Desert Trip Festival: Neil Young + Promise of the Real, October 15, 2016 - Weekend #2

Setlist via Sugar Mountain (Thanks Tom!):

Neil Young
2016-10-15
Empire Polo Club, Indio, California, USA
Desert Trip
w/ Promise Of The Real

01. After The Gold Rush
02. Heart Of Gold
03. Old Man
04. Long May You Run
05. Mother Earth (Natural Anthem)
06. Out On The Weekend
07. Comes A Time
08. Harvest Moon
09. Neighborhood
10. Show Me
11. Helpless
12. Words
13. Alabama
14. Powderfinger
15. Texas Rangers
16. Cowgirl In The Sand
17. Seed Justice
18. Like A Hurricane
19. Peace Trail
20. Rockin' In The Free World
—
21. A Day In The Life>Give Peace A Chance (guests with Paul McCartney)
22. Why Don't We Do It In The Road? (guests with Paul McCartney)

desert trippin' we love you pic.twitter.com/VADGehkBfw

— Neil Young (@Neilyoung) October 16, 2016

From Forbes by Steve Baltin:

Night two of Desert Trip did have more collaborations with Rihanna, “The Queen of Barbados,” joining McCartney for “FourFiveSeconds” and Young and McCartney once again appearing onstage together, as they did weekend one, for a medley of “A Day In The Life” and “Give Peace A Chance” and a ferocious “Why Don’t We Do It In The Road” that saw Young break all his guitar strings. Of the two collaborations the Young one fit far more and was more impactful than RiRi’s surprise appearance.

But, in many respects, night two didn’t need the wow factor because what it did have was two monumental performances from artists still at the top of their game.

Young opened the night “five minutes early,” he said, with a powerful acoustic set that included “Heart Of Gold,” “After The Gold Rush,” “Old Man” and “Harvest Moon” under a full moon that actually rose as Young took the stage. Even the weather and nature seem in sync with the festival with wind kicking in at the right times. This weekend has been that magical.

Backed by Promise Of The Real, highlighted by Lukas Nelson’s insane guitar work, Young made sure the weekend stayed magical with “Cowgirl In The Sand” and “Like A Hurricane” both extended into incredible guitar jams that, under the desert sky, could only be called transcendent. Young also stopped to throw organic seeds into the audience to protest what he called a “Stupid California law” that doesn’t allow seeds to be transported more than three miles.

When someone from the front clearly said something, though it wasn’t audible, Young sarcastically apologized for veering from the program and said, “I’m just trying to connect this to the real world.” For many who paid thousands for their tickets this weekend this isn’t about the real world, but Young, to his enduring credit, doesn’t give a damn. More than any artist on the bill he continues to fight for the principles that marked the era Desert Trip is celebrating. And it shows in the ferociousness of his live show, which, last night, rivaled any band on tour today for intensity, power and musicality.

Last night, Neil threw out into the audience 100's of bags of "Sacred Seeds" to support "Seed Justice". (Thanks Ken H. & Hounds That Howell!)

Neil Young performed with McCartney at Desert Trip Music Festival 🎼🎸🎤🎸🎹 #Mickjagger #BobDylan #neilyoung #McCartney #musician #rockstars pic.twitter.com/cZpJaQL9Hq

— Fiona Fu (@fionafuofficial) October 16, 2016

Unbelievable!! #neilyoung #deserttrip #oldchella

A photo posted by Blaine Kaplan (@anotherkaplan) on Oct 16, 2016 at 12:49am PDT

The God's set list... Neil, you make me miss my mum x Stella pic.twitter.com/SMRsWHRiiD

— Stella McCartney (@StellaMcCartney) October 16, 2016

Neil Young @DesertTripIndio pic.twitter.com/2Su7SGJhhK

— Eva Schiess (@Vo80) October 16, 2016

---

Neil Young with Promise of the REAL will open for Paul McCartney tonight, Saturday (Weekend #2), October 15, 2016.

(See more on last weekend's Desert Trip Festival, Weekend #1.)

The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan are featured on Friday; Paul McCartney and Neil Young follow on Saturday; and closes with Sunday-night performances by the Who and Roger Waters.

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.

And as we presciently speculated last week, yes, we did indeed get the Paul and Neil mashup we all hoped for. Maybe not exactly as expected (we thought Paul would walk onto Neil's set for "A Day In The Life"), but even beyond our wildest speculations.

After Neil joined Paul for "A Day In The Life" they went straight into John Lennon's "Give Peace A Chance" followed by a rare "Why Don't We Do It In The Road?". Are we lucky and blessed or what?!

Paul McCartney and Neil Young
Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Desert Trip
Desert Trip Festival, October 8, 2016

So what are the TW wild speculations for Weekend #2? After the Neil + Paul last weekend, we're not sure whether lightening will strike again. Maybe a Neil + Roger Waters collaboration of some sort?

And remember that time Neil Young was in playing a concert in Hyde Park, London and Sir Paul showed up???

Paul McCartney and Neil Young (w/ Ben Keith & Rick Rosas)
Hyde Park, London, UK - June 27, 2009
Photo by Lzbth Corinthians (via Bernie B. Shakey)
(Click photo to enlarge)
Also, see more on Paul McCartney and Neil Young's musical collaborations.

---

---