Last night I got to see a living legend, Neil Young, play an amazing show at the Cox Arena in San Diego
Death Cab for Cutie opened. I like a bunch of their songs, but had
heard that they aren't a great live band. I was really hoping they'd
suprise me on stage. They did not. Moving on.
I had never seen Neil perform live before, and really wasn't sure what to expect. I love his music, and was sure I'd enjoy the show no matter what, but I was honestly expecting a James Taylor type affair, with acoustic guitars everywhere. But man was I wrong. Sure, he played the slow stuff like Heart of Gold and Old Man (my personal favorite), but he also rocked the joint. And by rocked the joint, I mean he tore the roof off the place.
Also, you just gotta love a guy who drags a stand up pipe organ on tour with him for us in just one song. And man was it worth the trouble. Right in the middle of the show, when things had slowed a bit, he walked with his harmonica over to the organ for Mother Earth. If there was any doubt that he's still got the vocal pipes, the ended here. It was just magical.
My only beef is that towards the end he crammed in Sea Change and When Wolds Collide. Talk about stinkers. I know that he can still write the occasional great tune, but these two are not among them. But thankfully they were short lived, and he promptly got back to the Neil we all know and love.
Then, after closing his 2 hour set with a raging version of Rockin' in the Free World, I was almost hoping for no encore. It was a perfect ending to a great set, and it would be great for once to see an artist just leave it all out there, wave goodbye, and walk off. Screw the fake encore. But then, of course, Neil came back out and kicked my ass.
The encore was just a single song: The Beatles A Day in the Life. And he CRUSHED it. Just amazing!
Neil Young - Rockstar!