Concert Reports: Neil Young + Promise of the Real - New Orleans, LA @ Jazz & Heritage festival, May 1, 2016
Neil Young + Promise of the Real will be performing tonight, May 1 in New Orleans, LA at Jazz & Heritage festival.
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 2016 Concert Tour Dates for reviews, photos, videos and more.
Labels: concert, neil young, reviews, tour
by thrasher@PermaLink: 5/01/2016 11:44:00 AM
46 comments
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46 Comments:
Just got back from the show. Covered in mud. A bit over 2 hours, 8 songs! Cortez was 20+, Love & Only Love was 30+!
Fucking Up
Cortez
Country Home
I Won't Quit
Monsanto Years
Love & Only Love
Rocking In the Free World
Powderfinger
Started about 25 minutes late (I thought he was due to start at 3, maybe I'm wrong) because of technical problems. After a bit, Neil also begged for the stage lights to be off because they were too bright-- he got his wish.
Cortez was 20 or so minutes long. Country Home was pure fire along with I Won't Quit. Love & Only Love went on forever and the rest of the band applauded the outro. Then RITFW was introduced with a reference to it all sounding the same. Neil added new verses to the end about big oil and sucking the soil dry. He made some weird joke about people drowning enroute and then apologized.
I can't begin to describe it, but it was awesome and unlike the previous 12 times I've seen Neil including Tuesday in New Braunfels. Awesome isn't powerful enough.
Thanks for sharing the experience with us, and I'm glad you had a great time. We'll count you as a fan of the "extended jam" Neil...
Take my advice
Don't listen to me
I definitely am. I wanted Cortez to crack 30 minutes. And I desperately wanted Like A Hurricane. Was hoping LAH, Be The Rain, or See The Sky would be played.
So phenomenal.
Would you say you liked the New Orleans or New Braunfels show better? Or were they jus different? Obviously no acoustic or mellow segments. Looks like it would have been with Old Black for the whole show.
Just different-- I got more into Jazz Fest because it was all Black and all Rock from the first note. But New Braunfels was probably the better "show".
A miserable day with the rain,mud ,traffic, more rain. But Neil Young saved my day. It was damn well worth it.I hadn't played in mud since I was 10.
Cool. Thanks for the report. I'm definitely a fan of the extended jams also. I'm one of the people who really liked Walk Like A Giant. Thanks again.
I also am a fan of the extended jams, and I love Walk Like a Giant. Sounds like it was a show for the ages. Neil and the band seem to be finding there way into the fire that is Ol' Black. Would have loved to have been there. Past: thanks for sharing your experience. Eight songs in over two hours... Wow!!! Long jams indeed.
Very envious of you, Pabst. Each gig seems to be a "one off". Expect the naysayers to stink up your thread and tell you that you are wrong shortly!
I am beyond excited about Glasgow / Leeds / London in June.
I said yesterday that Saturday's Down By The River is the best thing I have heard so far with POTR. So it will be very interesting to see how well Cortez fares in a similarly extended arrangement. The best Cortez's tend to hover around 8-10 minutes (see: 1976, 1991, 1996) but again there have been exciting long versions; some of the ones with Pearl Jam and Booker T spring to mind.
Overall that's another good-looking setlist. Ever since I said "I like shorter setlists" they have become very short indeed. So if the next show is just 3 songs then you know who to blame...
Growl: you are yet again trying to wind people up. Nobody is going to tell Pabst he is "wrong", his reports are clearly enjoyable to read. So stop trying to manufacture disagreement where there is none.
A short compilation of insults I (and others) have received on here in the last year:
"Psychologically damaged", "truly perverse", "should be killed", "miserable temperament", "stinking up threads". There are of course many more that weren't imaginative enough to take note of.
Some people seem obsessed with starting a fight, turning differing opinions into a battleground of petty, child-like insults. Perhaps they just lack the social skills to politely disagree with someone who expresses a contrary opinion, I don't know.
Thank you OldNeg, Topanga, Barry, Pabst, Andrew, Art, Mark, Ian, Dan Swan, Andrea, Pocahontas (and of course the Thrasher family) etc etc for your always engaging discussions and comments on this board. If you are in doubt about whether the above criticism applies to you, then it most likely doesn't.
Finally, I was accused yesterday of being "a miserable" concert-goer simply because I noted that the crowd near the stage at Hyde Park 2014 was noisy, distracting and often unengaged. So read my contemporary review of the gig, and decide for yourself on my temperament:
http://neilyoungnews.thrasherswheat.org/2014/07/neil-young-crazy-horse-concert-hyde.html
Scotsman.
Incidentally, I've just got Rust Radio playing in the background. Inglewood 2015. Sounds like a good show to me so far - well worth a listen. The Monsanto material in particular is coming across well.
