Our 1st reaction when seeing the Neil Young photo above was "wow".
We had not seen this image before and find Neil channeling his inner futuristic self via a major wardrobe departure. From early in the Europe 1982 Trans Tour at Parc des Expositions in Dijon, France on 1982-09-15, we don't think this outfit saw too many appearances.
By the time that Neil got to "after Berlin", he was wearing skinny ties.
That Neil. The original "TRANSformer Man" way back in 1981. Can you see the TRANSformation?!
More on Europe 1982 Trans Tour and Neil Young's film "Berlin" & TRANS Band.
More on Neil Young's TRANS album and era. Also, see reviews and comments on Neil Young Film "Berlin" This Weekend in Hearse Theater on NYA.
Neil Young - TRANS (1982)
Cropped Album Cover
I always love that the futuristic looking Gibson Explorer, a favorite of Heavy/Death/Prog metal players, came out in 1958!
ReplyDeleteWho took the picture?
ReplyDeleteTowards the end, when the tour in Germany came to a close, the stage persona looked a lot more conventional than in this (promotional?) picture. The European audiences were not ready for a space age cowboy. As mentioned before the shows in Germany deceivingly were billed "Live Rust'82" and then drowned under Chip Monck's stroboscope wall. Jimmy McDonough quotes Neil Young: "It was blown way outta shape and shoulda been a small little tour, but I saw this big thing - the Rolling Stones Tour - and it was stupid. I wasn't that big of an artist. (...) My eyes were too big for my stomach." (Objection: Neil Young is that big of an artist, but of a very different kind. While The RS of today are perfect imitators of the RS back then, Neil Young today is Neil Young himself.)
ReplyDeleteMick Jagger posing in 1981 with an explorer guitar and sporting some 80's design stage outfit go well together in my memory, but Neil Young?
Wow indeed - that is a great picture. Never seen Neil dressed anything like that before, nor the guitar which looks amazing too. Hopefully some more pictures like this might show up in due course. Great comment from Dionys giving the background from Jimmy McD too.
ReplyDeleteOn the Trans concert movie, is that the same jacket he wears for the first song? I believe it is, if memory serves.
ReplyDeleteAt the Munich concert in '82 he did not wear that clownesque jacket but appeared in what can be seen in the picture below. But of course he could have dressed up for the occasion of a concert documentary. Other behind the scenes photos shot in Berlin show him wearing a conventional denim jacket at the Berlin Wall, more the kind of outfit the Europen audience would have associated with Neil Young back then.
ReplyDelete@ Soids - a Gibson Explorer?
ReplyDeleteAside from this tour, can't say we've ever seen Neil play it before or since. But certainly someone will have a different recollection/proof.
Also, Trans concert movie having same jacket on 1st song Cinn Girl. Just checked NYA for Berlin but not finding. Or are you referring to Dayton film?
@ Bruno - good question. we spotted it posted on twitter as a being in Brussells. But then someone provided evidence for France. Photog unknown.
but again, maybe someone will offer correction/update?
@ Dionys - thanks for Shakey quotes. very relevant.
Certainly a very unique period for Neil. a "space age cowboy". and it wasn't just europeans who weren't ready either.
@ Ron - Wow indeed
ps - 2 more pics from the 1982 Brussels gig , it looks like the same jacket as in Dijon 🙂
ReplyDeletevia Nougatbolle
https://twitter.com/mortisigor/status/1634326044315353089
@thrasher, I'm supposed to know what I'm talking about? ;-)
ReplyDeleteWhatever was on cable and VHS with the awesome versions of Computer Age and Sample and Hold.
One thing for sure: this photo is as close as Neil Young ever got to look like Mr Spock.
ReplyDelete@Soids:
ReplyDeleteI think you’re referring to the Live In Berlin show.
Peace 🙏
Spock was the first thing I thought of when I saw that photo as well. Live long and prosper, Neil!
ReplyDeleteWith Neil Young being an artist who also as a stage and media persona re-invented himself many times it's about time to establish a fashion time-line, with a basic line that shows the various stages of flannel shirt design and t-shirts with a message on them. A second level would be the special statements such as the picture above. Blue Note's Shakey Deal, The Shocking Pinks, the Vancouver Olympics ceremony or the "Heart of Gold" movie outfits all come to mind. Knowledgeable grains then could add some background as to who was able to convince Neil Young to temporarily abandon flannel shirts. The possible archival categories are endless: SFS, OFS, PFS, OBFS (F for Fashion, S for Series...) Another concept would be sorting by settings and or motives: Neil Young's various appearances on beaches, as a western hero (Deja Vu, At the Gallery in Eastwood's Poncho!, Paradox) or driving cars. There probably is a KI program out there which can create a typical 60's or 80's Neil Young picture.
