Comment of the Moment: Neil Young's "Somewhere In Canada" Concert

Neil Young
"Somewhere In Canada" Concert - December 1, 2017
Coronation Hall - Omemee, Ontario, Canada

Many of Neil Young's fans are still recovering from the emotional Neil Young's "Somewhere In Canada" Concert last week.

Here is a Comment of the Moment from Neil Young's "Somewhere In Canada" Concert (report by Sharry Wilson) by Minke T.:

Dear all,

Watching Neil’s homecoming was such an event. It shook me thoroughly. It was beautiful and confusing, and utterly gripping. Neil’s performance moved me to tears at several points. Emotive highlights were Someday and Don’t be denied, both so highly personal, made for this moment and occasion, and both getting such sweet, vulnerable and poignant renderings.

To see Neil’s musicality so captivatingly alive was an enormous joy. But so see him almost fall over, groping in the mist of bad eyesight, so dependent on his helpers, reminded so much of our mortality, of dying light, of the shakiness of things. Neil has always been there and now we see him, as we see those around us, preparing to slip away, someday.

I can't fathom whether the concert was good or bad, technically speaking. Perhaps the performances of some songs will not stand stand up to repeated listening, from a greater time distance, out of the moment and the ambiance. There were bad notes, mistunings, mistakes, awkward endings. It was the first time I had the feeling that something was sliding away from him, that he was not on the top of his technical game. Perhaps this was most visible in his guitar technique. always so immaculate and well-aimed, but now more faltering, more putative – and the more moving for it.

It was grandiose.

In the run-up to the event, I sometimes thought he was really moving to Canada, selling his stuff, leaving his California stardom, letting this be a homecoming and a farewell -- but to what? Settling in old age, running the business and doing the politics. But who knows.

Whatever comes next, Neil gave us the ultimate gift of a musical genius that adjusts itself to the possibilities and limitations of moment, age, to the present state of his body and mind. Forget the slips, the spirit was there. A new spirit, more intimate than ever, fragile, with such a strong sense of looking back, on the way home, and as true as ever.

After all, the emotive assault on our inner tunings tells it all. I guess this is what true fandom is, despite the glitches, the let-downs, the exasperation, frustration sometimes, to be moved to the core.

Thanks Neil, thanks Thrasher

And thank you Minke for that heartfelt tribute.

There's not much we can add that others didn't add after your comment.

Let the record just show that on December 1, 2017, Neil Young made the whole world both laugh and cry -- and experience every emotion in between. We are the lucky ones...

Bob Purdy at Neil Young's "Somewhere In Canada" Concert
Coronation Hall - Omemee, Ontario, Canada
Photo by CLIFFORD SKARSTEDT/PETERBOROUGH EXAMINER/

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