"Cortez The Killer" Video & Review of the Moment: Neil Young & Crazy Horse in Ottawa, 11/24/12

"Cortez The Killer"
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Ottawa - 11/24/12
This video of "Cortez The Killer" pretty well captures classic Neil Young & Crazy Horse at their most sublime.

As mentioned earlier, judging from videos and review comments, last night's Ottawa concert seems to be a tour highlight.

From a review of Ottawa: Neil Young & Crazy Horse Concert Reviews - 11/24/12 by Bill:

Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Ottawa Scotiabank Place (a.k.a. The House That Greed Built): 24 November, 2012

Just got off the iPad exchanging e-mails with Josée about Cortez The Killer (I couldn’t resist pulling out the Washburn to vamp on that lead melody, even though we put Miro, our parrot to bed moments earlier)…

Flakes of snow persisted throughout the day here for Neil’s return to Canada’s capital but the show warmed up everyone who managed to make the trip way out west to an arena built in the middle of nowhere, with echo-ey sound.

We arrived late for the Patti Smith set, but settled in to our seats just as Smith slipped into a brilliant, loving homage to Prairie Wind. Her intro to Fight The Power almost had the place crackling; a set-ending Gloria had folks up and down but curiously ground to an understated halt. Whatever. Patti gave it her All and that’s saying something for anybody in his or her mid-60s. She rocked!

The end of her set precipitated the beginning of the next phase: a curious mélange of white-coated lab techs with yellow-safety jacketed manual labourers (that’s how we spell the word up North) meandering around, trying to act with purpose but blundering their way around a pantomime of Main Act set up.

It was hilarious, particularly when the Einstein-ian Protagonist with ridiculously wild white hair and specs actually injected more Chaos to the proceedings than necessary. My buddy Mark got the joke immediately, having seen the Roadeyes in 78, while I was transfixed with this Brechtian Theatre. Einstein came back after the main set to inject even more confusion among the techies, trying to shut the show down. Reluctantly, he demurred and a memorably short take on “Roll Another Number” ended the proceedings.

It was totally cool to see the Boys (Neil and CH) slip into sight on stage Right, almost lost in the crowd of techies for the rendering of Our National Anthem. Anne, my wife, and I were on our feet once we saw The Boys – the fact that they were playing our country’s anthem was a distant second reason for staying on our feet. But since when did Poncho learn ALL the words to O Canada? Good for him! Thanks, Poncho!

Last time we saw Neil at the Scotiabank was the Living With War tour with CS&N (c’mon, folks, that was Neil’s tour, not a CSNY tour) but we had seat in Row One right in front of Spooner Oldham. This time, everything in the floor was standing room – except for those with Deep Pockets for the backstage pass seats. So we were second row up, more or less at centre-ice and the Giant Mike was pretty much a bugaboo most every time Neil was singing.

Frankly, not a problem. I was in the nosebleeds of Maple Leaf Gardens for the solo tour in 1983 not to mention way off in the bleachers for CSNY at Varsity Stadium in 1974, and it’s simply a distinct pleasure to be in the same room with Neil… in other words, on this night, as far as the sightlines went, We Got Over It.

Okay – the real downsides: sound was not that consistent; it was hard to hear the vocals sometimes and Poncho was not always apparent in the mix. Bass and drums always seem to Rule in such concerts - the stunning Knopfler/Dylan show we saw in Montreal a scant eight days earlier was no exception. Had to feel sorry for Molina, though, boxed in behind his drumkit between giant amp crates all night – or maybe he likes it that way? His vocals – when they came through – were right on the money, all night.

The brutally long extro to Walk Like A Giant was simply – as Anne perceptibly commented during the Onslaught – just noise. Corollary of this is that for the five or six minutes that we endured that “ending”, they could have substituted something else from the Crazy Horse back catalogue elsewhere in the set. That said, during Giant, Neil whipped up some stunningly sublime lead licks that in and of themselves were worth the price of admission.

What the hell was that impromptu stuff at the end of Fuckin’ Up all about? It seemed like a bit of an Inside Joke that never became fully apparent, but then you could say the same about Neil’s carping about Picasso on Drifting Back…

The three-song acoustic interlude works brilliantly – during “Singer Without A Song,” a young woman with a guitar case wandered from stage right to left and then back again, bringing a bit of a Greendale feel to the proceedings, aimless though the stunt appeared to be… and who was that woman anyway? They should have rolled credits on the video screens… we scampered out of there before they had a chance to run them if they did… Oh! While we had binoculars to home in on the folks onstage, I did glance up a few times at the video screens: the big thing to note is the insertion – in ghostly snippet-fades – of Archive clips. Love to see that on a DVD from this tour some time down the road…

More was to come after the acoustic set, of course, as the setlists from previous shows told us. But Cortez? Man, that was a Huge surprise insertion and it worked perfectly with the pace of the show. Last time I heard that live was in Ottawa’s Civic Centre in 1986 (I missed the 96 show) and this one tonight was absolutely the best version I have ever heard in my life…. It totally made the concert complete for me.

Bottom line – and this is for all the fans in the few US cities left on this tour, in Oz, NZ and Europe: like JJ Cale says in 13 Days: “when we come to your town, come see us if you can.”

