I Sing The Song Because I Love The Man, I Know That Some of You Don't Understand

Neil Young and His Electric Band
Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York - Dec. 15, 2008
Photo by penfifteenclub on Flickr

Just as this photo was taken, we turned around to look back at the crowd in the packed Madison Square Garden. As Neil and his band took their encore bows and soaked in the cheers of 20,000 roaring fans, those of us embedded in the Rust Rail Gang Zone knew that we had all just experienced something even more special than one of your best ever rock & roll concerts.

We had just seen Neil absolutely kill on "Rockin' in the Free World" with lyrics changes of "New York City, Yes We Can. New York City, Yes We Can. New York City, Yes We Can."

And there he was. Barely out of breath. Nary a sweat stain on a face that seemed to have reversed aged from 63 to 43 over the past several hours. Grinning and beaming as if to say, "Yeah, New York. We fuckin' rocked and it was good."


Rockin' in the Free World
New York City - Dec. 16, 2008
Photo by Lauri Stolworthy - Gallery hosted by Joyce - LAOL

Our excellent Neil adventure from Philadelphia to Boston/Worcester to New York City will be one that we'll always treasure. Sure, there were amazing concerts with a bunch of new songs. But we also met up with so many old friends and made so many new ones. And that's what it's all about when you go on tour with Neil. Hooking up with the Neil community and sharing the love. So here's a few folks we encountered on the road:

- Dee & Tim - thanks for the Philly fest and all the cool buttons
- Frankie Z. - an honor to be with you for your 110th Neil concert
- Bill Tired Eyes - Fun times on the road. Be the Handle!
- Keys Left Hangin - Finally, we're able to do a proper pre-show
- HarryO - Too funny on the CUT$'s t-shirts. Thanks for the Wilco DVD
- Brand New Guy & Paul D. - Making volume drinkers proud around the world. Hope you had a safe trip back to London. And thanks for the Grizzly Circus DVD, Paul!
- Union Man - Great to see you, bro. We'll send Wes some healing vibes.
- Rusted Sister Joanne - Free Jed Green. Peace.
- Leo E. - thanks for the miracle. Also, an honor to be with you for your 112th (?) Neil concert. Ps - Frankie Z.'s catching up.
- Mark Powderfinger & Trish Vampire Babe - You guys always make us feel welcome in Philly
- Todd & Steve - you guys ARE the Delaware Destroyers!
- Greg McG. - Great to meet you. Exc Philly review
- Nan - thanks for setting up the Worcester fest and the cool holiday card.
- Joachim from Germany - Need to get over your way and have some real beer rather than this American swill.
- Cheryl & Randy - it's like you guys are at every concert we go to?!
- Keith "Spin the Black Circle" - all the best on Grizzly Circus! You guys are awesome.
- Joe of Grizzly Circus - thanks for the late night blues-jazz seminar
- Sean - so glad I could turn you onto a ticket for your 1st neil show. Hope it was as fun for you as it was for me.
- Marilyn - terrific that you were able to work your way to the rail and have your closest Neil concert
- Ed "Wheel In The Ditch..." - Driving 95-S we had NYC#1 cranked and it was pristine.
- Sarah in DC - I must say that your uncle Lou C. is pretty cool to have such a cool neice.
- Ray Northern Man - Thanks for the NYC fest. Hope all worked out for the best.
- Stan the Southern Man - I can't believe it's been like 10 years?!
- Sarah in Philly - Great post-show fest at that Philly bar
- Robin BikerAlane - funny to hear your not-so-funny FarmAid story about the crasher
- Steve Babs - great stories in Worcester. Lookin fwd to the shots.
- Jeanie - hope you got your power back
- Jill Sweet Sweet Smile - I truly hope your camera is recovered. Love is a rose.
- Wanda - I never asked about being a left handed cook?
- Cristina Little Wing & Julie in CA - You guys deserve a medal for dealing with the Vol Drinkers
- Julio "Syscrusher" - great to see you but too brief
- Sharry "Keepin' Jive Alive in TO" - virtual thanks for cribbing the "excellent Neil adventure" concept
- and everyone else that we met and didn't mention or didn't get a chance to connect with!

And big thanks especially, a super special shout-out to Kathy, Summer of Love & Karen, loveandaffection for letting Thrasher crash on your couches. Your hospitality and generosity can't be forgotten. Love you guys!

So, the road trip. So many highlights don't know where to begin.


Philadelphia Spectrum - Pre-Demolition




In Philly, we had a final show at the Spectrum where the TFA cover was shot. Jill Sweet Sweet Smile had brought dozens of roses and passed them out before hand. Folks were tossing them onstage. On occasion, Neil would pick one up, sniff it, and toss it back into the audience. We had a long stem rose ready to go at the end of the show and tried to get Larry to take a shot to re-create the cover. But he said he had already taken some pix during ADITL and seemed in a hurry to do the breakdown.


