I'll save folks some suspense and say that this was a bit of a letdown. I love - love - Neil Young, and the last time I saw him, it was pretty spectacular. I had great seats (10th row, dead center) and was very, very excited to see him solo acoustic so up close.
I rolled into Louisville and met up with a guy at Ear X-tacy to sell my extra ticket, which went off without a hitch (thanks, craigslist). Afterward, I parked downtown, grabbed some sushi, and then had a couple beers near the Palace Theater (where I'd been once before to see Wilco with My Morning Jacket opening - a great show) at Bluegrass Brewing Company ... good stuff.
I was in the venue right after the doors opened as I was pretty pumped to see Bert Jansch, a celebrated guitarist and English folk player, probably best known for his classic "Black Waterside."
He came out, sat down with his acoustic guitar, and just played a low key, technically bewildering set. His feel is just superb. (And yes, "Black Waterside" was the third song in the set.) This was a real thrill for me, I'll be honest.
So we waited (I was definitely one of the younger folks at a show for a change, thank you very much), and then Neil came out and launched into a killer 3-opener on acoustic guitar (see below). This was probably worth the price of admission alone, I'll be honest. Hearing him play "Tell Me Why" was beyond words.
He then played 3 new songs, and just as the last time I saw him with a full band, his new songs are just terrible. I'd even say they were somewhat trite. It's such a shame, and it's underscored by how powerful his old songs remain. He then blasted into "Down By the River" with electric guitar (full distortion and everything) but obviously solo. It was weird but worked. "Ohio" was also played the same way, and it killed, especially in light of the recent 40-year anniversary of the Kent State killings.
Things went quite stale after "Ohio" for me ... the new songs were terrible, "After the Gold Rush" was great, "I Believe In You" didn't work that well, and the end with Neil playing full bore electric by himself for "Cortez" and "Cinnamon Girl" just seemed bizarre to me. The encore was another not so great new song, and that was it ... 90 minutes, done.
He's still a great performer (not on the level of Tom Waits in terms of players from his generation, but probably better than most anyone else ... Dylan comes to mind directly as an icon who has simply fallen from grace in terms of performing), but the new songs were just unspeakably bad to me. Ah well ...
Also ... Louisville is such a pretty town with some of the coolest bike racks this side of New York City ...
1. My My, Hey Hey (Out Of The Blue)
2. Tell Me Why
3. Helpless
4. You Never Call (new)
5. Peaceful Valley (new)
6. Love And War (new)
7. Down By The River
8. Hitchhiker (new)
9. Ohio
10. Sign Of Love (new)
11. Leia (new) (piano)
12. After The Gold Rush (organ)
13. I Believe In You (piano)
14. Rumblin' (new)
15. Cortez The Killer
16. Cinnamon Girl
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17. Walk With Me (new)
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