Review of the Moment: Neil Young & Crazy Horse Concert: Lokeren, Belgium - August 5, 2014

Neil Young
2014-07-12, Hyde Park, London, England
Photo by Paolo Brillo
(Click photo to enlarge)

The Review of the Moment is from Neil Young News: Neil Young & Crazy Horse Concert: Lokeren, Belgium - August 3, 2014 by Darth Malt:

Wow, I don't even know where to begin. As the gates opened I somehow managed to find myself in the best spot on the grounds, riding the rail immediately to the left of the center divide - and would not move for the next 7 hours.

Neil and the boys launched into the show with a monstrous but soulful jam of DBTR that, like Anonymous mentioned, must have gone on for more than 20 minutes. Who does that? After the first song was done, Mrs. Malt (who is not a fan, I have to admit) turned to me and simply asked incredulously: "Has he always sounded this good?".

What then followed was a cavalcade of mostly classic songs that the Horse (squabble all you want about the band name) jammed through with glee and passion. They played well over the original two hour time slot (which unfortunately, due to the late timing, slight jet lag and physical exhaustion was a bit too much for Mrs. Malt in the end).

At one point (going into Psychedelic Pill?), Neil stopped the song short after a few chords, and glaring at the crew, sent them back to replace Poncho's guitar. "You got to tune the guitars *before* bringing them on stage. These people paid a lot of money. *I'm* singing it, so it's *already* out of tune" (may be paraphrasing here).

Is it me, or is Neil actually getting better year after year? With every swipe, slap and pick he conjures controlled growls roaring out of his guitar, and the interplay with Poncho last night was the best I've seen so far (admittedly this was only my fourth Crazy Horse gig). I don't know if I've ever seen Neil so happy and Poncho positively fucking *glowed* and held his own in the spotlight. Even Rick, calm and laid back, took part in the goofy camaraderie with a smile and the whole band gelled together naturally and effortlessly. From my viewpoint I unfortunately didn't see much of Ralph before the bows at the end.

A special thank you to the friendly crew of the Lokerse Feesten for a well organized festival.

Thanks Darth! Thanks for review, See yo down the road someday,

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