Cowgirl is one of those songs that Neil struggles with vocally nowadays - it really is a very high song for a 70 year old to be singing! But instrumentally, it really suits this band. There is a lot of space in the arrangement that really gives Neil's guitar room to shine.
Go and have a listen.
Scotsman.
A great video of Revolution Blues from the other night is on youtube.
Oh my. This is top class.
It's almost like a different band to July last year. Unexpectedly for me, Neil plays this song on Old Black, not the Gretsh, giving the song a much harder, rockier sound. Lukas and Micah both restrain themselves to playing sparse rhythm, giving Neil as much room as he needs to let rip with some awesome guitar solos. And it's a huge improvement: Neil Young is the man we are there to see, and here the band have the good taste to let him shine, standing alone in the limelight. This is Neil Young with his band; not a band with Neil Young. Normal service has resumed, and the results are awe-inspiring.
Overall it's an exciting, spine tingling performance, and the video is very atmopsheric to watch too.
Sorry for the overload of comments if you are one of those who I habitually annoy.
Scotsman.
The one song I am desperate to hear on the Euro tour is Tonight's The Night. Never seen it live, I should have seen in in 2008 at Manchester Apollo on the second night, but a decision to leave after the second encore (I was convinced the gig was over) will haunt me forever. NY came back out and did TTN and then a 3rd encore of The Sultan.
OMG!!! Wow - that is some Revolution Blues! Thanks for the YouTube tip-off Mr FlyingSman - never thought I'd ever get to hear this 'live'
Scotsman:"you are yet again trying to wind people up." Not sure I have made more than a couple of mildly contentious comments on this forum in all the years I've been visiting. You infer I have been active in adding to your personal insult list. Not true my friend. I did predict someone would piss on Pabst's chips which has become the opposite of a self fulfilling prophesy!
No one is going to get me down on how much I enjoyed yesterday and how much I enjoyed New Braunfels. I totally get it that some people prefer 10 minute jams instead of 30 minute jams. I get it that some people prefer Neil acoustic with a band or solo acoustic. There are even some sick perverse weirdos who prefer him with CSN! For me, I could listen to Neil noodle on Old Black for hours. This was my 13th show since my initiation in 96 and I will never ever get enough. Sometimes he releases a turd in my opinion, but if other folks like it... Fine by me!
In short, I don't get why people get worked up about it. I get it if you didn't like the show for whatever reason, and you've got your right to be annoyed that you paid for something you didn't love, but I don't think life is long enough to be angry about it.
Also, I used to think Love & And Only Love was one of the weakest songs on one of my favorite albums. Didn't really love it at any of the 3 Crazy Horse shows I saw in 2012... But New Braunfels and NOLA have left me a changed man. I can't get it out of my head.
Wow the past few shows sound amazing. Really hoping he comes East in the Fall. Last year Neil was just getting his feet wet with this band and now they are taking off. I got a taste of it with the encore Cortez at Jones Beach last Juky but to hear Revolution Blues that must have been otherworldly.
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Top class indeed!! So glad that video popped up. Spine tingling it was! The way he played it and sang it still gives me chills. Hell, I was up past midnight last night watching Neil on YouTube. What a great age we live in. I can watch Neil all summer! Can't wait.
Also, I want to clarify that I love Walk like a Giant. The difference between that tour and this one is the extended endings like the Giant stomp for 5 minutes are gone! It was cool, but not so much when he could be playing Revolution Blues instead! And Scotsman, you're right. They're letting Neil breathe now and the results are remarkable. He's a freakin 70 year old man for Gods sake!!
Old Neg-- wait until a video of NOLA's Love & Only Love surfaces. It was about 10 minutes of feedback and noodling that'll blow the stomping away. Micah seemed to give Neil shit afterwards and made a flapping gesture like "Neil, you flew away to another planet there."
Unfortunately it was raining, so only an insane person (or a well prepared person with a waterproof camera case) would have shot the entire song!
Jim: glad to be of service. Hopefully it will re-appear at future shows, but I think that performance will be hard to improve upon.
Pabst: ...But who exactly is trying "to get you down" about how much you enjoyed it? Are you in fact arguing with yourself?! If so, this is an odd but surprisingly common medical condition on this message board, and I can recommend a good psychiatrist.
Andrew: Oh dear! I remember reading about someone who attended the Bob Dylan concert at MSG in 2002. They left after the usual final encore of All Along The Watchtower. A few minutes later Bob came back on and did a one-off performance of "Something" as a tribute to George Harrison. Oops!
At least you stand a reasonable chance of hearing Neil do TTN again. Though less likely it will happen with POTR, I'm guessing....
Scotsman.
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Scotz-- no one is getting me down, but earlier it was suggested by Growl that folks would try. That's all.
I was hoping a video of "Revolution Blues" would surface, but felt like another poster who sarcastically said something like "500 people taking selfies, but probably no one bothered to record RB." Glad he was wrong!
