Neil Young News: Colmar, France Concert Reviews: 8/15/08

Friday, August 15, 2008

Colmar, France Concert Reviews: 8/15/08

Brief, but totally awesome video clips!

Photo Gallery by Michel Petry - Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace

"Wrecking Ball" Neil Young - 2008-08-15, Colmar, France [mp3]

Complete concert coverage by Piet Vercaempst.

Also, blog review by Roman on This note’s for you » Neil Young in Colmar.

Thanks Ray, Piet & Johnny "Song Dog"!

Also, check out Johnny "Song Dog"'s other tour highlights.

Neil Young will be performing tonight at Le Théâtre de Plein Air, Colmar, France.

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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15 Comments:

At 8/15/2008 07:24:00 PM, Anonymous said...: I just came back ... it was awesome ... especially cowgirl in the sand ... here the setlist

1 Love And Only Love
2 Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black)
3 Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
4 Powderfinger
5 Spirit Road
6 Cortez The Killer
7 Cinnamon Girl
8 Oh, Lonesome Me
9 Mother Earth
10 The Needle And The Damage Done
11 Unknown Legend
12 Wrecking Ball
13 Heart Of Gold
14 Old Man
15 Just Singing A Song Won't Change The World
16 See Change (twice)
17 Cowgirl In The Sand
18 Rockin' In The Free World
19 A Day In The Life
At 8/15/2008 07:34:00 PM, Anonymous said...: Agreed - utterly awesome! And Wrecking Ball was a big surprise full band version with Neil on piano.
As far as See Change is concerned, Neil remarked that the band hadn't played it very often so they'd play it again, just for themselves. The second attempt was much tighter... Maybe this means they were recording the evening?
Excellent atmosphere, with an enthusiastic crowd of just under 10000 (capacity of the venue is 9900 and it was more or less full). Outdoor thatre but most of the (unnumbered) seats are under cover.
It's part of the Alsatian wine fair, so you can go and drink Gewürztraminer, eat Tarte Flambée and look at all sorts of viticultural machinery afterwards.
At 8/15/2008 07:41:00 PM, Anonymous said...: ... and Cortez was sublime tonight.
At 8/15/2008 07:41:00 PM, Luc said...: Got back to the hotel at about 0.15 am, and started talking to 2 nice Irish fans who went to the gig also.
This was a hell of a show. Never seen Neil in such a good mood.
If I'm right, this is the setlist.
1. Love and only Love
2. Hey Hey, My My
3. Everybody knows this is nowhere
4. Powderfinger
5. Cortez the Killer
6. Cinnamon Girl
7. Oh lonesome me
8. Mother Earth
9. Needle and the damage done
Neil presents the band
10. Unknown Legend
11. Wrecking ball
12. Heart of Gold
14. Old Man
15. Singing a song wo't change the world
16. See Change
17. See Change (yes, he did play it twice !!!!!)
18. Cowgirl in the sand
19. Keep on rocking in the free world

Encore
20. A Day in the Life

I'm not sure if its in the right order. So feel free to correct me.

Well, probably the best gig I'v seen this year. After 2 or 3 songs he turned to Chad Cromwell, pointing in some direction : in front row we could only see it a little bit later : there was a full moon rising.

He was very relaxed, and it looked like he had very much fun in playing.
It was really as if he was doing a greatest hits show, but wrecking ball was a big surprise. Never heard him perform that one.

"Singing a song won't change the world" is a rocking new song. But when he ended "See change", he turned to the audience and said "It has been a long time for us to do that one right, so we like to do it again, just for us" And off he went for a second (even better !!!!) version of see change.
He really played the same songe twice.

What then came was really "The Big ending". A 15 minute Cowgirl, followed by a tremendous version of KORITFW. And as usual this year, he ripped of all the strings in "A day in the Life". This Time I really thought Old Black had played for the last time. He dragged it over the stage, then was banging it to the ground and even in the standard he kept on banging it to the ground. (Poor Larry Cragg)
Highlights ?? Too much. He was just GREAT.
As if he turned to be 25 again.
For me the summer tour ended in Colmar, but what an ending...
Thanks very much Neil, Pegi, Chad, Ben, Rick, Anthony and Larry.