ReplyDeleteExcuse me: When slaving away at the paper grading galley one sometimes is drifting into the absurd.
@ Soids - no worries
ReplyDelete@ Richie - "Live long and prosper." = Spock mantra
"Long May You Run" = Neil mantra
@ Dionys - drifting into the absurd is sometimes a useful exercise when tasked with drudgery.
sounds like another indexing/arranging challenge?!
long may you organize...
Another pic from the same concert (on Getty Images) shows him with only the blue "Wyoming Native" t-shirt he appears to be wearing underneath (https://www.gettyimages.com.au/detail/news-photo/canadian-rock-star-neil-young-performs-on-stage-in-dijon-on-news-photo/1232819896). He seems to have dropped the jacket for the acoustic numbers, so my guess is it was a way to get into the "TRANS" character quickly.
ReplyDelete... and in Paris the very next day he appeared in minimalist white pants and t-shirt, with no wardrobe change.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.uneviedeconcerts.com/archives/2010/01/04/16458011.html
thanks for research and updates VIP!
ReplyDeleteyes, wardrobe change being a quick way to get into the "TRANS" character
From a message by John K
ReplyDelete***
Let's digress.
You know I'm terrible w/tech. Got frustrated the other day when I wanted to actually comment on a TW post. But The computer said I'm not recognized by google or some other strange edict.
Anyway, here's the post:
So why did I want to comment?
Well I've been thinking about the new NY/Duck release & someone
In an earlier TW post mentioned old bootlegs & whether anything was out there from back in the Stone Age of vinyl & then CD boots. I got to thinking of all my boots & my personal foolhardy quest I think in the 80's & 90's to find all the ones possible tied to CSNY.
I had the huge Hot Wacks bible & all the subsequent supplements. But I never had a bootleg guide dedicated to just Neil but I recalled the title & just got it in my hands about 2 weeks ago.
One of the co-authors is Bruno Fisson. Not a day or 2 later, his name pops up as a commenter on TW.
What are the odds? What are the odds that these are not one & the same person? So my point in writing? I wanted to thank Bruno for what he did way back in the day.
His work is still capturing the imagination of me decades later.
John
***
Thanks John. What a synchronicity.
We're fans of Bruno as well being one of the original backers of his book project.
A comment from none other than Mr. Bruno Fisson, himself!
ReplyDelete***
"Thanks John,
Thanks Thrasher!
I'm very moved... and I didn't know I had fans! You know, I’m only a collector who likes to share what he knows and has learned over the years...
It also allows me to remember Alan Jenkins, without whom all this would not have been possible.
If I asked "who took the picture?" It’s that I'm sure we were neighbors that night!
And here are some other pictures I took… which show that Neil's outfit was worn for at least 3 songs (On the Way Home, Don't Cry No Tears, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, and I think, maybe Cortez The Killer…) 3 different guitars for those songs!
Sorry ViP, the Wyoming Native T Shirt is not blue but rather "old black" or "used black"!….
Sorry Dionys, but I don’t think the jacket is so "clownesque", especially since it reminds me of the outfit of surgeons who operate in French "operating theaters"! (I'm not sure that's the right term?!)
When I think back to this concert, what immediately comes to my mind is the extraordinary presence of Nils. Like a goblin spinning around Neil, a wisp dancing through the air…
For me, Nils has always been a huge guitarist that I love a lot and that I find far too underrated!
There is an anecdote of this concert that I would like to share with you:
In those 80's, very athletic Nils used to do flips on stage.
His brother Tom, who was his tech, had set up a small springboard which he watered before the concert began. When Nils started his flip, the landing did not go well and Nils slipped and found himself on the ground on his back, while continuing to play! Amazing ! And what a professional!!
For my "fans", I would like to tell you I’m still collecting Neil bootleg vinyl… And I’m actually working on an update for "A Complete Illustrated Bootleg Discography"… So I’m looking for any kind of help."
Photos are in chronological order!
***
Thanks much here Bruno & John for this little synchronicity!
awesome. so awesome that we made this our Comment of the Moment on Photo of the Moment @
http://neilyoungnews.thrasherswheat.org/2023/03/comment-of-moment-photo-of-moment-neil.html
#MayTheHorseBeWithYou
#KORITFW