Neil Young News: Verona, Italy - 6/23/08: Concert Reports

Monday, June 23, 2008

Verona, Italy - 6/23/08: Concert Reports

Photos by Vittorio "tulsa61" sessantuno

You must check out YouTube video at 4:29!!!

Positively insane "All Along The Watchtower". We have never seen this Neil before.

Thanks oldrust!

Photos by Roberto Caddeo

Neil Young will be performing tonight at Arena di Verona, Verona, Italy.

Got a report? Drop a comment below. No registration required.

Check Sugar Mountain for setlist updates. Also, see Grid Chart on Rust Radio.

Also, see Neil Young 2008 Summer Europe Tour and Concert Reviews and the right, middle sidebar for continuous real time RSS feed updates.

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42 Comments:

At 6/24/2008 01:01:00 AM, Anonymous said...: Hes wasting the last years he has touring in other countries and not the one he lives in.Shame on you Neil!!!Why didnt we get
Love and only Love and Needle!!!
At 6/24/2008 03:00:00 AM, Anonymous said...: VERONA LAST NIGHT:

It started with a 15 minutes guitars work intro of Love to burn...remeber the Wels version?
Ok just forget it!!!
This is just UNBELIAVIBLE!!!
Then Everybody knows...
He was in a very good mood, the show is clearly for open air rock festival..if you're goin' to see the show thinking to be comfortable sit down on a chair just stay home!
This is for jumping and dancing as he did all night long!!
Is this guy 62 years old?
No can't be!!! Ther was as opener one of the most violent italian rock band...I thing this morning they are looking for another job and let guitars and drums home!
Neil is in a very good shape, he jumps and dance all teh time and lst night it was about 40C...(100F?)
He's out clearly to kill all the furious rock bands he's goin' to mett around Europe in the festivals..He has clearly cruel intentions!!
His mood changed during No hidden path...there was something going wrong with old black effects (even if the crowd didn't notice), He start arguing while playing with Larry Cragg and then shortered the song down and got out with no words.
He came back few minutes later for the encore : All along the watchtower that was furious, long and violent!!
It lasted about 15 minutes and at the and he destroyed Old Black stings and showed to the crowd his ass and went out without a word!
Yes he's ready to rock Europe away !
for you guys going to see the show: if you're going out there ready for seeing and old hippie with the dutsty acoustic guitar playing sad song and remainding the good old days of love and peace..wel just forget it!!!
The guy is around to kill...WATCH OUT!!!

here's the set list

Love to burn
Everybody knows
Spirit road
Too far gone
Powderfinger
Hey Hey my my
Mr. Soul
Oh lonesome me
The neddle and the damage done
Mother heart
No hidden path

All along the watchtower

Roberto
At 6/24/2008 03:10:00 AM, charlotte said...: Yes, only Americans deserve to see Neil in action now!!!!!

Good to hear the show was great!
At 6/24/2008 04:45:00 AM, Anonymous said...: I'm sure it was great. Seems a bit short. I hope it gets longer for my second young concert this year in Wiesen :D.
At 6/24/2008 04:54:00 AM, Anonymous said...: show's about 2 hours....only love to burn lasted 25 minutes....
At 6/24/2008 05:24:00 AM, Francesco Ceccarelli said...: Another Great Show with the God-In-Earth Neil.
Amazing stuff, shorter than the show in Florence, don't know why… But still great!

During All Along the Watchtower Neil sits down on the stage for a while, than laid completely, than keeping up his legs!! always playing the guitar!!
Very Funny!

Mr. Soul it has been decided at the moment… Ben Keith was with his guitar on, Neil said: «Ben, take your slide and let's play Mr. Soul!», Ben take off the guitar, sits on his slide, and Neil: «I hope most of the band knows it!»… Yeah!!!

