Neil Young took to the Acura Stage about 20 minutes behind schedule as the rain refused to let up on Sunday afternoon. What followed was a shining example of everything that live music should be, an emotional conduit from the artist to the audience that is as raw as it is unpredictable.
Whereas nostalgia acts like Paul Simon or Steely Dan are capable of delivering perfectly satisfying performances that largely stick to unsurprising renditions of their most cherished tunes, Young and his new backing band, Promise of the Real, took the crowd on a sonic journey that mostly avoided the singer-songwriter’s hits. Sure, there was an obligatory “Rockin’ in the Free World” (that included a few lyrical changes to reflect Young’s frustration with the oil industry) and an early “Cortez the Killer,” but the latter was an expansive display of multi-guitar improvisation that stretched beyond the 20-minute mark.
Photo by Noe Cugny.
To get an idea of just how expansive the set was, one must consider that–in the nearly two hours that they were on stage–Young and POTR made it through only eight songs. Many of those tunes, primarily pulled from the Crazy Horse catalog, were filled with fuzzy, drawn out bouts of guitar interplay that managed to be both contemplative and propulsive all at once. “Love and Only Love”, in particular, turned into a giant of a jam, as Young and his bandmates became visibly synced with one another, jumping about on stage while the Ragged Glory composition jetted into uncharted territory over the course of half an hour.
From an improvisational perspective, the two songs from Young and POTR’s new album–”I Won’t Quit” and “The Monsanto Years”–were probably the least interesting. Yet the two songs, with their not-so-subtle attacks on modern industrial agriculture, showed that Young is no less passionate about his politically charged music today than he was when the Vietnam War was in full swing. They also gave POTR a chance to display their chops on tunes they actually had a hand in creating, though the band’s interpretations of the Crazy Horse material was impressive in its own right. (Like many others, I had my unfounded reservations when I heard that the group, which is led by Wilie Nelson’s son Lukas, would be backing Young on his new album and tour).
The horrendous and altogether uncomfortable weather added another gritty layer to the spectacle, as Young and co. jammed out under dark skies and the occasional too-close-for-comfort burst of lightning. There was even a little bit of theater, including a few girls–dressed in traditional farming attire–that spread seeds across the stage at the beginning of the show, and a number of actors in hazmat suits that sprayed smoke in a similar fashion at the set’s midpoint.
Of course, the famously cantankerous Young treated the crowd to some of his signature righteous indignation as well, loudly commanding the stagehands to “turn that shit off” in reference to the stage lights. The 70-year-old rocker got what he wanted from the stagehands, and those of us that waded through wind and rain got we wanted from him.