This performance has it all, including ole' Neil adding two rifles ("we got 27 rifles, just to keep the population down") for those of us who notice such things.
Tremendous version--let's hope he plays it again, but I'm thankful for this golden nugget gift played magically.
Regarding "mud fest," I would have loved everything about it 20 years ago, but now I don't quite have the appreciation or patience for the extended, extended jamming. Yea, I'm becoming an old grumpy bastard, but I still love that Neil can thrill and piss people off at the same time.
let's hope we can all do that into our 70s and beyond...
Take my advice
Don't listen to me
I was very glad that, at 38 years old, my enthusiasm for doing stupid things like standing ankle deep in mud hasn't diminished! I had a moment of weakness, about 30 minutes before go time, that I wondered WTF I was doing.
Absolutely love that version on RB, really hope I get to hear it in June. Looking more & more likely that I'll be going to Berlin too.
Past : Good job hanging in there with the mud. These opportunities only come along a few times in life and I'm glad you hung in there. You now have one more beautiful memory to add to your life, and a great story to tell. It is the things we experience in life that we retain the most. We tend to forget about the stuff we hear about, but doing is where it's at. Congratulations on your willingness to live it.
Hey, I'm the old grumpy bastard here. But I'm still up for noodling, feedback and ankle deep mud if the opportunity should arise!
Sorry Pabst, I inadvertently forgot the b in my previous post, but you knew what I meant.....
I just got done viewing the youtube video of Revolution Blues from a few days ago. Wholly Cow!!!
The band is in the zone and Neil is on!!!
At 70, he is truly in the moment, and Ol' Black is on fire. What a tasteful solo.
I've seen Neil eleven times, with Crazy Horse, Booker T, Pearl Jam, and solo, but he never played Revolution Blues at any of those shows. Great song, and great performance.
I'm really happy Neil just won't stop playing music and hitting the road. We are just so blessed he's still with us.
Dan-- that's exactly how/why I felt and exactly why I went to NOLA, stood in the mud, etc. I didn't really plan to not see Neil in the rain/mud, but I just had a moment of weakness where I questioned if it was worth it. (Breaking news: IT WAS WORTH IT!)
When Bowie passed away, I swore I'd see Neil at least 3 times on this tour. I had an opportunity due to semi-unemployment in 2001 to go to Europe for the Crazy Horse tour and didn't pull the trigger. I still regret it when I listen to that 4 CDR compilation someone on the Rust List made back then. I just couldn't let myself make that same mistake this time around and New Braunfels and NOLA were convenient enough to do both this past week!
Anyway, two shows down, one to go... and that one is in Rome. Already bought tickets for the show and plane tickets with my girlfriend. She's very tolerant of my Neil obsession and we were going somewhere in Europe this summer anyway on vacation. Had to promise that I'd only demand 1 night of Neil though, otherwise the vacation becomes my vacation and not ours. That seemed like a fair deal to me! I'll save money in 2017 apparently. :)
Past: Neil Young live in Rome..... now there's a fantasy trip for sure. There is no doubt that will be a remarkable experience for you both.
My wife and I drove from Arizona to Austin TX in 2010 to see Neil solo at Bass Hall. It was my wife's first Neil show and we were not sorry we took the trip. Great show. 2012 she bought tickets for Red Rocks before I'd even heard about it, so we drove to Colorado and again, great show. Those two trips are forever a part of our history together. We have created these memories together and these trips have become part of who we are as a couple, and as individuals.
Have a safe trip to Rome and I'm sure everyone here on the Wheat look forward to hearing about your experience at the show.
Peace.
Jeez.. I missed the B again.... sorry. I'm not so good with typing.
Sorry Old Neg, you've worked hard to be the local old grumpy bastard here and that title shall forever be yours!
For now, I'll just consider myself the slightly younger, less grumpy bastard (if that works for you)..
Hey Pabst, glad you still have the spirit @ 38--keep it as long as you can. I still have the inner spirit, but my full tolerance for wild adventures started dwindling in my mid 40s.
Always remember, we are the happiness we make or the sadness we embrace.
