Concert Report of the Moment: Neil Young and The Chrome Hearts: Stuttgart, Germany - July 8
Photo by Tim Brown via NYA
When Neil Young in 2009 saw the floor at the Olympiahalle in Munich being seated in front of the stage he had all the seats removed and promised a t-shirt instead to those who had paid for the seats.Looking at the audience yesterday in Stuttgart I saw many folks in the audience who definitely would not have made it through the complete show while standing. It's an unsolvable problem: The older folks have the money for the seats close to the stage, while the band plays for those standing in the back. My son and I were waiting on the rail before the show but security send us back to the seats. Due to "booking errors" we ended up in seats in row 13 in the dead center (twice as expensive as the ones we paid for). The show was not sold out and many people did get an upgrade.By the time FU started a group of a hundred fans made a rushed advance through the security aisle at stage right but were stopped by the security staff. When Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts started into Like A Hurricane the complete audience rose to their feet, stage right moved up to the rail and also the stage left aisle started moving towards the stage. Those Suebians (alemannic Germans living in the Stuttgart area and throughout the southwest of Germany) simply aren't made for breaking rules that an authority set up for them, no matter how stupid they are. They would ask for permission before starting a revolution... (Liebe Schwaben: Consider this to be friendly teasing by a Bavarian neighbour) Next time I hope Lookout Mgt. and whoever is in charge start looking (out ) earlier for outdoor venues.
The itinerary of this tour is an unsolved riddle to me. They toured Benelux, but then went across Germany to that Polish border town we call our capital and then headed straight back to Mönchengladbach not far from the Netherlands , where they came from. A tour that does not use planes within Europe somehow has to be a linear undertaking, not a zig-zag course going back and forth. That present itinerary reminds me of these teenage Eurail Pass travelers being completely lost after a week of travel in Europe.
More on the concert itself later.
"Cowgirl In The Sand"
So here’s my run-through on the Stuttgart 2025 Concert“Ambulance Blues” started too bass heavy for my ears. This song is an example where one would like to listen to every nuance of every word and verse. I liked the band arrangement though. Like in the past especially in this song there were moments and movements when Neil Young appeared to be a much younger man than he actually is. Like all presentations in public playing to an audience has this re-juvenating effect, I believe.“Cowgirl” came across very dynamic and with a lot of pressure (lacking the word in English for that quality)I enjoyed both “Greendale” songs, and still can’t understand why they did not show up more often over the years, they are natural concert anthems, even sing-alongs for those who can’t resist. Also they play to the younger part of the audience, not so much to the HOGTTs.The “Ragged Glory” (Fuckin’ Up”, “Love to Burn”) songs somehow had the anarchy of The Horse missing. On the other hand I found the CH feedback orgies of 2013 and 2014 taken a bit too far. Back then they could easily have played another three long songs instead of some of the factory noise.Anyway Neil commented on “FU” something in the vein of “I hope these songs are not too personal”. I took it to be a reaction to criticism regarding his latest output maybe.Neil Young wrote in his tour travelogue that he had been searching for songs that have not been released live or not with a full band indicating that there could be a live record document of this tour (What about these songs on “LeNoise” or “Peace Trail”?).These songs would include “Ambulance Blues” and “Looking Forward”, also “Name of Love”, also “Daddy Went A-Walking” played in Montreux two days before. The Stuttgart version of “Name of Love” was fairly shakey, near the end of the set the strain showed (was to be heard).My son, the sound technician running systems of almost a similar size, was impressed by Tim Mulligan’s FOH work. His ears, not as damaged as mine, wanted to have heard some irregularities or disturbance due to the fact that we were right between the stage and the FOH tower. Neil Young mentioned that he had problems with the stage sound being too loud (see travelogue #13 on NYA)
Looking at the stage set-up I saw a ghetto-blaster mock –up on stage right. Was this a relic of the “Rusted Out Garage” tour? It looked like a schoolgirl’s art project (our students do these things back in my school).
And somehow I got the feeling that this show and tour is circling the Dark Mirage, but that’s another story if I can get myself to write down my projections as part 2.
