The Philadelphia Stories from The Man in The High Tower (Theater): Neil Young Solo @ Upper Darby, PA - Sept. 30 & Oct 1

"Tell Me Why"
Photo by thrasher
(Click photo to enlarge)

Neil Young performed 2 solo concerts at the Tower Theater, Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, on Sunday, September 30 and Monday, October 1 which we had the privilege and honor of attending.

On Night #2, after the 1st 2 songs -- "The Last Trip To Tulsa" (full 8 verses) and "Thrasher" (full 8 verses) , we turned to our seat neighbors and fully agreed that we had already gotten our $'s worth for the night. Yes, it was pretty surreal to have Neil start the 1st notes of "Thrasher" and have all of these Rusties in the first couple of rows turn to us with these looks of amazement. In our lifetime, we have had some pretty amazing Neil memories over the years, but priceless doesn't even begin to describe when Neil plays your favorite song just a few mere feet away. More on our "Thrasher" experience down below.

Ohio

Over the course of 2 nights in Upper Darby, we heard 34 different songs, 12 songs on the second night he didn’t perform on 1st.

Setlist Grid via Sugar Mountain

A few more highlights:

• The Loner: 1st acoustic since 1970
• The Trip To Tulsa: last played in 1999
• See The Sky About To Rain: last played in 1999
• Expecting To Fly: last played in 2003
• Lotta Love: 1st solo since 2003
• Four Strong Winds: 1st since 2014
• Children Of Destiny: 1st solo electric
• Eternity: 1st solo acoustic

Broken Arrow

For us, the Philly solo concerts hit all of the major themes, with all the right notes, at all the right moments. What more could one ask?

And Broken Arrow on grand piano?! Simply stunning. Breathless, on the edge of the seat. Not just expecting to fly, but actually flying. A true master class of an evening. We count our blessings and we are blessed, indeed. It's all about Love & War... and we're living the Dream and the Nightmare.

But we'll take a cruise down Peaceful Valley Boulevard any day...

The Big "S" From The Philadelphia Spectrum Autographed Sign

And here's our dear, long time friend Karen's thoughts after seeing 102 Neil Young concerts on her blog streamland:

Now. The thing is this. There’s a big community of serious - and I mean serious - Neil Young fans out there. Me among them. We are a tight group. Friends. And everyone was oohing and aaahing about these setlists. Me too. Of course. But … that’s not what led me to go to 102 Neil Young shows in the first place, folks. That’s cool, and all, but it’s not that which keeps me mesmerized. It’s the sheer span of the catalogue and its creative brilliance, and it’s also and really the feeling. The feeling Neil Young can somehow call up while he’s playing, and that he somehow throws out to us. It’s his lonesome voice when he sings so plaintively “lonesome whistle on a railroad traaaaaack ain’t got nothing on those feelings that we had.” It’s his soft vulnerability in every syllable of Expecting to Fly, the world-weary sound of the early confusion of fame in his Broken Arrow, his mysterious story-telling in Last Trip to Tulsa. It’s the determination and earnest, even innocent, quality of his voice on Children of Destiny. It’s the distinctive, it-could-only-be-him thump thump of the low notes of the acoustic guitar, it’s his feet tapping to the music and his knees swaying back and forth to the rhythm. It’s the giant, supernatural force of his electric guitar that reaches out into the audience and grabs you by the throat from the first note. It’s the love you hear in the clickety clack of his new song. It’s the fact that there are almost always new songs. (Speaking of which, I loved his solo acoustic version of this new song, called presumably House of Love or Eternity …. His deep voice vocal on the click clack clickety clack in between reminded me of the Are You Passionate album, somehow, which I adore. That deep click clack vocal is so stirring, I could listen to it all day.). Which is all a long way of saying, Neil is present.

Tumbleweed

peace & love

"Thrasher"
Neil Young, Philadelphia - October 8, 2014
(Video by Sister Terri)
It was a long time coming.

But it was oh-so worth the wait back in 2014 when we got to hear "Thrasher" perform live for the our 2nd and 3rd time. October 1, 2018 would mark our 4th occasion to hear "Thrasher" -- 3 which happened in Philadelphia.