I hope to see you soon Neil!
At 6/24/2008 06:07:00 AM, nasosecco said...: I was in Verona last night, good concert, but... Very sad cause the fans want to dance and move, but they can't: in front of the stage there was hundreds of sitting people that only nows some songs of "Harvrest":).
So I think Neil can't ear a big feeling from the watchers. Maybe for that he had play more and more violent, to shock this cold public.
The very hot fans were relegate on the stairs of the arena. Very beautiful place, but they can't dance and shake...
At 6/24/2008 07:01:00 AM, Anonymous said...: Very hot this Verona's Arena. Very, very hot... And the heat raised up when NY came onstage to do Love and Only Love. Waited for Winterlong, but now ot's pretty much confirmed that he plays the song on every second concert. Mother Earth was instead the song for melancholy mood. Neil 62 years old? Wait 'till you see him doing the solo on the back on the floor lifting one leg at the time. Crazy good old r'n'r!! And then at around 1.30 am we were already in the car (with aircondition to the max) heading back to Ljubljana, Slovenia. Hope to see him in Wiesen as well! Next stop - Franz Ferdinand, Belgrade.
At 6/24/2008 08:24:00 AM, Anonymous said...: To the knob who posted the first comment, mate, Neil's toured Australia only 3 times in his 40+ year career. How many tours have you had the chance to see. Its not all about the US you know. So before you go making stupid comments, think about how good you've had it... 3 times in 40 years...

And yeah, the irony of three European tours in 6 month isnt wasted in me either...
At 6/24/2008 09:51:00 AM, karen said...: We were very happy to see this tour in America, and I am happy for all of you in Europe who get to now experience this phenomenon that is Neil Young LIVE. He is a force of nature, is he not?! We have no right to be jealous as we are spoiled with seeing Neil here, but still .... He was lying on the stage and playing ... WHAT??? Now extremely jealous! : ) Really, though, happy for you all, I can feel your excitement all the way across that ocean sky sea of blue...
At 6/24/2008 09:56:00 AM, Indie Sessions said...: Going to see him in dublin for the first time, just cant contain my excitment
At 6/24/2008 09:58:00 AM, Anonymous said...: Hey, Neil's got to earn a Euro now and then, doesn't he? I hear the Australian dollar is on the rise, so you folks down under may get your wish sooner than you think!

On another note, I wonder if Neil will take up John McCain's offer of $300 million for the Linc-Volt?
At 6/24/2008 10:31:00 AM, Anonymous said...: Is the setlist posted here correct, or should I ( as I use to do ) trust the setlist on sugar mountain site?
Counting down.. 5 days till I see Neil Young live in consert again .
At 6/24/2008 11:02:00 AM, Anonymous said...: IT'S OFFICIAL: Jimi Hendrix has returned:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lP7xhTvle4c
At 6/24/2008 11:04:00 AM, Anonymous said...: He looks different... but still familiar to most of us...
At 6/24/2008 11:18:00 AM, Anonymous said...: I forgot OLD MAN....maybe sugar Mountain is more dtaliede 'cause I was there surronded by that SOUND!

By the way while he was acting with ben keith in wondering what to play I shouted HURRICANE and he got back on me "IT'S NOT TIME FOR IT ....YET" it didn't come last night so I0m pretty sure it will come sonn in the one of the next show....if Neil will play as he played Love to burn you guys better weld yourself on the chairs!!!

Roberto
At 6/24/2008 02:21:00 PM, Anonymous said...: What about when at the end of All Along he (Neil) went in front of Chad turn his back to the crowd, bended down and shook his ass to the audience?
Then ended the song and got out off stage without saying anything....
What to say?
he can do whatever he wants 'case when he grabs a guitar you'll forgive him everything....old fucking bastard we love you !
At 6/24/2008 04:53:00 PM, Anonymous said...: At first I thought he had fallen backwards, and decided to make the most of it. But in light of Roberto's comment on the passivity of those sitting up front, I think he was giving them a bit of a message, "OK, if I sit on my ass I'm still going to kick yours, and, by the way, when I end this thing I'm going to show you mine so you can kiss mine, ha!"

Tom
At 6/24/2008 05:17:00 PM, Anonymous said...: Uhm, I think Tom's right...it was a message to all that spoily middle age presumed fans that think Neil is still back there were their memories are....in Harvest time.
Life went on by then and so did Neil and I'm sure a very few of them are aware of the Linc-Volt project..just to say one of the things that Young does.
His ass shaking was just that..."you pay for that and I'm givin' you this 'cause hey hey my my rust never sleeps"
If you miss this line better stay home coz as I said before the guy 's out to kill.

