Neil Young Village Chicago, August 27, 2025photos by John Kwit(Click photo to enlarge) Here is a special report from the intrepid and oh so dependable John
Kwit, our Thrasher's Wheat Intergalactic Music Correspondent via
Chicago. Or, as John likes to put it: "[Normally] Mild Mannered
Reporter for a Daily Metropolitan Newspaper"
Chicago,
Milwaukee and the One That Got Away
As a native
Chicagoan, I was blessed to see Neil Young at two recent shows.
Beating another well-known individual to the punch, Neil led an armed
invasion of Chicago on August 27, “armed” that is, with his newly
reunited Gretsch guitar from his days in his earliest-led band, The
Squires, and his trusty Old Black Les Paul. It was all peace and
love in the village. No arrests were made, no sandwiches were thrown
and even the Chicago Stockyard hot dogs were locally sourced.
Taking in the
Chicago show from the back of the house was fine, but nothing beats
pit seating. Capturing a picture of Neil from out in the sticks just
doesn’t cut it.
Actually, I was happy to be further back because,
Truth Be Known, my mood was soured early-on by the antics of
opening act Reverend Billy.
Call me an old prude, but I didn’t pay
to see a striptease show. When the Reverend dropped his drawers to
fully moon the audience for what seemed like an eternity I was
wondering if I had wandered into an AC/DC show featuring
knicker(less)-wearing Angus Young.
Reverend Billy
Having his bare derriere on the
jumbotron didn’t help. Would it have been more appropriate if the
Reverend popped on stage mid-song in Neil’s set, perhaps during
Harvest Moon? I get it, half the population of the U.S. is
mad at one individual in particular, and the other half of the
population in general. But really, nudity at a Neil Young show?
Reverend Billy’s songs were fine, and his backing band members were
top notch. But what happened to a modicum of decorum, everyone
getting along, Peace and Love? A different era I suppose.
Now that half of
the audience here is riled up, let’s get to heart of the matter,
Neil’s show. In a word, it was AWESOME.
I was walking to the same
venue slightly over a year ago when word came down that the show was
cancelled, so to finally see him return was a treat. You can read
about the detailed setlist elsewhere.
I liked his between song
banter, especially his story on reacquiring his Squires Gretsch, and
the fact that he pulled songs from so many eras & albums,
including Greendale, CSNY’s Looking Forward and
Silver Eagle off his new album Talking to the Trees.
And I can’t end
things without mentioning his newest song that he debuted in Chicago,
Big Crime. It was catchy, got the audience’s attention,
prompted lots of fist-raising and applause galore. Not the most
complex song lyric-wise, but he made his point loud and clear. Since
the song has debuted it has already been written about by Neil in his
NYA Times Contrarian “paper” and has been put out on YouTube by
Neil as a single.
Neil consults with Mark on stage audio
I cannot help but think about the quick turnaround
that occurred back in May 1971 when Neil’s Ohio was recorded
by CSNY, Johny Barbata and Calvin Fuzzy Samuel and released in record
time soon after the tragedy at Kent State. After a late night el
ride home, it was time for me to make plans for the next show two
nights later in Milwaukee.
Spooner
Anthony
Micah & Corey
Before I go above
the Cheddar Curtain to discuss the Milwaukee show I’d like to share
a bit of personal info. I’ve been fan of all things CSNY since
1982. I’ve seen Neil and all members of that family tree in
concert, movie debuts and book signings as many times as possible
whenever they were within earshot of Chicago. I also had this thing
with (courteously) obtaining autographs. And posters (sometimes
resorting to outright thievery off of walls or poles). And
magazines. And collecting live concerts. For the latter It was so
much easier when things were only available on vinyl. The number of
titles were limited and you could keep track of things by consulting
hard print titles like Hot Wacks, Live Music Review or Ice Magazine.
Who would have guessed that Neil would beat the bootleggers at their
own game 5 decades on by sharing/selling an amazing treasure trove of
material via NYA and his The Greedy Hand store?
I’ve been
lugging around two items of considerable historical value (for me
anyway) for over a decade in the hopes that Neil would sign them. A
Decade is a long time and a great album, but I digress. So I
heard from a friend, who had heard from a friend of a friend, that
Neil was lodging here ( _______) before his Milwaukee show. So I
went here (__________). Sure enough, his tour buses were there. I
sat down on a bench a stone’s throw away and started to read. And
read. And read. I was shocked to look up from my reading to see Neil
heading straight toward me with a dog on a leash in each hand. I’m
guessing his dogs were captivated by me sitting alone on the bench.