Too bad I did not manage to get my camera inside.
At 8/15/2008 07:45:00 PM, Luc said...: Sorry, forgot to thank Ben Keith !
At 8/16/2008 03:17:00 AM, Anonymous said...: Some nice video extracts on the website of one of the local papers: http://www.lalsace.fr/articles/showVideo/id/343228?symfony=4fa42c288fcbfb192a049a2b5e7a58f5
At 8/16/2008 06:38:00 AM, Liza said...: Thanks so much for the concert reviews!! And especially for the video clip!! It's great!
At 8/16/2008 06:39:00 AM, Anonymous said...: im going to see him tommorow in wiesen, and I really hope he plays at least 18 songs! 15 songs in hamburg, i would feel betrayed.

20 songs in colmar. how long did the concert last?
At 8/16/2008 07:28:00 AM, Anonymous said...: It lasted almost 2 and a half hour
At 8/16/2008 08:05:00 AM, Roman Kennke said...: Awesome show. The first 3 or so songs had a slightly crappy sound, and Neil seemed a little pissed, but then it suddenly it was all perfect, maybe it was the full moon rising. At least, Neil was quite relaxed from that point on. BTW: Lucy (Lucie?) and Roman (Romain?), if you happen to read this, I'd be happy if you'd contact me (roman AT kennke DOT org), you've been very nice!
At 8/16/2008 09:54:00 AM, Bubu said...: Well, it was the seventh time i see Neil and the show was perfect for me. I was waiting for 20 years to listen "Cowgirl In The Sand" on stage, and what a fantastic version !! I bring my brother to see the show, it was a first time for him and during "Cortez" he told me he had some thrills in the back,the song was so emotional.
Perfect setlist too, what a surprise to hear "Wrecking Ball", i couldn't never imagine to hear this song live. That"s Mr Neil Young, a very rare & unique man in the music, i feel very lucky every time i see him and this time was fantastic, maybe the full moon on the sky ! I like very much the 2 new songs and was blown away by the fact he decided to play "See Change" a second time, he told to the audience the band & him need to practice the song a little more.
What a guy ! The accoustic part was really beautifull as always. At a moment i watched my clock and see he was playing since 2 hours, i had the feeling it was only ONE hour, and BAM he began to play "Rocking in ..." waow, the audience became crazy and almost 10000 people were singing Keep on rocking.., with the white lights on the face, everybody with arms pointing toward the sky. At a moment he told too the audience "every place look different but here it's very beautifull" and he seem very happy to play that night, he was on fire and the all band too. A very good mood seem to float around the stage. So it was an incredible show both electric & accoustic, with some nice surprise in the setlist,a unique combination of sound & emotions. Seeing some 60 years old men jumping on stage during these songs had something really positive, i hope we all have this kind of energy when we reach that age !
Thank you very much Mr Young, you are still a fantastic performer & musician and you deserve all the love the audience gave to you. No doubt !
At 8/17/2008 12:30:00 PM, Anonymous said...: Les alsaciens savent enfin ce qu'est un groupe qui rocke.

Merci Neil !
At 8/17/2008 04:51:00 PM, Piet Vercaempst said...: Coming back from 3 legendary days in Elzas:
1) concert Neil Young on Friday
2) cycling 99 km in the mountains on Saturday
3) waking up in a small town and cycling "Route du Vin" on Sunday

Read about the concert here: http://users.telenet.be/piet.vercaempst/Muziek/Concerten/2008/neil%20young%20colmar.htm
At 8/18/2008 05:47:00 AM, Anonymous said...: what an amazing show neil put on for us in Colmar!!
My girlfriend who is not a particular neil young fan, told me she dropped a tear during mother earth! he was emanating such a strong energy during the whole show, so intense...
I did not really enjoy old man and heart of gold...i think these songs sounds better when neil is alone with his D45! By the way he did not use his D45 at all not even for needle in the damage done. Does any body knows why?
Cowgirl in the sand was truly magical...neil is such a good guitarist! his solos are so varied and emotional. My only one disappointement was not to hear his white falcon since he did not play Words...but after cowgirld in the sand he could have stopped...i was in heaven!
At 8/20/2008 04:20:00 PM, Twilight said...: I still cant believe I was at this fantastic show in Colmar last week. I loved every minute of this concert, my highlights being Cortez, Wrecking Ball (what a great surprise) and Cowgirl In The Sand:

Cowgirl In The Sand (part 1):
http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=K_Htn2zrbyE

Cowgirl In The Sand (part 2):
http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=1Yp0QhLR3Vg

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