Neil Young – July 8th – Red Rocks Amphitheatre

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Neil Young 2015-07-08-27-9757Photos by Jim Mimna

The Scene: A light rain trickled down from a sagging, slate colored grey sky. A mostly older crowd—with some youngsters peppered in—ambled up the storied steps of Red Rocks. In between the rocks a colorful crowd was gathering, decked out multi-colored ponchos and rain jackets. While the air was a bit chilly for early July, the air smelled like sweet rain and Colorado’s finest. In true Neil Young fashion a group of Native American activists called Apache Stronghold came out and did a beautiful song in the rain to raise awareness of the United States Government stealing some of their sacred land – not years ago, but recently. It was a bittersweet moment and I knew at that point that it was going to be a night full of powerful material.

Opener: Band of Horses. As the rain continued to come down, Band of Horses took the stage.   The group certainly owes a lot to Neil Young—coming out of the Seattle music scene—and lead singer Ben Bridwell doffed his cap to the Godfather of Grunge as he came out on stage.   “Opening up for Neil Young at Red Rocks, this is a dream come true.” The band then surged into a powerful yet poignant set with songs like “Factory” off of their 2010 Grammy nominated album Infinite Arms and “Is There A Ghost” off 2007’s Cease To Begin. Band of Horses is reminiscent of a young Wilco, but definitely have their own sound and some great songwriting.

Neil Young & Promise of the Real: As the sun went down the clouds parted and the rain stopped.  Stars began to peak out from behind the remaining clouds. Ponchos and jackets came off as the anticipation began to become palpable.  I got the feeling everyone was wondering what Neil would do, because the guy has done everything. The show had been billed as “Acoustic+Electric+Classics,” but we weren’t sure just what the format would be. The show began with some theatrics; a group of women came out and sewed the stage with seed. This made people even antsier but when Neil came out all that anxiety flew away. Young came out on acoustic piano with a beautiful “After The Gold Rush,” of course showing off the song’s relevance by changing the lyrics “1970s” to “21st Century.” Neil got up from the piano and slung on his guitar and strapped on his trusty harmonica.  As if “Gold Rush” alone wasn’t enough Neil reeled off classic after classic including “Heart of Gold,” “Long May You Run” (co-written with Steven Stills), “Old Man,” and a stirring reed organ rendition of the Crazy Horse song “Mother Nature, ” with Neil’s hiking booted feet pumping the bellows. I’ve been seeing Neil Young for more than ten years now and I have never seen a set with so many classics. He’ll usually throw you one or maybe two, but a set like this one is rare…and they just kept coming.

After the six song solo acoustic set Young brought out Promise of the Real, a great band. But they’d better be seeing as their usual frontman’s last name is Nelson. The band was great and I was really impressed by Lukas Nelson’s  guitar playing. Just like his dad he has his own style while still capturing a lot of the cool Ben Keith licks from Neil’s material. The band opened up with “Hold Back The Tears,” and then my friend began to sing “Out on the Weekend,” (one of my favorite songs) and lo-and-behold they played it next. The band was tight and the harmonies at Red Rocks rang like church bells. I must say that I enjoyed Neil with POTR a bit more than when I saw him with Crazy Horse, but Lukas and company did their best to hit some of those Crazy Horse harmonies…and still they kept coming.

After “Out on the Weekend” came a potent version of “Unknown Legend,” a song about a woman who works in a diner but takes to the open road. In true Neil fashion he did two songs about the moon with no moon visible in the sky, “Wolf Moon” the first song he played off his new album The Monsanto Years and a sweet “Harvest Moon,” with the boys trying their best to do Peggy and Emmy Lou justice. Two more highlights were The Buffalo Springfield song “Flying on the Ground is Wrong” and a really funky, danceable “Walk On” (another one of my favorites). After “Walk On” we were treated to a rare “Bad Fog of Loneliness” originally written for The Johnny Cash Show and an uplifting “People Want To Hear About Love.” I began to wonder if they were going to take a break and was answered by an absolutely electrifying, 10-minute plus “Cowgirl In The Sand” with some crackling jams and guitar work from Young and Nelson.

The latter half of the set was comprised mostly of material off The Monsanto Years with some Crazy Horse tunes peppered in. The Monsanto Years has some really powerful stuff on it, which was amplified by the band being on fire and Red Rocks itself. I highly recommend checking the new album out; Neil is pissed in the best way possible.

It is ironic that a criticism of Young when he first came on the scene in the late sixties was that his lyrics and songs were too esoteric. Well, let me say, those days are gone and have been for a long time. Neil knows exactly what he’s saying and how to say it.  The show ended with a killer encore of “Don’t Be Denied” and “Double E.” The dream set (see below), including encore contained 27 songs with Young playing on every single one of them and no set break.   At 70 Neil is strong as ever and shows no signs of slowing down, but if this were to be the last time I saw him perform, I could die happy.

Neil Young – July 8th – Red Rocks Amphitheatre
Solo Acoustic: After the Gold Rush, Heart of Gold, Long May You Run, Old Man, Mother Earth (Natural Anthem)
Neil Young & Promise of the Real: Hold Back the Tears, Out on the Weekend, Unknown Legend, Peace of Mind, Field of Opportunity, Wolf Moon, Harvest Moon, Words (Between the Lines of Age), Flying on the Ground Is Wrong, Walk On, Bad Fog of Loneliness, People Want to Hear About Love, A New Day For Love, Cowgirl in the Sand, Big Box, A Rock Star Bucks a Coffee Shop, White Line, Workin’ Man, Monsanto Years, Love and Only Love
Encore: Don’t Be Denied, Double E

Energy: A
Musicianship: A
Sound: A
Stage Presence: A
Set/Light Show: B

Overall: A

Nate Todd

Nate Todd was born on the central plains of Nebraska, but grew up on the high plains of the Texas panhandle. With not much to do in either place, music was his constant companion. His parents dubbed the first two albums he ever owned onto a tape for him. Side A was Bert and Ernie’s Sing Along. Side B was Sgt. Peppers. His lifelong love affair with music started early as he practically grew up in a Rock & Roll band, with his father and uncle often taking him out on the road or into the studio with them. Nate began performing live at sixteen and hasn’t looked back, having played in numerous bands from L.A. to Austin. At the age of twenty he was bitten by the writing bug, and upon moving to Denver decided to pursue a degree from Metropolitan State University where he recently graduated with a B.A. in English and a minor in Cinema Studies.

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