"The Final 50": Revisiting Neil Young & Crazy Horse in Oslo 2013

Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Cologne, Germany, 2013
Photo by Roel @ Rust Radio!
(Click photo to enlarge)

So where does Neil Young & Crazy Horse go from here?

Here are some updated thoughts from our good friend Mark "Spook The Horse" Golley looking back on the Europe 2013 tour of Neil Young & Crazy Horse. Back in 2013, Mark "Spook The Horse" witnessed what he called "END OF THE LINE (a.k.a The Final 50): Thoughts on Crazy Horse". "The Final 50" tells the tale of Crazy Horse's last amazing gallop with Poncho. Read all all about it and get pumped up. -- what would be defined as the end of an era and the beginning of a new era and spirit that would soon get REAL.

enjoy!

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INTRODUCTION
Recently I had the pleasure of working with UNCUT magazine editor Michael Bonner as he curated the cover story special on NYCH at 50. It was fascinating to see the features contained within the whole piece come together, one by one, as Michael and his team of writers constructed one of the most entertaining pieces on Neil that I’ve read in the printed press here in Britain for many years.

One of the interviews that Michael conducted himself was with Poncho Sampedro, out in his home on Hawaii. I had some excited emails from MB soon afterwards and had a sneak preview of the content. Amongst many things that cropped up in conversation was Poncho’s retirement from Crazy Horse ~ Ralph Molina had confirmed as much a couple of months ago when the subject was raised via Facebook but here was Frank telling Michael that it was over ~ close on 40 years as a member of the best band Neil Young has ever worked with were, officially, done.

That was that and Poncho seemed utterly unfazed by it.

It turns out that I was lucky enough to see Poncho’s last Crazy Horse show, at Colmar, France in August 2014. The show was one of the better ones from what, I thought, was a largely disappointing 17 gig European tour. This was a band that (to my eyes and ears) clearly missed Billy Talbot (who was at home in America, recovering from a stroke) and despite the late Rick Rosas filling in admirably, the lack of a key member of the band and the (curious) addition of backing vocalists Dorene Carter and YaDonna West took the vibe some distance from what was (and still is) the true Crazy Horse and it cantered off into a different band’s realm altogether (that said, the Colmar “Hurricane” was remarkable and “Be The Rain” wasn’t far behind).

Turn the clock back exactly a year and a day before Poncho’s final, final CH show in Alsace and you alight on August 7 2013. An unassuming Norwegian Wednesday evening, this was, as we know, the very last Neil Young & Crazy Horse show to feature what remains, for many, the classic line up of this extraordinary band who so many of us hold dear.

A line-up that had been in place since 1975.
A line-up that had performed over 500 shows together.
A line-up that recorded some of the very finest albums within Neil Young’s mighty musical legacy, starting at “Zuma” and ending with “Psychedelic Pill”.

As it happens, I was fortunate enough to be in Oslo to witness that “other” final Poncho show too. A show that has taken on (for me) some significance over the last five and a half years as the realisation dawned that the Neil, Billy, Ralph and Poncho Horse were seemingly done.

Soon after I came back from Oslo, when the extent of Poncho’s injury after his freak accident weren’t fully known, I wrote a piece for Thrasher’s Wheat entitled “End of the Line (a.k.a. The Final 50)”. That was my attempt to convey the majesty of the show’s last 50 minutes, 50 minutes which may have been the last for Crazy Horse full stop. That, obviously, wasn’t the case but, as we know now, there was a significant “finale” element to the Norwegian show…

I mentioned this a couple of times to Michael Bonner at UNCUT, assured him that the Oslo performance really was as extraordinary as I tried to tell him it was ~ I then dug out the file I sent to Thrasher’s Wheat and re-read what I’d written. I still feel strongly that I got it right. It was that good a performance.

By one of those lovely little quirks of fate, as I was finishing off reading some proofs of the UNCUT material, I took a look at what was playing over on Roel van Dijk’s brilliant “RUST RADIO” website. Fate played her hand there and then, in five minutes the NYCH show from the Oslo Spektrum was about to start. Some two hours later, I was still rooted to the chair. It was really was one heck of a show, the ragged bits were nowhere near as ragged as I remembered them to be at the time and the good bits were still good. Like, really good. And that “final 50” absolutely held up on my first listen to the show since I left the venue.

So, I’ve revisited that “End of the Line” piece. Rather than trawl through everything from then, I went to the part of the gig that excited me most. The final 50.

Try and track down the Oslo show. The recording captures vividly an exceptional performance. I really hope that my excited words from 2013, tweaked slightly in 2019, manage to convey the extraordinary vibe I felt that night as something very special happened.

A happening that has become ever-more special as the curtain came down on one exceptional incarnation of Crazy Horse.

Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Rock in Roma, Italy - July 26, 2013
Photo by Francesco Lucarelli
(Click photo to enlarge)
“THE FINAL 50”:
OSLO SPEKTRUM Wednesday August 7, 2013
Three-quarters of the way through one of the most plaintive, melancholy and downright beautiful presentations of "Ramada Inn" that you could ever wish for, it happened.

