Portland Concert Reports

Portland, Oregon - 10/22/2007

Kurt said...

A quick note from the Portland show tonight. Setlist was changed up some from the first two shows. After the Gold Ruch was added to the acoustic set. Also, Hurricane replaced TTN in the encore. Great show all around. No Hidden Path was epic and the crowd ate it up.

From comment posted on An Open Letter To Neil Young On Ticket Prices For The Turnstiles:

I saw the Portland show last night and LOVED it. Yes, it was hard for this freak to shell out the $105 ($92 + service chg), but I don't regret the investment at all. Hell, I remember standing outside the Fillmore East shortly after Bill Graham raised ticket prices from $3, $4 and $5 to $3.50, $4.50 and $5.50 and listened amused as street freaks SCREAMED at Bill that he was killing the scene. Of course, Bill screamed right back at them to kiss his ass. :-)

I'm almost 58 and have been actively going to shows since I was 15. Neil is #1 for me. If you have a chance and can scrape up the funds, GO to the show.

Mark said...

The Portland show was excellent. The acoustics in the hall were perfect (were I was seated). I took my daughter (her first Neil show) and she told me she would remember the night for the rest of her life (which obviously made me happy). I agree with the comment on the No Hidden Path's version being epic. It's rare a new song gets a standing ovation from an audience and this did. I thought Spirit Road rocked as well. I thought the new material, for the most part, to be superb. The acoustic/electric setup was enjoyable. It gives the person attending a pretty good insight into how varied and different Neil's artistry really is. For my own money, I prefer him with Crazy Horse but any live notes from Neil will do. My only criticism would be not to play Bad Fog and Winterlong back to back. But that's a minor complaint.

I have not received the 'comp' CD yet.

If there are still tickets in the town near you and you haven't made a decision - for someone how has seen Neil live over decades of shows - this show was excellent and though the price may be stiff - it's worth it.

Anonymous said...

The Spokane Show was fantastic. Pegi sang with a strong voice and the crowd really gave her a lot of love. I swear that Neil played No Hidden Path for 30 minutes- it was great. For the encore, before TTN was played the sinclaver was lowered (the one from way back, still has the bird on it). It was plugged in, but no Hurricane. Was the sinclaver used in the Porland show during Hurricane?
After the show, I noticed about fifty people standing out in the cold around a few busses. I got closer and noticed that there was one with a Florida license plate with ZUMA. The security guard said that Neil was already on the bus, so many people left. I got to meet Ben Keith and thank him for his performance and said I really liked his work over the years. Then Pegi came out and gave the small group (about 12 of us by that point)a smile. Then Neil came out. The crowd got to thank him and he gave us a wave. The bus backed out and Neil and Pegi waved to us before they started on their late dinner.

"Neil Young beyond the hits" - OregonLive.com by Stan Hall :

But fulfilling expectations is anathema to Young, so the artist's sold-out concert at the Keller Auditorium Monday night was devoid of many of his best-known songs. Instead, he offered a set featuring an inspired mix of the popular and obscure, the straightforward and esoteric, adding up to a two-hour performance that left the audience, many of whom paid ticket prices well over $100, deeply appreciative and often mesmerized.

The first knockout of the night was "Ambulance Blues," a hallucinatory, wryly humorous folk epic from 1974. Young gave one of his greatest compositions a hushed treatment, with crystalline guitar and harmonica accompanying a voice plumbing the lowest depths of its range. Young followed this with a string of surprises: such'70s-era unreleased gems as "Sad Movies," "Love/Art Blues" and the gorgeous, fragmentary piano ballad "No One Seems to Know"; a wrenching "Mellow My Mind," played on banjo; and "A Man Needs a Maid," which Young is playing on this tour for the first time since 1976. The song is alternately described as overblown, sexist tripe and a complex, poetic portrait of male ego and isolation. Young played it on a psychedelically painted yellow-and-pink piano, alternating between it and a synthesizer meant to evoke the London Symphony Orchestra's accompaniment on the original recording. The switching really didn't work that well, but it was interesting, and Young gave his best vocal performance of the evening on the song.

Young's deadpan humor was on display during the acoustic set. When he sipped on his beer and many in the audience applauded, he replied, "How can you cheer for a piece of crap beer like this?" A running joke had to do with his replies to the numerous shouted song requests that he had no intention of fulfilling: "I'll write that down, that's a good idea" was a typical response. Finally, he whipped out a perfunctory "Heart of Gold," much to the relief of casual fans likely confused by the relatively few familiar tunes.

From Harp Magazine by Barbara Mitchell:

"Part of Young’s brilliance is the intimacy he creates in concert. Surrounded by battered artifacts and instruments, engulfed in a semi-circle of guitars and bathed in a warm glow, Monday’s show felt like watching a house concert with a small group of friends.

Casually shuffling between guitar and piano for the solo acoustic half of the show (“I’m at a crossroads here,” he said at one point, standing between the two) he created a perfectly cozy vibe. And he was funny. “This part of the show’s brought to you by Google,” he quipped. “That’s how I learned all my songs.” When, after a remark about his water bottle, a woman in the audience yelled something, Young looked up in mock-amazement. “What? Water saved your marriage? That’s remarkable,” he deadpanned. “I think everyone should try it.”

He updated “Harvest” – singing, “Look at Mother Nature on the run in the 21st century,” instead of “the Seventies” to much applause. And he made fun of a less-than-perfect vocal bit afterward. “That was quite a note I hit in that second verse,” he smirked, before laughing that it would end up on the internet immediately."

See also:
- Neil Young Tour Kicks Off - Boise, Spokane Reports
- Tour Dates: Chrome Dreams Continental Tour
- Chrome Dreams II Videos
- Chrome Dreams II Reviews
- Chrome Dreams II history and background on Chrome Dreams I
- Chrome Dreams II Cover Art and tracklisting