Concert Review of the Moment: Neil Young + Promise of the Real - Indianapolis, IN, Sept 19, 2019

"Road Dog" Mike & "Keys Left Hangin" Brian

Neil Young and Promise of the Real performed in concert at Murat Theater at Old National Centre, Indianapolis, Indiana, on Sept 19, 2019.

Neil Young - Sept 19, 2019
Photo by "Road Dog" Mike

Here's a concert review by Keys Left Hanging Brian:

It may well be the autumn of Neil Young's performance career and the solo and band shows have been limited here on the U.S. east coast in recent years.

Upon my retirement, I resolved with the help of my NYA ticket benefits to seize as many of these opportunities to see Neil as I could swing. Along with with my good friend and roadbud Mike Share, we have traveled to Telluride, Boston, Philadelphia, New York City, Saratoga and even godforsaken Jiffy Lube Live in Bristow, Va. (Farm Aid 2016). Last night, our journey to Indianapolis was rewarded with one of the best shows I've seen in these travels.

While the one-off date seemed to be a warmup with Promise of the Real for this year's Farm Aid, and the show started predictably with ATGR, Sugar Mountain and Country Home, it veered into some uncharted territory in a breathtaking fashion. After EKTIN and a beautiful The Losing End with great harmonies by Lucas and Micah Nelson, Neil had an exchange with a fan near the front, complimenting him on a "great T-shirt, is it an original?" (I wish I knew what it said), he then said " I think you know where I am going with this" and strode back to the piano. There he played a fun and mildly flubbed Are You Ready for The Country?.

This led to the shocking rarity of My Heart, a song I have always loved from the rarely performed Sleeps with Angels. This version again featured beautiful harmony vocals from Lucas, Micah and POTR bass player Corey McCormick. From then on, it appeared the show was wonderfully spontaneous as they "lost the list". Neil went into the zone with POTR and I was swept away at the beauty of Neil's guitar leads in Words, and was stunned by the power of the White Falcon during Ohio. I love the interplay between the Old Master and these young guys and this Indy show highlighted it so well. Some more rare tunes like New Mama (sweet harmonies) and the relentless power of Like an Inca featured this band's strengths as did Micah's tune Everything is Bullshit which Neil and Micah's guitar duel carried to a different place. As our balcony heated up late in the show, the music keep its intense pace and peaked at the final song of the main set, Throw Your Hatred Down. It was incredibly good and I have on good authority that a balcony-shot video exists.

The first song of the encore was an elegiac Don't Be Denied. My mind drifted back to the first time I ever saw Neil at the Philly Spectrum in 1973 when I was 17 years old. That January night, the very same song (then unknown) haunted me. It has been a long road with Neil ( hopefully with many stops ahead), but he has always brought the beauty and the mystery.

One last aside, while we were taking some photos outside the Murat Theater around 5 pm, Neil came out and very quickly and silently signed about five LPs. Mike and I dashed over but had nothing to sign and were still deciding what to say when he just as quickly disappeared. If I weren't so tongue-tied I would have thanked him for his art, for his integrity, for his commitment to our environment and the Bridge School, and for all the fun over these 46 years!

Thanks for report and videos Keys Left Hanging Brian and Road Dog Mike!

Neil Young + Promise of the Real - Indianapolis, IN, Sept 19, 2019
Photo by "Keys Left Hangin" Brian

Neil Young + Promise of the Real - Throw Your Hatred Down
by "Road Dog" Mike


Neil Young + Promise of the Real - New Mama
by BRNeil Young + Promise of the Real - Don’t Be Denied
by "Road Dog" Mike
Neil Young + Promise of the Real - Like a Hurricane
by curtisTea

---