Roberto
At 6/24/2008 06:59:00 PM, Anonymous said...: This was a first class concert guys, be sure of this...we have waiting this for months and we would have never imagined such a tracklist.

If someone told me he still had so much power, I would have not believed him or her. We saw him in Lucca in 2001 and that was simply great, but yesterday he had something in his eyes...brrrrrr...

It was a completely jump for us, from the first to the last minute and were left with no words when he performed all along... in such way.

he completely burned the arena, and shown once more that this man has done something apart from harvest (but does he still need to show this to anyone?).

Yes, the only complain is that the hottest part of this place was busy with people able to sat down, chained to their chairs, even when Shakey let everybody understand, from the very first minute, that the evening was not made for weak hearts. That was a pity, for us but also for him, i think, who could not fully enjoy how he was able to make people out of mind.

He shacked his ass then he went out, that's Neil, that's why we love him. See u at the next, we will be there for sure:-)

Sid
At 6/25/2008 02:41:00 AM, Ben said...: Holy jesus I'm listening to this 6/23 show, vintage Neil man.
At 6/25/2008 07:36:00 AM, Francesco, Lucio said...: The first song was "Love and only love", not "Love to burn"...
At 6/25/2008 09:29:00 AM, Anonymous said...: I'm curious to know what was going wrong during No hidden path, Neil startde arguing with Larry Cragg moving his hands pointing something...a guitar effect, the fan...is someone having an idea?
Then I'm sure he got kind of upset because the main lighting of the Arena never went on...neither during the encore I'm sure Neil wanted becaus at a certain point he said "I can fell you but I can't see you"
Another funny moment: he said thanks a couple of times in italian..it sounded like "grazii" but we understood anyway.
I saw him 6 times in Italy and this was the first time he tried to say thanks in the local idiom...funny!
At 6/25/2008 10:25:00 AM, Anonymous said...: Great to hear that he's pulling out some of the Ragged Glory tracks.
At 6/25/2008 10:26:00 AM, Anonymous said...: Can anyone who's been at these concert tell us about his rig...

What amps? Is the Balwdin Exterminator back or is he using the tweed amp with the Deluxe and the Magnatone?
At 6/25/2008 10:54:00 AM, Anonymous said...: first he had a problem with the fan then with a channel of the amp. I agree with you that he got upset for not managing to see the audience at all; it is for this reason, I think, that he run away without thanking and too early!!
At 6/25/2008 11:04:00 AM, Anonymous said...: for nasosecco: I am one of the many fans who were sitting in front rows and that wanted to dance and waive but the crew did not allow us to do that.
Verona Arena is not the best place for an electric gig of Neil
I spent more than 70 euro to be sat close to him but I would prefer stand up and move.
In fact when the gig in Verona was confirmed I thougt it would be a total acoustic set considering the location - anyway an unforgettable EKTIN and an unbelievable 'all along the watchtower.

p.s. does anyone know why he was 60 minutes late?
At 6/25/2008 11:51:00 AM, Anonymous said...: ...maybe he eat too much italian food...I know he really likes it!!

jocking...as you noticed the evening runned late from the beginning...Verdena the opening act was 30 minutues late and then when I got into the Arena Yong's crew was still working on stage....I think the promoter kind of fucked up...everywhere in the papers was announced Pegy gig...even in the paper the day after sombody was writeing she didn't show up!!
The night before no Pegy so....lack of comunication...sorry to say it but it's typical italian....(by the way I'm Italian)
At 6/25/2008 01:12:00 PM, Anonymous said...: good for us that Pegi did not sing too bad for her 'cause probably she missed the chance to show to the Opera fans what a good soprano she can be.......
At 6/25/2008 01:14:00 PM, Anonymous said...: To the one who was saying Neil doesn't tour in the country where he lives.
This is just an opinion but after seeing him interviewed on a Italian tv (skynews24): I think he does not feel comfortable in the States until Bush will leave the White House.
He's hoping Obama will be the next President for a real change in the
US and looks like he feels frustrated about all the lies about the war and all the personal freedom restriction.
I repeat, it's just an opinion, but I think he will not tour the US until next November
At 6/25/2008 01:33:00 PM, Anonymous said...: good for us that he does not know Mr. Berlusconi (Italy's Prime Minister)He would not have toured Italy for ages.....
At 6/25/2008 02:44:00 PM, Anonymous said...: YES you're guys 'r lucky to have neil sending mr bush to hell....we do not have any rocker brave anough to send mr berlusconi to hell.....get the point?
At 6/25/2008 02:49:00 PM, Anonymous said...: Guess what could Neil (or any american citizen pro or against Bush) possibly think about a prime minister who's making a law to avoid to go in front of a lawcort to be judged in a corruption trial?
At 6/25/2008 04:01:00 PM, Anonymous said...: Neil,
If you realy want out of Iraq ( as I do), Obama is not the answer.Elect him and watch us sit there for another 3 years while Obama becomes more and more of a politician.

