April 28, 2011
Neil Young at the Hippodrome Theater April 27
from Midnight Sun alum Sam Sessa:
…
Many audience members were expecting a hit parade or an all-request hour, shouting suggestions at Young, who brushed them off. While he did play a handful of his signature pieces, such as “Ohio,” “Helpless” and an excellent “Cortez the Killer,” much of Young’s set was music from his latest album, “Le Noise” and other newer songs.
Young’s dimly lit set, with its wooden Indian and hodgepodge of instruments, recalled a rustic saloon. Spotlights cast four rectangular panels on the dark curtain behind him, giving the impression of a church’s stained glass windows at twilight.
When Young emerged, wearing jeans, a black T-shirt, white jacket and light tan fedora, the crowd greeted him with a standing ovation. Wasting no time, he fired right into a trio of hits: “My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue),” the poignant “Tell Me Why” and a subtle, elegant version of “Helpless.”
April 28, 2011
Take Two: Neil Young at the Hippodrome Theater April 27
Nick Madigan, who first saw Young in concert in the 70s writes:
Neil Young is determined to prove he can do it alone.
Calmly strolling the stage of Baltimore’s Hippodrome as though it were his living room, taking his time to decide what to play next from his vast repertoire and an array of guitars and pianos — even a pump organ [1] — Young seemed on Wednesday night to be living his performer’s ideal, a musician unencumbered by other musicians, true only to his muse and the vagaries of spontaneous choice.
At 65 years old, and with a five-decade career still going strong, Young long ago earned the right to do whatever he likes. Sometimes, the results are uneven, even startlingly so.
…
“Where’s the Horse?” someone in the Hippodrome crowd shouted out. Young ignored him, just as he did all those who begged for specific pearls from his inventory…
…moar on:
:: weblogs.baltimoresun
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[1] thx 2 hb for pointing this out
Couldn’t sell my ticket so I went. Even outside the venue I would’ve sold it but it was like a ghost town outside, just one lone scalper and I don’t sell to them!
No difference in the set list. I did enjoy this show a bit more than last year but that was because I decided not to sit in my seat 2nd row center in the upper balcony.
Instead I went to the aisle at the top of the upper balcony where I could stand and dance and not block anyone’s view. The sitting vs. standing aspect is ALWAYS a problem at these shows for me. So the freedom to move around made me much happier (unlike last year when I had the 2nd row from the back which was the worst of all worlds since I couldn’t stand up and yet we were high up in the nosebleeds).
Some observations–while the “old” songs were well played, they were played too softly and with little passion. He barely was touching the keys on the piano.
I know some will admire this—I personally did not.
The solo approach was interesting, but I think a lot of the songs are better served played with a band. And I wonder why he chose to play DBTR electric instead of acoustic since solo I think the songs sounds better acoustic.
I found it amusing that when Neil started to play Love And War the crowd starting applauding since the opening riff sounds a lot like Hey Hey, My My. So the crowd was clapping in anticipation that Neil would play a song he had just played opening the show. I found that pretty funny!
As Sign of Love ended and Leia started I went to the bathroom to exercise my bowel (old HH’ers will know what I mean here) in preparation for the After the Gold Rush to follow. Unfortunately they were piping the music into the bathroom so I could not entirely escape that tedious song !
Was out the door halfway through the encore to effect a quick escape. On the way out I saw Ben by the t-shirt stand. I had seen him earlier with his attendant–but no sign of Pegi?
So sad that almost a year after the show I saw in D.C., not a single song was different or out of order from that show. Pretty lazy in my opinion! (and no I am not surprised).
The crowd was mostly very quiet and polite though at one point one member of the audience loudly expressed his opinion that Neil was better than Dylan (which was not embraced by most of the rest of the audience).
Hope the Buffalo Springfield tour does not turn into a circus of small venues, with scarce and high priced tickets! Would I prefer to see them in a small place–of course–but not if it means $200 tickets.
Live: Neil Young And Bert Jansch Preside Over Avery Fischer Hall
By Andy Beta, Mon., Apr. 25 2011
…
Drawing primarily from last year’s tetchy yet mesmeric Le Noise and 1970’s gold standard After the Gold Rush, Young took detours as well: to the upright piano for a song tangentially about grandkids, “Leia”; to the grand piano for “I Believe in You”; to the pipe organ for “After the Gold Rush.” He found ample space amid the seething chords and choruses of “Down by the River” and “Cortez the Killer,” and on the effects-laden takes of “Peaceful Valley Boulevard” and “Rumblin'” Young hit and sustained some denture-rattling bass tones.
25 April, Live Report: Neil Young At Lincoln Center
In Section: PRESS Play » Posted By: Carter Maness
Over the weekend, the theme was sports versus music. On two occasions, my beloved Knicks were dismantled, embarrassed and slapped around at Madison Square Garden, providing a substantial dose of deflated expectations and competition-induced depression. Yet in both scenarios, music saved the night.
Yesterday, after the Boston Celtics completed their brutal sweep, we headed to Lincoln Center’s Avery Fischer Hall for a solo performance by Neil Young. His stunning set provided yet another reminder (like we needed one) that Young is a titan with a songbook that beats nearly every remaining songwriter from the 20th Century.
..more on nypress.com/blog.
Posted in Concert Reviews | Comments Off on Review: Neil Young At Lincoln Center
“Lemme tell you something about Neil Young fans-- the REAL fans: They\'re all a bunch of f*%kin\' maniacs.” by Jimmy McDonough, Shakey
Neil Young on Tour
Sugar Mountain setlists
Tom Hambleton provides BNB with setlists, thankfully. His website is the most comprehensive searchable archives on the Internets about anything Neil Young related setlists. Goto Sugar Mountain.
memphish on 
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