Concert Review: Washington, DC - 11/15 & 16/07

"Like A Hurricane"
Photo by Vick Griffin - 11/15/07

2nd Night - 11/16:

If the first night in Washington was unbelievable, than the second night was REALLY unbelievable. A few quick highlights before we crash.

Just like last night, it appears we had another song debut. Not sure of the title, (maybe "Kansas"?) but it had lyrics like "Glide through the air" and "Lying next to you and I didn't know your name". It was played on the grand piano.

We also got another rendition of "Try" but this time on the grand piano instead of the upright. Tonight, Neil used a harmonica, as well, which, if not mistaken, he did not use last night on "Try". He seemed to be quite pleased with the delivery tonight as opposed to last night when he missed a line.

Neil was in really good spirits. During "Harvest", the crowd started to do a clap-along and Neil stopped and said something like "Seems incongruous" until the clapping stopped and he resumed.

After playing "Mellow My Mind", Neil launched into a story about playing the Tonight's the Night album to record executive Mo Ostin. After hearing the album, Mo says to Neil "You sure you want to do this?" He goes on a little about playing albums for record executives which was kinda funnny.

Then somebody yells out "Neil Young!" and Neil goes "What? Did I leave my car lights on?" He then proceeds to go into this whole episode about energy and power. "Did you know that 80% of the electricity generated is never used? Power just flows. It's always on. When you switch off the light you're not saving energy, you're only saving money. There's a lot of mis-information out there. America has the best power grid in the world." And on and on about brownouts, grids, power. Really quite remarkable. He digresses.

Another amazing "No hidden Path" that seemed to go on longer than last night. Towards the end, Neil delivered the chorus line "Ocean sky, sea of blue, let the sun wash over you" over and over and over as he took Ol' Black on the full workout. Again, the huddle with Ben and Rick was just terrific, as Neil just shredded it. Joyous. At one point Neil even knocked over the mic stand he was so into it. Just unreal.

For the encore, the flying keys were lowered but then raised again so no "Hurricane". As the flying keys lifted, Neil appeared to grab hold as if he were about to ascend into the skies.

He then wrapped up the evening with an intense "Tonight's the Night". At one point the piano was literally shaking it seemed. Neil was up and swinging the mic and leaning over top of the piano as if he might climb up on it. He was too far gone.

Ok, so if that's not enough, we could see the art sign with "Sultan". Would he? It was already about 11:15. The band did the encore bow, waved and left. But the gong came out. The sultan came out. The crowd is going pretty nutso. Neil comes back and plays "Sultan". Just wow!

So we get "Try", "Sultan", and tour debut of the rarity "Kansas".

I guess we could say more but it's been an intense couple of days of reuniting with old friends, making new friends, and being blown away.

So we'll just wrap up with what we wrote last night: And in this beautiful, screwed up world we live in, whenever we can totally escape, let the music wash over us, we are just happy to be alive and have Neil keep us company.

Thanks Neil and Pegi, who did another nice warmup.


Photo by Nancy Philpot - 11/16/07

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1st Night - 11/15:
Just back from the first Washington, DC show and I guess I'll have to jump right to the headline. This show will go down in the books as the concert debut of a song called "Try" played on the upright piano during the acoustic set. When it started, I had no idea what he was playing and after it finished, I turned to Thrashette and said I don't think that's ever been played live before. But more on that later.

Backing up, we had a great pre-show fest at the Bottom Line with about 20 or so rustie folks. Thanks Nan for putting together. Great meeting and greeting everyone. Appreciate the positive feedback for TW. So onto the show at Daughter's of the American Revolution Constitution Hall near the White House. A great venue, which Neil remarked on by saying "Isn't this a beautiful place? This is my reward to get to play in places like this. Instead of stadiums, basketball arenas, hockey arenas, flatbed trucks and open fields." We had great seats in about row 8 to the left giving us a prime view of Neil's guitar work.

Other than "Try" as mentioned above, it was a pretty standard setlist for the tour. But I must hasten to add, for me, this concert was all about the set list. The PA announcements requested that the audience refrain from shouting requests because the setlist was pre-selected. In addition, there are the title cards for each song in the electric set so things are pretty locked down.

Neil takes us on a journey with the song sequencing. The opener "From Hank to Hendrix" sets the stage for the range of the evening. We're going from the roots of Neil's early career "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere" all the way to today's feedback on "No Hidden Path". And we made many stops along the way.

The acoustic set was just so sublime to be beyond words. Much has been said of "Ambulance Blues" being worth the price of admission alone. This can not be understated. AB ties together the evening's themes while at the same time laying down the challenge to his critics that "You're no better than me for what you've shown."

As for other acoustic set highlights, who would ever think we'd get to hear songs like "Sad Movies", "No One Seems To Know", or "Love Art Blues"? All were real treats as Neil strolled about the stage selecting instruments ranging from banjo, guitar and piano. The treatment of "A Man Needs A Maid" with the organ was certainly a different effect and it was fascinating to watch Neil go between the instruments.

One could go on and on about the acoustic set. I mean "Cowgirl In The Sand" was another demonstration that Neil hasn't really lost anything over the years despite what some might claim.

Back to the debut of "Try". I'm trying to recall the lyrics right now and maybe they'll come in a moment. But Neil had some trouble too. After finishing, he said "That went better when I rehearsed it in the dressing room. I left out a line. But you don't know that because I've never played that song before." After the show, Tim from Sacramento said he called out to Neil whether the song was called "Try"? to which he said "The song's called Try". Tim tells me that Neil wrote Try, Sad Movies Separate Ways and Vacancy in 1974 after the CSNY tour.

Much has been made about folks walking in and out, shouting out requests, and other distracting behavior. From where we sat, it seemed folks were pretty well behaved. In fact a little too well behaved when Neil rocked out during the electric set.

The band of Ralph, Ben, and Rick covers virtually the entire span of Neil's career and is another example of the careful crafting of this tour. And Neil seemed in good spirits to be with his longtime associates. During the epic 15 minute "No Hidden Path" Neil came over to Ben and Rick and nearly did the huddle formation that we've seen so often with Crazy Horse. While this wasn't Crazy Horse, the jam on "No Hidden Path" with Neil trading licks, bobbing and weaving was simply a beautiful thing to witness. We really don't understand the relatively lukewarm press reviews of Chrome Dreams II, but "No Hidden Path" is destined to become a classic and it baffles us that most reviews fail to recognize this.

During the encore the flying keyboard descended from the ceiling on two swinging cables. On the front was a white wooden dove's face with one black eye and a black scarf or bandage tied around its head. Neil rubbed it and said something like this was "peace" and his political statement for the evening. Then he picked up the red "hotline" phone and listened and hung up. He said maybe they went too far with a "political statement".

Neil then proceeded to demolish the evening with "Hurricane". The song started with blazing white lights which gradually diminished as the song smoldered to it's feedback drenched conclusion.

Over the past 30+ years we've seen quite a few Neil shows and each has been very special so it's hard to say how this compares and it's really an effort in futility. Every performance has been a revelatory experience. And in this beautiful, screwed up world we live in, whenever we can totally escape, let the music wash over us, we are just happy to be alive and have Neil keep us company.

We'll see you tomorrow at the pre-show at the Bottom Line, 1716 I St., NW and night #2!

ps - a special shout to my dear friend Locator. Great seeing you and love you , bro!