Live Concert Review: Neil Young @ White River Amphitheatre (Auburn, Washington) — 7/20/23

Neil Young  

@ White River Amphitheatre, Auburn, WA - July 20, 2023 
Photo by Alan in Seattle    (Click photo to enlarge)

 

An in depth concert review on Live Review: Neil Young @ White River Amphitheatre (Auburn, Washington) — 7/20/23 by Mark Caicedo:

 

Opener Chris Pierce turned in a well-received folk/gospel/bluesy 35-minute opening set featuring songs that were, essentially calls to action for various causes: fighting racism, preserving human dignity, and caring for the planet. 

After a short pause to rearrange the stage, the house lights dimmed (although the sinking summer sun still illuminated the sky behind us), and Neil wandered out from the shadows, strolling onto a stage that looked like it could have been his living room. Surrounded by a “glowing” fireplace, a repurposed weather vane displaying a Mazzeo painting, and various candles and houseplants, he picked up his 12-string guitar and strummed the opening chords to “I’m the Ocean” the 7-minute epic from Mirror Ball, his 1995 collaboration with Pearl Jam.

An expansive song, I was struck by a lyric that seems to acknowledge Young’s role as an artistic bridge between his past and the future:

“People my age, they don’t do the things I do.
They go somewhere, while I run away with you”

As he sang, I thought of Walt Whitman’s, Song of Myself: “Do I contradict myself? Very well then, I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes).” Just as Whitman’s work celebrates both the unique and universal, so too does Neil Young. A song about aging, friendship, tragedy, and technology, “I’m the Ocean” was a perfect opener for the show (as it has on every date of the Coastal Tour), its lyrics examining the depth and breadth of the human condition with all its contradictions, foibles, and imperfections:

“Trying to turn against the flow,
I’m the ocean, I’m the giant undertow”

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Perhaps Neil’s most profound influence, and the reason he became a singer-songwriter, came from Ian and Sylvia Tyson’s “Four Strong Winds.” He said in his 2014 book, Super Deluxe, that as a teen, “there was a little place with a jukebox, and I would play “Four Strong Winds” by Ian & Sylvia, over and over, learning all the words and singing along. I loved that song. I had the feeling that it was about my life, and the music touched me deeply.” Neil closed the show with “Four Strong Winds” and a promise.

“I’ll look for you if I’m ever back this way”

Neil’s love of tradition and all things analog was evident in the way he’s surrounded himself with vintage musical instruments, saving them from obscurity or, worse, the landfill. His music itself is a bridge between artists who preceded him, people like Bert Jansch, Carl Perkins, and the King himself (Elvis Presley) to a younger generation of musicians who cite Young as a mentor and influence. In fact, Neil Young Archives, the website that houses and streams (among other features) thousands of hours of music and video to members aims to extend Young’s legacy well into the future.

He may prefer analog but Neil’s no technologyphobe, as demonstrated by his sprawling website, NYA, that ensures his music is disseminated in the highest quality possible. What I wrote about Neil back in 2019 still mostly holds true:

“[He] is a musician driven by his craft, an artist with a seemingly bottomless well of creativity, and a man with an unquenchable desire to connect through music. His uncanny ability to see around the corner, to recognize where society and music are headed has prompted him to collaborate with bands as diverse as Bruce Springsteen, Devo, and Pearl Jam. Today, Neil tours and records with Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real as he embraces a new generation of rockers, continuing to bolster his legacy and reach new audiences.”

[ed - emphasis added]

Soon after he walked offstage to a thunderous standing ovation, he returned to play “Homegrown,” another happy, light-hearted little ditty about getting high that’s become a protest song against factory farming. This night, it was another massive sing-a-long or, as Neil put it, “a hootenanny” and left us with the hopeful feeling that guy will be singing for a long time still to come.

Full concert review @ Live Review: Neil Young @ White River Amphitheatre (Auburn, Washington) — 7/20/23 by Mark Caicedo.

More on the NEIL YOUNG 2023 COASTAL TOUR (see concert reviews).

NEIL YOUNG 2023 COASTAL TOUR Concert Reviews  

 Also, see NEIL YOUNG 2023 COASTAL TOUR WRAPUP: Statistics, Links + More.

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