Boston - 12/13/08
Photo by Tim Bugbee

In Boston/Worcester, we hit the JACKPOT: a trifecta -- a hat trick -- a triple play -- 3 first time song performances!:
- Cough Up The Bucks - Wall St bailout
- Fuel of the People - alternative energy
- Behind The Wheel - LincVolt love song

In NYC, we had the longest show, the most songs, more debuts and a double encore. Neil was just totally on FIRE. Burning down the house fire. It was our first MSG show, so it was just too cool to be down in the pit, near the rail and feel Neil just wail in our face. The New York lyric shout outs during HHMM & RITFW were great and NYC loved it.


Wilco - New York City - Dec. 16, 2008
Photo by Lauri Stolworthy - Gallery hosted by Joyce - LAOL

First off, the openers were great. Everest was cool if for no other reason that they just seemed really stoked to open for Wilco, who opened for Neil. And Wilco was great too. Spiders/Kidsmoke was a blast and Nels Cline on guitar and effects just shredded.


Giant MagnaTone Amp dwarfs Larry Cragg, Guitar Tech
Photo by Paul D.

Otherwise, we'll just rundown a bunch of random thoughts. One thing that struck us right away that we had never seen before was the giant MagnaTone amp towering over the band. Apparently, it made its debut for the Philly concert as far as we can tell since no one had mentioned it previously. This cabinet was a monster and when Neil was crankin' Ol Black, we could literally see the case shake and practically feel the wind from the speakers pumping. And talk about the tone and volume in the pit! Sometimes, this is where the worst sound is but that MagnaTone amp gave us near Weld like volumes at the rail. Nothing like that feeling in your chest.


Heart of Gold
New York City - Dec. 16, 2008
Photo by Lauri Stolworthy - Gallery hosted by Joyce - LAOL

What else? The first 7 songs of the set are just a pile driver of greatest hits:
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

Such a strong start and really gets the crowd going. A couple of observations. After Philly & Boston we really felt Neil was firing on all cylinders. But then came NYC#1 when he started tearing into HHMM he just went ballistic. Lunging across the stage, dipping and weaving and ripping off the lyrics as if to dare anyone to challenge the line "Rock & Roll will never die. New York City will never die. New York City will never die." Just an unbelievable highlight and it's only song #2?!


Hey Hey My My MSG 16DEC08
Thanks underthedesertmoonmonica!

Then there were the Cinnamon Girl's. We know that Neil is rarely -- if ever -- a rock star poser that works the crowd like a showman a la Bruce or Bono. But on CG when he gets to the solo jam after "Your baby loves to dance, yeah, yeah, yeah" he starts heading out to the right corner of the stage. The lights come up on the crowd who are usually just sitting. And he stands there working on Ol Black, looks around and rocks it. And that's what it takes to get some folks off their ass and finally begin to rock out. After getting that side of the house up, neil goes over to the left side and proceeds to do the same thing. He checks it out. Once he seems satisfied that the entire audience is now finally on their feet he works his way back to center stage to finish off CG. We hadn't quite seen anything like that before. (See this comment for the full power of the CG experience.)


Cinnamon Girl - MSG on December 16th.
Thanks www.feelinyoung.ca !

Another observation from up close @ NYC#1 was the conclusion of Spirit Road. After the song finished and Larry was changing guitars, Neil walked about aimlessly for a few seconds still singing the chorus of Spirit Road to himself. He was just so into the zone and doesn't even seem to leave it even between songs.


Old Man
New York City - Dec. 16, 2008
Photo by Lauri Stolworthy - Gallery hosted by Joyce - LAOL

Now those new songs everybody's talking about. We had 4 first live performance debuts of:
- Cough Up The Bucks$ - Wall St bailout
- Hit The Road - alternative energy
- Behind The Wheel - LincVolt love song
- Off The Road - another LincVolt car song

Then -- for us -- we were getting our first live performances of the new Fuel Line & Light A Candle. Also, we were getting our first live performances of the "old" new songs: Just Singing A Song, When Worlds Collide, & Sea Change.

So between the 3 shows we've had 10 songs that we've never heard live before. It just doesn't get any better to be a Neil fan.

Now, with that being said, it seems that a lot of folks think the new songs are lame, mediocre, or subpar.

At this point, we're just not going to get into a debate on the merits of these 10 or 11 new songs that were worked into various combinations the setlists in Philly, Boston & NYC.


A Day in the Life
New York City - Dec. 16, 2008
Photo by Lauri Stolworthy - Gallery hosted by Joyce - LAOL

For the doubters of the new songs, we'll just say that sometimes it takes time for them to age, breathe and to come into their own. The point being, that pushing ahead into new frontiers is sometimes more inspiring then plowing the same old ground. Breaking through the wall. We like to call it taking a risk. Without risk there is no growth. I for one, would be disappointed in Neil for not trying out something new and just giving us the hits.

