on a couple songs, finishing Ramada Inn way too early and missed the last verse on HHMM. But he compensated with an awesome encore: a killer version of Hurricane and a very sweet Roll Another Number.
Neil is a legend. Plain and simple.
It was a nice solid show, with a few real highlights. Don't bash me, but I thought Heart of Gold was one of the best moments; a really sweet version. It's amazing how well Neil's voiced has aged. The early (and confusing) ending of Ramada Inn worked for me; it was a good version and Neil wanted to end it on a high note.
It was my first visit to the Ziggo, and I had read favorable things about its acoustics. Those reports turned out to be false. The soundquality was not good, and I know this was not due to Neil's front-of-house sound engineer (he's one of the best in the business IMO). There's an enormous resonance in the lower and upper mid frequencies. The soundguy worked around that quiet admirably during the first songs, but it remained an uneasy listening experience to me (standing behind mixing island). During the last songs, Neil's guitar became unbearably shrieky, and I had to leave during Hurricane. Very sad to hear I missed Roll Another Number, but I couldn't bear it anymore w/o earplugs.
Oh, and some friendly advice for the lightguy: your job is to enhance the show, not distract people from it (or annoy them) by waving blinders into the audience whenever you think the song ends.
Any word on the setlist? Can't wait for my first ever Neil show in the O2 in just two weeks now...!
From Ralph Molina on Facebook, about the aborted "Ramada Inn": "Guitar problems...drag, but crap happens...can't be passionate like that..."
The 10 Most Annoying Rock Media Behaviors
1. Focus way too much on certain easy-to-define "problems" that are really one of the primary reasons that said "Rock Star" is amazing and continues to define what it means to be a "Rock Star"
Sounds like you all are hearing more amazing stuff from Neil and The Horse. Remembering (of course) that this is the "Real World" and that everything is not always perfect just because we want it to be. And also let's remember this:
Neil Young is a human being who is pushing toward the better side of 70. Life is an ongoing process that wears down most mortal human beings, and even kind of wears down super human beings. So every show he plays, and every song that he plays, will not be the most amazing song that he has ever played. But it will be the best ever song that he plays right then, at that time, when he is playing it.
And that, my friends, is why this is really something and why this if what life and love is all about.
Greetings to Thrasher and the TW Radio Crew...very cool stuff that you all are doing!!!
Details please on the truncated "Ramada Inn." Were the issues obvious? Ralph says there were "guitar problems"..assuming the set list was similar, the guitar tuned for all the drop D numbers was next in line, as "Ramada.." was followed by "Cinnamon Girl," so it makes sense to bail on the standard tuned f#*ked up guitar and move on with the set list..
"Patience is the biggest thing to, you know, be successful"
--Tuukka Rask 6.6.2013(53 Saves!!!)
Thanks to all for your comments & support of what we're doing here in Europe to bring it all back home freely to the Neil fan community around the world.
We love you all.
Thanks Mr H for the perspective.
Your timing is impeccable -- as always.
namaste
@Zuma Band - here's the video of that "Ramada," which Neil ended before the final verse. Unclear what the specific problem is, you can see him gesturing to his offstage sound person around the 2:10 mark, and apparently again at around 2:30 and 2:50, and he seems to be looking that way more than usual before signaling the song ending while facing that direction. (Same taper has most of the rest of the show up on YouTube, too.)
Another angle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOa6AsOTL3Q
Oops, here's the first one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=GRPMalev-ds
Hey, anybody noticed throwing water at someone in the audience (or at crewmember maybe?). What was going on?
Throwing water: when Neil stepped behind the piano there was a plastic cup of water on it. He just emptied it in one throw backwards over his shoulder. Poncho stood nearby and saw that it landed mostly on an amplifier so they had a laugh about that. Probably someone in the audience got some drops...
It was very clear Ramada Inn was cut short because of guitar or sound related problems and Neil tried to let the stage mixer know. I stood at the rail at the side of the mixer and the look in Neils eyes when he abruptely turned towards the guy and ended the song was fierce.
But I had the impression that even before Ramada Inn there were sometimes problems.
That being said, I would like to say that when people describe things like this happening, there's no need to react like they are putting Neil down. Or saying that he did a bad show or whatever. It's just reminiscing, and reviewing what you experienced.
I was there front row. This was definitely not the best show I have seen from Neil. When I left I met some friend who had had the time of is life!
To each his own. There's nothing wrong with that.
By the way, Neil ended with a fairly long 'speech' adressing the audience directly (and very touching at moments!), in which he seemed to be searching for the words to wish us well, wish our children well, safe drive home, and mentioned twice that the show was not always as good as it could have been, that they strive for perfection but... and so on.
He threw water at the big fan at the side of the stage. As Neil commented, it wasn't working very well.
He just didn't like the taste of the water. I can imagine since I think I've never seen Neil without a bottle of beer on stage. About the volume: Hurricane was the loudest thing I've ever heard. And the second encore Roll Another Number was simply beautiful.
He did a similar little speech before "Roll Another Number" in Hamburg (safe travels home, hope your children are sleeping soundly, etc.), sans the apologies of course - touching, indeed.
@roel: so indeed Neil threw water at a 'fan'... I can already see the headlines :-)
Oooh, reading the later comments about the guitar problems on Ramada, I must apologize for accusing Neil of sloppiness in my first comment. From where I was standing, I couldn't see the issues on stage...
Nevertheless, the blasting encore of Hurricane compensated for any possible flaw in the concert: absolutely Majestic!!!
It was a great show and I enjoyed it a lot. The acoustics in the Ziggo Dome were much better than I had expected. Maybe my hearing is just gone but I didn't the the volume was too much at all - it was loud enough but could easily have been louder. As to Ramada Inn - yeah, hey finished it early. No biggie, it's a rock-n-roll show. They moved right on. Hurricane was absolutely fantastic as was Walk Like A Giant.
On the plus side, without the guitar problems it could have been possible that there was no time left for Roll Another Number.
I thought Ramada Inn was great though.
Amsterdam review in Dutch (with great pics):
http://oor.nl/#reviews/concerts/2281/neil_young_alles-in-één_in_ziggo_dome
*****
FIVE STAR REVIEW in Dutch national newspaper:
Neil Young in Ziggodome: Dat zo veel gitaargeweld zo veel kippenvel kan veroorzaken (*****)
http://tinyurl.com/lucohrt
I thought the concert was amazing. This was only my second Neil Young concert, my first was four years ago. Well, tomorrow that'll be. For me it was perfect. Some great new songs and some amazing old ones. They all got everyone moving and singing. Even though he didn't finish Ramada Inn, he made it up by making Fucking Up more unforgetable than it already is. Neil Young is, and will alway be my hero. I can honestly say this was the most perfect & amazing night of my life (I'm only 21 years old so for now it really is). Lets not forget that this is an amazing memory too. It'll always be alive within me!!
Neil Young is one of the last performing true rock legends!! What a fantastic night! Just to be in the presence of the great man and the Horse. Gives me goose-bumps just thinking about it! Lets hope this wasn't the last time.
Thanks Neil!
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