Thanks Bill! Glad you enjoyed the show and sent us a report.

More on Ottawa: Neil Young & Crazy Horse Concert Reviews - 11/24/12.

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"Fuckin' Up" - Neil Young & Crazy Horse in Ottawa, 11/24/12

"Fuckin' Up"
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Ottawa - 11/24/12
This video of "Fuckin' Up" pretty well captures the crazy fun of Neil Young & Crazy Horse at their most unleashed.

Judging from videos and review comments, last night's Ottawa concert seems to be a tour highlight.

From a comment on Ottawa: Neil Young & Crazy Horse Concert Reviews - 11/24/12 by Peter:

WOW. Exceeded my expectations, which were high.

A quick aside: I knew Neil was going on at 9pm. I live about 30 minutes from the venue. At 7:30pm, I had a 4yr old projectile puking at home. I had a great ticket and had been patiently waiting and watching youtube coverage for months. But it was all going up in smoke at the last minute....

Miraculously, things settled, wife let me go, and I got to my seat just as the national anthem started.

I will keep it short. Seen all NY shows since 1986. This show was for me as good as any of the previous shows. The sound mix - perfect. But it was the strength of Neil's vocals and his incredible fret work that really made this show stand out. That, and the interaction between the guys on stage.

Of note: this show had the best camera work I have ever seen at a live show. Strangely, there are no spot lights at all on Neil or the group. But the camera work on the big screens was not a distraction, but really added to the show. Things like close ups on Neil's foot on his big red pedal board. Close ups on Poncho. Super job.

Standouts: Cortez included guitar work that I had never heard Neil use on this song. One of the best versions I have heard. F'cking up was amazing - Poncho actually took over lead vocals on the extended second half of the song. If you have a problem with the F word, beware. This was as punk as the sex pistols could ever be. In fact, there were several moments during the show that could be described as mountain punk (a play on Vedder's reference to Neil's music as "mountain funk").

For me, Ramada Inn was the highlight of many highlights - the guitar work and energy was unstoppable. PS. this followed a magical version of the new song with Neil on piano.

I'm gushing - sorry. For a show that I almost missed, it lands squarely on my top 10 ever shows by all artists. Replace roll another number with DBTR or a similar classic and it would be top 5.

Do not miss this tour - sobriety has neil strong of mind and body and he destroys any other classic rock artists past and present. Hendrix would have been impressed (and so would Briggs).

Peter in Ottawa.

Thanks Peter! Glad you made the show and sent us a report. Hope your kid is OK.

More on Ottawa: Neil Young & Crazy Horse Concert Reviews - 11/24/12.

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Ottawa: Neil Young & Crazy Horse Concert Reviews - 11/24/12

Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Photo Gallery by Jana Chytilova, The Ottawa Citizen

Norm and I went to a fantastic Neil Young concert last night. You felt the music right into your bones. Unbelievable guitar playing.

— Kit Redmond (@kitredmond) November 25, 2012

From The Ottawa Citizen | Review: Neil Young show ‘most epic celebration of Canadian culture’ By Lynn Saxberg:

Forget Canada Day. Neil Young’s concert at Scotiabank Place on Saturday may have been the most epic celebration of Canadian culture the country has ever seen. The rock legend was in peak form as he wrapped up the fall leg of a tour that reunited him with his old cohorts in Crazy Horse. Young played hard, sang with intensity and goaded bandmates Billy Talbot, Ralph Molina and Frank ‘Poncho’ Sampedro into a frenzy of psychedelic turbulence over the course of a 140-minute show.

The Neil Young show was fantstic..he just killed it. Played Powderfinger & Hey Hey My My. I was singing along with the old ppl in the crowd.

— julie shirazi (@JulieShirazi) November 25, 2012

From Neil Young rocks Scotiabank Place with feedback | Music | Entertainment | Ottawa Sun By Denis Armstrong:

Young and Crazy Horse hadn’t played a note and I was already won over both by his patriotism, and his willingness to go his own way.

After that and a wave, it was time to get down to business, opening the gig with a long guitar jam with bassist Billy Talbot, guitarist Frank “Poncho” Sampedro and drummer Ralph Molina on Love and Only Love and Powderfinger before dipping into the new (old) material on Young’s latest album Psychedelic Pill, Born in Ontario, which got loud cheers, and another clash of electric guitars on Walk Like a Giant that was loud and fuzzy enough to shake the arena and throw the light show into disarray. Young kept building on the feedback like a primal scream. It reminded me of the storm scene when a mad King Lear screams “Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow!” It was awful. It was wonderful.

I can die happy. Neil young checked off the #bucketlist

— Jordan Hall (@jordiehall) November 25, 2012

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Neil Young & Crazy Horse will be performing tonight at Ottawa, ONT – Scotiabank Place, Canada.

Doors at 6:30, The Sadies at 7:30, Patti Smith at 8:05 and Neil Young at 9pm.

Got a report? Drop a comment below.

Check Sugar Mountain for setlist updates and Chronological Grid, Recording Summary, Statistics and Extras.

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Neil Young & Crazy Horse
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