Thanks so much for the report Dionys! Decided to go with a placeholder here. Maybe folks will clamor for Part#2?! Just drop another comment any time and we'll incorporate here.
UPDATE:
See comments below for the continuation of our Concert Report of the Moment of Neil Young and The Chrome Hearts @ Cannstatter Wasen, Stuttgart, Germany on July 8, 2025 by Dionys.
image via Rusted Moon
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Labels: band, chrome hearts, concert, fans, neil young, photos, presale, reviews, setlist, tickets, tour
by thrasher@PermaLink: 7/10/2025 10:14:00 AM
12 comments
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So here is part 2, it's kind of lengthy, so there will be a part 3. I tried to stick to the subject though.
The Stuttgart run-through part 2
Although I might just stating the obvious, this show – and apparently all the other shows so far had two aspects missing that were expected by the more than casual fans: there was little to no stage comment regarding the orange duck machinations in the US and there - as of yet - are still all of the songs of the latest album to be presented live in public.
With regards to the former void it’s the song selection that takes care of that. The last verse of “Ambulance Blues” (“I never knew a man…”) speaks for that as much as the “Greendale”- songs or RITFW. Neil Young might have gotten a roaring affirmative response if he had made any political comment, but then it’s an expression of autonomy even sovereignty to do the unexpected – and leave the statements to Bruce Springsteen, who had said it all before and subsequently was backed by Neil Young on his website. At 79 one might be grateful for not having to take the lead against another 79-year-old all the time and everywhere.
The other issue is the dark mirage complex. It has been discussed on this website whether the name dropping and allusions in the first two songs of “Talking to the Trees” crossed a line that maybe should have been respected, that “honesty” in itself is of lesser value than family loyalty, parental lenience and forgiveness. My projection puts together pieces and in many aspects they might be the typical over-interpretation that I am criticising my students for harshly, when they come up with theories not being supported by (con-)textual evidence.
Neil Young always has written and sung about the breakdown of relationships, in fact whole albums (“Homegrown”, “Toast”) appear to be manifestations of this kind. Released years and decades later, they might not transport the immediate urgency and pain that pushed them into existence, but I believe that Neil Young came to regret the decisions to have put these collections on the back-burner for so long. And : at 79 procastination becomes less of an option than in life’s rush hour. And Neil Young came forward with a defiant even headstrong “Ambulance Blues” (“and all you critics sit alone…”)
So this album is out, everybody knows it, even bought it, and it’s not there at the same time, a mirage?
(part 3)
I mentioned before that there was a cardboard ghetto blaster stage item to be seen and I indicated that to me it represents a bricolage of high school quality, battered and beaten by road and stage handling. I believe it to be an AJ production. Neil Young always got a kick out of sending out messages by objects, remember the cowboy boot and the story behind it, or much later the bulb garland and lettering in the stage background during the 2008 (European) tour? Recently somebody asked about the whereabouts of Woody, so also the withdrawal of inanimate stage objects one shouldn’t talk to, carries a message to some. There was a fender stage prop out there, too – an ironic self-quote linked to the rust age.
Neil Young published a Dutch concert review of the current tour on his website (echoing coverage of the TTN tour in Dutch, that was included in the artwork for the album). “wow look at how old I am” might not just be a shout out to the audience and readers, it could be directed at somebody else who takes things for granted, as a cautioning that they are clearly not.
In Stuttgart Neil Young also changed the words: it was no longer “when I was up in T.O. keeping jive alive, now it’s “in L.A.” where the jive was kept alive. Maybe that was the case for some time now, but I doubt it. What was left behind in L.A. is more important.
“I hope that these songs are not too personal for you.” was one of the cryptic remarks during this concert. On the face of it it’s just a smart-ass joke about “Fuckin’ Up”, but it could also be a comment regarding the reactions to the new album’s first two songs.
And then there was “Love to Burn” with its “valley of hearts” and the “house full of broken windows”, “the quarrel all the time” which could be read as another reflection of the things going on behind the mirage.
Travelling has a specific effect on the traveller, the longer and farther he is away from home the more kicks in what was left behind. Also the urge to assert and act out your identity increases (“Ambulance Blues”, again). In the end when everything has been said and done there is this old man with his guitar and a song and it’s the other way round: “I was a lot like you are.” Forget the RITFW encore, this time the song about the ranch hand was the coda.
