Bethel, NY Concert Reports - Neil Young + Promise of the Real, July 17, 2015
Peace, Love & Woodstock lives! thanks for last night N
Posted by Neil Young on Saturday, July 18, 2015
Neil Young + Promise of the Real will be performing tonight, July 17, 2015, on the Rebel Content Tour at Bethel, NY.
Got a report? Drop us a comment below.
Check Sugar Mountain for setlist updates and Chronological Grid, Recording Summary, Statistics and Extras.
Also, see Neil Young + Promise of the Real 2015 Concert Tour Dates for reviews, photos, videos and more.
Labels: concert, neil young, reviews, tour
by thrasher@PermaLink: 7/17/2015 11:18:00 PM
13 comments
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13 Comments:
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Amazing show. One of the best I've seen from Neil. He dropped songs from the previous sets like Flying on the Ground, Bad Fog, Down by the River and added Winterlong and Cowgirl. He was very funny mentioning that he was at this place many years ago and that it's different. He suggested his construction idea that Woodstock alumni get 10 jackhammer and breakdown the front of the stage so that he can be closer to the audience. He also threw his harmonica in the audience at one point saying it was sick, aka prob the wrong key? And started the song over. Promise of the Real was tight and provided great energy.
Having Neil Young open up with "After The Gold Rush" on piano, was hauntigly beautiful and memorable.He sounded better than ever. He followed ATG with some Heart of Gold, Old Man, Long May you run, solo acoustic.He sounded fantastic. His energy level was amazing, the band sounded great. I loved his new music as well, which is lyrically straightforward, yet poignant.It also rocked!!! Cowgirl in the Sand was amazing, and Neil's solos on the electric were out of this world.I couldn't have asked for a better show...Winterlong was kind of a surprise,so was Walk on-glad he played those!
A great night at Bethel Woods. Took the 4 1/2 hour journey to Woodstock, passing Neil's Creek on the way, so we knew we were heading in the right direction. Took in the view of the '69 festival site from the monument with some Neilers playing some acoustic guitars and trying to get the chords right. Tailgating was just right parked next to an old VW camper/van and some fine folks and easy spirits. The beauty next to us smoking big cigars was the best. She was a true Neilhead too as she swayed to the songs cranked from my van.
Ventured into the bowl around 7:30 to a packed lawn and pavilion. Good Nora Jones & company tunes with several references about loving to be playing with Neil.
The openers were quite welcomed with the string of 'hits' played followed by an all out assault of rock and roll by Promise of the Real. Their energy invigorated everything and put the big smile on Neil's face all night.
The crowd was excellent without a whole lot of useless banter during the songs, something that actually surprised me given prior concert experiences.
Got about 5,000 high fives, hand shakes and hand holds up on the lawn as I was sitting on the middle aisle in the grass and held my hand up all night getting some skin and some great vibes from everyone. Thanks Folks, you made my night.
Took the back roads in and out of the venue and missed all the traffic. A great trip and a great concert. Bought Monsanto Years CD in the morning and listened to it on the way in a few times, but the new songs were much better live than on the album. Great rocking and arrangements. Neil said he'd be back next year. Me too. Catch the show if you can.
@ Anthony G - thanks for report. Glad you enjoyed. Funny comment on Woodstock by Neil.
@ Athina - seems like a setlist with something for everybody. Kinda expected maybe another Hippie Dream. Or maybe that would be too much for a Woodstock crowd?
@SONY - glad you made the trip. Sounds like that hippie vibe of Woodstock is still alive & well.
Agree that live in concert is way better than Monsanto Years CD. But then again, isn't that the case with all of NY's albums and concerts? Not to be too cliche, but live music really is better.
peace & love
Live music is better, bumper stickers should be issued
Live music is better, bumper stickers should be issued
Live music is better, bumper stickers should be issued
http://www.recordonline.com/article/20150718/NEWS/150719394
just an amazing show. last time i saw neil was in '11 during the le noise tour - he seemed tired and just going through the motions that night. on this tour - he just seems happier and glad to be playing with these guys.
he gave the audience his thoughts on "construction", saying Bethel Woods needed to bring in guys with jackhammers to get rid of the concrete in the front so the audience can be closer. the band was fantastic - Willie's son can flat out play guitar. they brought a great energy to the songs, and they were doing their best to channel Crazy Horse.
some of the highlights were "hold back the tears" - it's hard to describe the groove POTR gave to that song, but i've never heard anything like it. "wolf moon" had a false start - Neil's harmonica went bad on him - he threw it to an audience member as a keepsake - said he didn't want to struggle through the song and we deserved the best. "cowgirl in the sand" left us speechless - i've seen him play that song before with various bands, but i simply can't describe the level these guys took it too. the entire audience was standing in amazement. "everybody knows this is nowhere", "winterlong", "words" were out of this world. the new stuff was pretty good - the crowd wasn't really into it, but some of the points he made in those songs got a good reaction. "love and only love" was epic to close things out. they only did one encore song "roll another number" which seemed very appropriate for the location.
I've been a Neil fan for more than 30 years. Along with the Barcelona and San Sebastian, Spain shows I saw a few years ago, this was one of the best! Great, great energy, Neil in a happy, playful mood, more so than he sometimes is. I liked the plain no-nonsense band & stage set up and the gen. admission lawn seating, too.
My BIG disappointment is that I drove up from Manhattan, hit traffic, got lost and MISSED the first few songs. In some ways I'm heartbroken, in another way it made the experience more precious. But I didn't miss "Words," which I've been dying to hear live forever. The encore was great, too--some people wanted him to play the "Woodstock" song, but it was better that he did something that just had that one reference. And for those who don't know, his comment on Jimmi Hendrix (not in the original song) was because he and Jimmi spent a few hours in a car joyriding around the Catskills during the original Woodstock.
His reference to the commercialization of the Woodstock site was great, too. Even the convenience stores in the area sell souveniers.
If anybody has a complete list of songs that they wrote down from the show, please share it. And I hope Neil is serious about coming back to Bethel next year. Thanks and happy wheat!
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