VOTE NADER

Write to the Commission of Presidential Debates and demand
Nader be allowed to debate McCain and Obama.

End Iraq War - Vote NADER
At 6/25/2008 04:17:00 PM, Anonymous said...: mmm kind of interesting the debate this neil's gig has caused...looks like italian audience is looking a bit further then the tip of their nose when they go to a show.....
At 6/26/2008 05:08:00 AM, Anonymous said...: NEVER is a big word.

Checkt this on YouTube:

CSNY ROCK IN PHILLY 2000
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jjy3iJ9VPlA
At 6/26/2008 06:22:00 PM, rene said...: hi everybody,

we just got back from italy after we spent an awesome night with bruce springsteen at his show in milano.

i know springsteen is not the subject here ;-) so 2 days before we attended neil´s show in verona.
i was so excited to finally see a show in italy and then in that kind a location was just mindblowing.

well there is nothing much left to say. i just wanted to share my opinion on certain moments.

this was my sixth neil young show and besides one show with crazy horse this was teh best. right from the beginning he let the audience feel what they can expect within the next two hours.
you cold tell that he really enjoyed playing .

during "no hidden path" he struggeld with some technical difficulties and was arguing a lot. so he left without saying a word after the song to return for the encore.
but you could tell that he was really pissed off. not only the fact with his guitar also the fact that the crowd was still sitting in the first 30 rows. luckily we had seats in the 4th row but unfortunately we weren´t allowed to get up an dance.

my girl and i tried doing so. but this only lasted for maybe a minute and then one of the securities asked us to sit down again because people behind us were complaining.

i think that by sitting down during "watchtower" neil showed the audience what he thought about them still sitting.. and he underlined his statement when he show them his ass and left after the song without saying anything.

neil really rocked verona but the audience was not really able to accept this.

so i see you all in wiesen ;-)

cheers
rené
At 6/26/2008 09:15:00 PM, Cristiano said...: Hey Renè,

that's right, the show, tracklist, him, the band, all was simply excellent and one of the best shows I saw in my life... btw i agree it was sad that people wanting to stand up and dance under hey hey my my or all along... were not allowed to do so. we were up, in not numbered places and simply burned the arena, jumping and dancing. That was great, but being in front would have surely been perfect.

I'm thinking of coming in Wiesen as well. I guess I need more of this as well:-)
cheers Sid
At 6/29/2008 07:30:00 PM, Anonymous said...: Just listening to Love and Only Love from the show in Italy. Totally smokin' but did anyone else think the drummer was laying the percussion on a bit too heavy? What happened to Ralph?

Hopefully this is just the start of Neil bringing back Ragged Glory.
At 7/03/2008 04:58:00 AM, rene said...: hi sid,

i think you should attend the WIESEN show as well ;-)
let me know if you are going.

cheers

rené
At 7/03/2008 04:58:00 AM, rene said...: hi sid,

i think you should attend the WIESEN show as well ;-)
let me know if you are going.

cheers

rené
At 7/08/2008 04:51:00 AM, Jo'66 said...: Hi,all.
I was in Verona. It was GREAT!!!
I was in 4th row.
I have no words to explain what I fell......
Neil is always The best!
Thanks Neil.
I hope to see you again.
Jolanda'66

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