That being said, Neil had some heavy duty messages. We'll challenge anyone - your Dylans, Springsteens, your flavor of the month band to go out and tell it like it is. Even if it's maybe not the most elegant lyrics Neil has ever written.


Cough Up The Buck$ Crew
HarryO, Volume Drinkers: Brand New Guy, Paul D.
Madison Square Garden, NYC, NY - 12/15/2008

So let's take "Cough Up The Bucks$" for example. Who wouldn't plunk down a few $'s to hear Neil sing @ MSG in NYC -- blocks from Wall St. -- a song about corporate welfare and reckless greed? It's like going into the lion's den with red meat. So we'll cough up the bucks to maybe hear "Cough up the Bucks" again! Afterall, it's only fuckin' money.

But we think that Aaron, "That Old Country Insufferable Knowitall"'s analysis An Alternate Theory of Change (lengthy, but perhaps offensive enough to read) pretty much nails the validity of new Neil songs. Good stuff Aaron!

Regarding fashion, much has been made of the incorrectly identified Zappa t-shirt. It appears to actually be an image of Emiliano Zapata, the Mexican revolutionary of the peasants. Hmmm.

A couple things we noticed on the lighting. During "Powderfinger", when the line "Red means run" comes up, the stage lights go to red on cue. During "Heart of Gold" the lights go to yellow. During "Mother Earth" the lights go greenish. And for "A Day in the Life" -- white hot.

Some seem to find "Mother Earth" rather ponderous but even New Yorkers cheered the lines:

How long can you give and not receive
And feed this world ruled by greed

It's significance was not lost on many that night.

As for the "old" new songs: Just Singing A Song, When Worlds Collide, & Sea Change we thought when these were rolled out in Europe last summer the latter 2 were clearly referring to the Obama campaign. Just Singing A Song clearly refers to the LincVolt project. We've always been partial to music with a message but hey -- that's just us.

Moving towards the end of the show, Cortez was simply sublime in it's majestic glory. Stunning. Cowgirl in the Sand had a newish interpretation that was even more gorgeous than many previous variations. These each both clocked in at 10 minutes plus.


A Day in the Life
New York City - Dec. 16, 2008
Photo by Jonathan Bayer | Spin Magazine


A Day in the Life
New York City - Dec. 16, 2008
Photo by Lauri Stolworthy - Gallery hosted by Joyce - LAOL

And then the Beatles cover of A Day in The Life - truly a mindblowing, transcendental & life altering experience. It literally leaves you slack jawed. I always loved this observation of Neil in concert sounding like "a jet plane in a thunderstorm". That barely begins to describe ADITL. The only flaw was that Neil flubbed the lyrics and for once looked so disappointed in himself as if to say "I can't believe that I blew it". A small error that many might have missed anyway.


Ben Keith and Rick Rosas
Photo by Joey "Feelin' Young"

So what can we say about Neil's band? We saw Rick "The Bass Player" Rosas actually solo on RITFW! Thump, Thump Thump, Thump Thump, Thump. And drummer Chad Cromwell has to be the driver of the band. The man pounds away on the kit and takes it all to a new level that was so much fun to watch.

I guess the other thing we can about Neil's Electric Band is that it seems to allow him to play virtually anything in his catalog. This range of intruments and styles could very well serve Neil for years to come.


Wristband from Madison Square Garden:
"The World's Most Famous Arena"

Regarding the whole ticket price issue which we're pretty sick of. 3 bands for 4.5 hours for $75. Basically, you can be front row if you make the effort. Wilco opening for Neil f'n Young. Anyone who complains about that value is out of their mind or cheap or stupid or all of the above.

However, you had to work pretty hard for the prime GA floor spots which turned into an endurance contest. With doors opening @ 6, cuing up beforehand, and then basically staking out your turf until 11:30+ was a 5+ hours on your feet commitment and not for the faint of heart. But this arrangement definitely solves the sit vs. stand dilemma once and for all. Thank you Elliot!

Lastly, there have been so many from the Neil fan communities of Rust, HH, RH, etc that we met up with. Thanks for everyone's encouraging support. It's appreciated.

Probably our biggest compliment came when someone accused us -- in a joking manner -- of being a dreaded "community organizer". And we've got one hell of an organized community that we're quite proud to be part of.

In conclusion, we don't think that anyone could possibly come away from this tour -- especially the home stretch -- without fully acknowledging that to experience a Neil Young concert up close is to witness a force of nature at work.

See you down the road.


Neil & Band with Wilco & Everest
New York City - Dec. 16, 2008
Photo by Lauri Stolworthy - Gallery hosted by Joyce - LAOL

Thanks for the memories Neil, Pegi & The Band. And, most of all, thank you Thrashette for letting me be me with all of our Neil buddies!

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Also, see:
- New York City Concert Reviews: 12/15 & 16/08
- Boston-Worcester Concert Reviews: 12/13/08
- Philadelphia Concert Reviews: 12/12/08

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