When I first saw the short set lists my reaction was Neil WTF??? ... 8 songs??? ... then i got distracted and when I came back I had the same visceral reaction, like really 8 or 9 songs?? what happened to the 29 song shows w POTR? ... I almost flew to N.O. and spent $750 on flights and a ticket for 8 songs?? I'm thinking about chucking all of my important responsibilities (work, family, savings) to fly to europe and it'll be 8 or 9 songs?? ... then I though but gosh people like Growl and Pabst and others are raving about the show they're cool with it ... and I try not to watch the videos until I see a show on the tour so I can experience it totally fresh ... it took a couple days for me to remember the artist knows what moves him, what moves him moves the audience, I've been going to see Neil live for 4 decades now and NEVER once was anything other than moved ... I remember in 2007 my favorite songs from those theatre shows were from CDII and I went into the shows thinking the album and its songs (sans NHP) were mediocre but he somehow brought them to life in ways I never could have imagined ... after years of seeing him and thinking about it I have a better understanding as to why people screaming song requests pisses him off ... he knows what he's doing, he knows what he's feeling ... he's not going to play something that doesn't move him cause it won't move the fans ... whats hardest about Neil is somehow he takes your expectations and always scrambles them to the extreme ... 30 minute songs? Where does he come up with this stuff ... its challenging being a Neil fan, for all the crap I've given the pessimists over the years I have to admit he challenges his fans/audience more than virtually any other musician, perhaps only Dylan does it more but Dylan constantly re-arranging his songs is why I wont go see him all ... with Neil, it takes an open heart but going with no expectations makes for an epic experience ... for us to be discussing the first RBs in 30 years and from the sound of it an epic version of RB ... good times, good times ... so count me in sight unseen, 8 or 9 songs, i'm willing to take the plunge I guess to Europe or praying for him to return stateside ... life is short and can't miss this!!
"I was hoping a video of "Revolution Blues" would surface, but felt like another poster who sarcastically said something like "500 people taking selfies, but probably no one bothered to record RB." Glad he was wrong!"
That was me. What I said was 500 people recording yet another version of "Heart of Gold" but the point is similar. Anyway, I'm glad somebody filmed it!
@Dan1: Appreciate your comments. Yea, an 8 or 9 song concert is rather extreme and on paper not something I'd love, but an open mind is important to have when it comes to Neil. We're all getting older, and we're lucky Neil's still communicating with us on his terms.
I have a feeling though that the upcoming shows will expand back to the broader shows of last year.
@vvvv: Sorry for misquoting you, but as you said, the point was similar. I was just too lazy to seek out your exact words. Funny, at least I got the "500 people" part spot on!
Take my advice
don't listen to me
The venue for the Rome show is the ancient Baths of Caracalla where the original Three Tenors concert was held. Should be a magical night.
History shows us that many of Neil's best shows have had very concise setlists.
Shows on the Ragged Glory tour were 14 songs at most; often less. Whereas the 2006 CSNY shows had 34 songs. But I know which tour I'd rather have seen.
So often with Neil's music, less is more. Simplicity, focus, intensity. It's about subtracting stuff, not adding it.
Scotsman.
Scotsman: I saw two shows from the Ragged Glory tour and no one was counting songs. They were both just epic concerts, and really loud too. I agree... Less is more.... and he closed both shows with Tonights the Night.
Dan1 : You are so right in your post when you said, " he knows what he's doing, he knows what he's feeling ... he's not going to play something that doesn't move him cause it won't move the fans ... " That's why we are all here.
Growl (and Dan S)-- the Rome venue being so beautiful is what sold the deal on going. Even a casual Neil fan like my girlfriend will give in when given that opportunity. She's a trooper and these absurd trips are what keeps it fun.
We went to Outside Lands because I didn't want to risk that Neil wouldn't play in our backyard for ACL Fest (oops. he did!)... and we're still talking about that trip a few years later, joking about the disaster of trying to find our way out of Golden Gate Park after smoking some kid's pipe (and still wondering how that kid, who was probably 17, could even be standing!)
Some people travel to see waterfalls, glaciers, mountains, skyscrapers, the Superbowl, etc... I'll travel to see Neil instead. The mountains and waterfalls and glaciers will be there long after Neil is gone, hopefully.
Hey Pabst, true statement about the glaciers, etc...
but:
Neil IS a waterfall, a mountain, a glacier, a skyscraper AND can write, sing and play guitar just like nature intended!
Take my advice
don't listen to me
That's certainly a hard statement to argue with!
I was at Jazzfest and I dunno, I thought the non-stop rain and mud and wind all detracted from my enjoyment of the show. Neil took pity on the crowd and dropped a great Cortez as a gift to those of us who suffered. I'm in 4th decade of Neil shows and my 3rd POTR show and wouldn't call this one particularly memorable, except for the weather conditions. But hats off to anyone who loved it, I'm glad for you. Don't get me wrong, it was a good show, and maybe it would have been a great show if I wasn't so involved with my leaking poncho and could have listened more closely, but that's my take on it. Wish I hadn't spent the time and $'s, especially since the Neil show was on the 3rd rainy day out of 4 total, but that's the deal you sign up for with outdoor concerts and nobody forced me to go.
Phil-- That's a bummer that you didn't enjoy it as much as I did, but had I been there for the other days and had my poncho not been keeping most of me dry, I am certain I would have felt similar! (Amazingly my poncho was great until we were walking out and I tried to rinse my shoes out from the rain pouring off one of the tents... and then I ripped the back of my poncho somehow and had to deal with a soaking wet ass!)
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