There was a tangible shift in the onstage dynamic as Crazy Horse went from just plain greatness to something that went in to another (fabled) dimension. Neil and Poncho’s guitars locked and inter-twined in the most beguiling manner; you could see Neil Young had found that special zone that he’s talked about in sometimes reverential tones; blissed out, lost in the moment as he locked in to somewhere unquantifiable with his allies. The groove was there, right there, in that single moment as the spook nestled across the stage. It felt magical at the time and it still felt magical as I listened to RUST RADIO. You can hear, and sense, the shift to this mysterious musical place ~ it sent shivers down my spine at the time and I was surprised at how it moved me six years on too…

This extraordinary moment, within one of the greatest songs that Neil Young has ever written, kick-started a sublime and unforgettable final 50 minutes: what followed astonished and delighted in equal measure, expectations confounded once again by this gnarly old foursome.

It’s odds-on that no one would ever have thought that "Sedan Delivery" could be the song of the night at any NYCH show, but the band fizzed and crackled through it like a sonic Catherine Wheel, a ferocious assault on the ageing song. From five rows back, it felt as though the band were as close to capturing a moment in time, from fully 35+ years ago, Crazy Horse in as full-on a 1978 “Rust Never Sleeps”-mode as anyone had seen since. Jaw-droppingly good, fast & furious, they were turning back the garage rock clock. "Surfer Joe" (complete with infamous” X-rated” verse) was a fairground colossus, taking you around the back of the ferris wheel, lean, mean and fist-fight tight, while the twin Gibson assault on "Mr Soul" melded and mashed the song in to a psychedelic punk pulp, shards of booming sound dropping down from every inch of the ceiling and walls of the Oslo hall.

The solitary encore (“Hey Hey My My”) was triumphant, victorious and glorious, as loud and as tight as you like with a sound that, once again, harked back to a vintage time for this quartet. The climax hurtled along like a freight train, the grand finale returning to a dramatic and electrifying conclusion, suitably (perhaps appropriately) brutalised, battered and bruised but, crucially, still in tact, like a triumphant heavyweight standing proud in the ring after an epic bout.

Another gaze up at the big screen, a quartet of smiles stretched across the stage.

Neil, Billy, Ralphie and Poncho.

Four old men, four trusted friends. Wrapped in each other’s arms. They’d been doing what they wanted to do and with whom they wanted to do it. They had just made one hell of a racket. And, for 50 peerless minutes, they made the best noise, the loudest noise, made by man. Ever. The smiles said it all. They’d nailed it and they knew it. With grins as broad as fjords and an excited “whoop whoop”, they were gone, laughing and joking as they descended the stage, a scene we know now is likely never to be repeated with this particular classic incarnation of Crazy Horse…

As grand finales go, it was quite something, a swansong of rare beauty. A show to cherish.

We’re fortunate that the Crazy Horse has realigned once again, Nils Lofgren bringing a different kind of beauty to the band, subtle, delicate, fragile even. Fresno brought tears to my eyes and Winnipeg’s second show captured the country punk that I’ve craved from them for decades. Ad hoc, informal and no set lists? Long may that continue.

The barn door is ajar. Shows are being booked. Maybe a new record might come. Time ticks by and projects abound for Neil Young, solo, with POTR, in the depths of the Archive, but it’s the Horse that many of us hold dearest and who we want to see, and hear, most.

Who knows where NYCH will end up (and who will end up in it) but I so want to be there for the rest of the ride…

Mark "Spook The Horse" Golley
NYAS #1098

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Thanks Mark! And thanks again so much Mark "Spook The Horse" for those "The Final 50" memories. Too soon, too late.

Your original article in 2013 generated a fair amount of comments. Let's see how we down below here in 2019.

As we said back in 2013, we certainly (of course) hope it's not the end of the line for The Horse. And it wasn't. We had the oh-so brief Rick "The Bass Player" Rosas era.

Neil Young & Crazy Horse with Nils Lofgren & Zeke
Backstage @ Bruce Springsteen 2013 MusiCares Tribute

And we now know that The Horse has evolved back to its roots with the return of Nils Lofgren.

More on Neil Young & Crazy Horse's Alchemy Concert Tour Reviews in Summer 2013 Europe Tour.


Fall 2012 N. America Tour
Spring 2013 Australia/New Zealand Tour
Summer 2013 Europe Tour
Europe Summer 2014 Concert Tour

Thrasher's Wheat Radio Supporters Go To Europe
Also, how about it Rock Hall?! 50 years of Crazy Horse! It is quite bittersweet that there appears to be no proper sendoff for The Horse after 50 years of galloping about. But we have a dream...

After we have Crazy Horse inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, there will be one last romp out of the Barn. One last feedback drenched crescendo w/ Neil & The Horse.

yes, we can dream. So lets make it happen @RockHall! C'mon. 50 years. What are you guys waiting on? Don't be too late.

Let's Induct Neil Young & Crazy Horse into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!!! Let's Induct Neil Young & Crazy Horse into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!!!

Induct Neil Young & Crazy Horse into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

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