Maybe it was the dog treats I had in my pocket. In any event, he came
over with the dogs, and we chatted. It seemed like it was for an
hour but in reality it was only a minute. Pleasantries were
exchanged, tongue-tied words were uttered by me, and in the end,
after taking a pass on signing an autograph, I told Neil I’d see
him from the pit in a few hours. How many people can say they had
the honor of chatting with Neil and petting his 2 dogs before the
show? Yet another of life’s blessings thrown my way.
I met a bunch of
nice folks waiting many hours in line before showtime. The Milwaukee
Rail Club sounds like an appropriate title. Again, on a personal
note, one of those Rail Club members had a medical issue arise during
Neil’s last song so I’m hoping you are ok and that whatever ailed
you was quickly diagnosed and taken care of.
Now about that
show.
If the Chicago show was AWESOME, the Milwaukee show was MIND
BLOWING. I’m struggling to put into words just how good it was.
The setlist was slightly changed from the previous day. But I’m so
glad he kept my personal favorites from Greendale (Be the Rain
and Sun Green) two great rocking numbers. He expressed his
feelings of loss and missing David Crosby prior to singing Looking
Forward. The violent mayhem of Like a Hurricane and what
I consider the penultimate song in his canon: Cowgirl in the Sand
were unsurpassed. The latter song was like shaking a bottle of
nitroglycerin. From the crack of the drums and opening chord it was
a transcendental experience. I wish it would have lasted an hour.
Back in my youth when running 26.2 mile marathons was my thing, I
used to have a pre-race ritual where I would repeatedly blast Cowgirl
in the Sand off of the Friends and Relatives CD in order
to get my adrenaline in hyper-overdrive. That song never fails to
deliver the goods for me, especially the opening passages prior to
the vocals kicking in.
One last concert
highlight: Harvest Moon. Remember the tire changing scene from
the movie A Christmas Story? The cherub-faced little boy goes out in
the darkness to help and knocks the lug nuts out of his father’s
hands and we watch as they all fly up in slow motion before being
scattered in the snow. It was a Christmas miracle the father found
them. So what does that have to do with anything? Well, here I was
singing along to Neil’s Harvest Moon, standing in the front
row of the pit with my Manassas (Stephen Stills’ band, not the city
in Virginia) t-shirt and USDA hat on from earlier in my dog-petting
day. The song ends and Neil takes his harmonica rack off, pulls out
the harmonica, looks at me, bends down and tosses the harmonica right
to me. Did he remember me from earlier in day? Did he feel a bit of
remorse for not signing an autograph? God only knows. And Neil.
Anyway about that
harmonica: Well I’m convinced Neil’s crew must have lathered it
up thick with linseed oil so that it would slide in and out of the
rack just right. And that toss from Neil, I’m beginning to wonder
if he was a flamethrowing baseball pitcher back in the day. Again,
it was like that scene from A Christmas Story. The harmonica was
flying right at me in slow motion, yet apparently traveling at 95
miles an hour at the same time. And who puts a spin on an object
when tossing it? The harmonica was spinning wildly, rising, dipping,
and simultaneously casting off linseed oil. Is there an end to this
story? Yes. Another rail club member with very long arms was
standing right next to me. Here comes the harmonica. The long arm
fellow deflects the hallowed harmonica right before it would have
been caught by yours truly. The hallowed harmonica hits my hand and
also deflects off, landing with a thud on the ground between the pit
barricade and the stage. I can see it sitting there for what seemed
like an hour. I can see it sitting there even now as I write this.
I contemplated jumping the barrier, then rethought what that would
mean: a sit-down visit with security (or worse, a ride in a police
car) and dismissal from the rest of the show and I’m a long way
from Chicago and it’s already approaching my bedtime. So there it
sat, motionless, unloved and ownerless on the ground, until finally a
concert security guard came over and handed the harmonica to the man
with very long arms. Am I sad? Am I bitter? Neither. This sort of
thing has happened to me before. On the Greendale tour, a prop
newspaper was hurled into the crowd during the show and, you guessed
it, it deflected off of my hands. I’m convinced Neil recognized my
Manassas shirt and USDA hat and maybe, just maybe, said, hey that
autograph seeking kid might not have been too bad of a guy after all.
Like Pittsburgh Steeler Mean Joe Green throwing his jersey to the
kid in that soda commercial from long ago. That’s my story and I’m
sticking to it. Only that d*mn kid caught the jersey. I’m blessed
to have touched the linseed oil-soaked harmonica that was used by
Neil Young and is now owned by that fellow with the very long arms.
Last words of
advice: If Neil and the Chrome Hearts are playing anywhere near you
see them now. Do not wait. And crank up Cowgirl in the Sand.
Thank you Neil,
Micah, Corey, Anthony and Spooner. And thank you, Thrasher.
John Kwit
Mild Mannered
Reporter for a Daily Metropolitan Newspaper
Labels: #KORITFW, band, chrome hearts, concert, fans, neil young, photos, reviews, setlist, tickets, tour
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