It had been 36 years ago since we first heard Neil Young perform the song "Thrasher" on the 1978 Rust Never Sleeps tour on October 7 in William & Mary Hall at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. In retrospect, it was an unforgettable moment. A moment that we eventually came to believe that we would never, ever experience again in our lifetime.

And Neil performed the song "Thrasher" with all the intensity and passion that we could ever hope. And it was flawless. All the lyrics were nailed. The right harmonica was loaded. And the audience was rapturously hanging on every note, pondering those oh-so cryptically metaphorical verses.

Setlist

Philadelphia - Thursday, October 9, 2014 - Show #2

After 1978, Neil would never play the song "Thrasher" again... that is until 2014 at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles, CA on 3/29/2014.

Until this year, the song "Thrasher" had been played in concert only 32 times, the last time being Oct 24, 1978, which was captured in the “Rust Never Sleeps” concert film*. (*Cow Palace, San Francisco, 22 October 1978. Thanks So Tired & Sugar Mountain!)

So why now? Was there any particular motivation of Neil to perform this rarity in 2014 in Los Angeles?

Well, as with all things, Neil, who knows?

Just before performing the “Thrasher” encore on the 3rd night in Los Angeles (April 1), Neil Young said:

"This song, uh, you know, I did it, I haven't done it that much in my life, because, at a very vulnerable moment I read something about it. Just like the worst fucking review I've ever read. So, for all you reviewers, if you feel like your words don't mean anything, you're probably right. In that case.. in that case, they were damaging. So, anyway, we uh .. I think I got this uh.. I think this is the one here, I hope so.."

As we rambled about the other night on Thrasher's Wheat Radio, there's a great deal of significance to the song's unexpected resurfacing after its 36 years absence as Neil's most requested obscurity track.

Obviously, the song “Thrasher” is quite special to us and we've long considered the song to be Neil Young’s lyrical magnum opus - rich with poetry, metaphors, themes, allusions, and symbols. In one of our very first posts to the Rust list back in 1993 we attempted An Analysis of the Meaning of the song Thrasher Lyrics.

Looking back today at the analysis, there were some things that we think we got right and a few things that were clearly wrong. Our central thesis at the time was that "Thrasher" was about the whole mega group Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young trip in the mid-'70s. Neil seemed to be referring to his former bandmates as the "they" in “Thrasher”. The dinosaurs are CSNY - extinct, a fossil. "So I got bored and left them there, they were just dead weight to me" refers to Neil's departure from CSNY. "It's better on the road without that load" signifies Neil's successful solo path.

So that was then. This is now.

It's now been 40 years since the 1974 reunion tour and there's been much speculation about a multi-disc box set being released for the anniversary, as well as, a possible tour. While still no definite confirmation of CSNY plans here in 2014, the clock ticks on and the possibility remains.

But it would seem that the performance of “Thrasher” last week would be a good omen in terms of Neil reconciling differences with CS&N. Or not?

Could this be Neil's response to CS&N regarding the 1974 reunion tour box set, as in it's not going to happen? Well, based on Neil's response to a crowd shout out in Philadelphia to CSNY, Neil replied "Never again."

"But me I'm not stopping there,
Got my own row left to hoe
Just another line in the field of time
When the thrashers comes, I'll be stuck in the sun
Like the dinosaurs in shrines
But I'll know the time has come
To give what's mine. "



First-ever performance of “Thrasher” recorded on May 24, 1978 at the legendary Boarding House in San Francisco.

Or maybe the performance of “Thrasher” has nothing to do with CSNY? Maybe another 4 letter acronym... PONO? A comment below by The Flying Scotsman just might be on to something...

"The aimless blade of science" - surely a reference to the criticism of Pono, intended or not! :-)

Also, along the same lines was Neil's story about one of his guitars: he believed the story for years. Then someone introduced doubt into his mind - it turns out the story about it wasn't true. But he kept on believing the story anyway: "So to me, it's still true".

As blatant a metaphor for his belief in hi-res audio as there could possibly be, and quite apt for the rest of us, too.

It's all about what we believe.

The Flying Scotsman.

Well, we now know the time has come to give what's ours.

We still see the vista. We still hear the muse. We continue.
Godspeed. Thank you Neil. Mahalo.

The Essential “Thrasher” Request Fold Up Sign

(Thanks Howell, Karen, Lauri and all the rusties who make the magic happen!)

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