Afterthought:
While waiting on the rail it was raining very hard before the show started and there I met a very tall German man, that some of you guys must have noticed during previous shows. He went to see the shows in Copenhagen, Brussels, Groningen, Mönchengladbach, Montreux and now in Stuttgart. He had these road-weary eyes and was dead tired, muttering things about having spent all his days off from work and lots of money.
I am happy and content I got this much of a kick out of a single show.
Thanks on the Parts #2 & #3 Dionys!
Great report. BTW, inserted a video of Cowgirl In The Sand. Man, the Chrome Hearts got it. The huddle jam w/ Ol Black cooked. Micah totally in groove.
Regarding the road-weary guy, know that feeling. Out longest run was 6 straight shows in 96 w/ Crazy Horse's Year of the Horse tour. But like you say, we're grateful for our single Europe gig in Dublin.
Smell the Hearts! Hmmm, not quite right.
How about: Feel The Hearts!
It's the heart's beat that counts.
After he played Ordinary People at the benefit show, I was hoping it would become a tour staple. Sadly not.. but still a great setlist!
"it's the heart's beat that counts," Dionyes. While I've never talked to Yona FrenchHawk about Neil Young I feel like what he said during the summer solstice fits perfectly with this discussion. It is the heartbeat of our mothers that connects us all into one tribe. This is a long video that I'm sure people don't really have time to watch given all that is happening daily now. However, just the first little section of Yona speaking kind of sums up the Chrome Hearts band from about 3 minutes into this video until about 8 minutes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8mI6OJWF_g&t=17s
Thanks for video link Jim.
We get it.
This is especially relevant as the LOVE EARTH Leg #1 wraps. As you suggest, many will fail to connect Yona FrenchHawk and Neil Young, naturally.
But the drum beat of Yona, creating the vibrational energy to tap tap ancient wisdom aligns directly with Neil, Crazy Horse and the tribal traditions.
Big Shifting into the next gear. See you down the road on Leg#2, my friend.
peace & love
“ But the drum beat of Yona, creating the vibrational energy to tap tap ancient wisdom aligns directly with Neil, Crazy Horse and the tribal traditions.”. OH BROTHER!!
Very insightful Anon. So how about you take a shot in capturing what makes Neil work? btw, thanks for reading our comments carefully and re-quoting.
Did you watch the entire video?
Obviously not. And don't give us some BS how you just don't have the time.
But somehow can wade thru comments to provide snark. Right. oh brother where art thou??
"Ordinary People" is a great song soundwise, no doubt, but lyricwise it would have been out of place in Europe. There is the concept of "the ordinary man" in many societies hereabouts, but it is very ambivalent, because it has been misused many times, in Germany for example the majority of the ordinary Germans once voted for a man who intially claimed to be nothing but an ordinary man. The lyrics are adressing a different world with figures that hoard "the guns of war and a ton of ammunition beside". I am sure that there are some of these people in Europe, but compare that to the US. Nobody here will "clean up No.9" to "bring her back on track". Most countries in Europe do have a functioning railway system, thanks (although those present Un-German trains tend to being late). And the Idea of "putting in new windows"..."down at the factory" today is but an orange duck chimera for red caps. Appealing to the "ordinary people" in the US is just a different thing, after all, more than half of them who voted are responsible for the mess they created, while all the other ordinary people will be paying for the beautiful billionaires' bill.
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Just going back from a Patti Smith concert (no seats, just dancing). I agree with you on the political content of the concert. Bruce Springsteen (where I've been one month ago, standing and dancing) holds his speeches even with subtitles in German (other languages too, I guess) but his choice of songs was more political than last year, too. Neil Young spoke through the songs, and beside the Greendale songs there are others, Southern Man, of course, but also In The Name of Love or Throw Your Hatred Down, with a clear message. The audience just has to listen. It's not that direct as a speech, especially not for non-English native speakers, but has maybe even a deeper impact, because it's coming through the singalong and stays longer with you. The power of music. Thanks Thrasher, and everybody, take care
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