(Preface: I have been deep in the Neil Young Archives all of May. There are so many concerts on there that I have never heard….and I am loving it. More on that at the end of May.)
Here is a review I wrote and Thrasher’s Wheat re-posted it years ago but you can just read it here on Substack.
https://neilyoungnews.thrasherswheat.org/2009/01/concert-review-of-moment-sydney.html
Full-fledged legends come to town infrequently. This has to do with economics and the fact that there are not (arguably) many of them in existence. Neil Young is now 63, and he has been in the ditch, in the middle of the road, and in many places in between. On Saturday, the 24th of January, at the Sydney Entertainment Cent, Neil and his Electric Band burst out of the gate with the Crazy Horse number, Love and Only Love. The searing electricity of his guitar work and the passionate vocals of his and the rest of the band, kicking off with this song made a simple statement about the endurance of love and the misguided nature of hate. It was a beautiful way to enliven the audience with positive energy at what we all hoped would be a classic Neil gig.
Sea Change sort of changed the tempo and the obscurity of this song for most changed the mood slightly, but Neil continued to fire out the notes on his guitar. On a stage that had a spooky-looking American Indian statue, some mangled letters of the alphabet adrift above the band and an artist painting the show, my eyes were pretty well focused on Mr Shakey himself throughout the gig. Having a vantage point in the second row made it very special, and after about 20 minutes, it appeared we were in for one hell of a set
The first 3 rows at least seemed ready to rock as we got to our feet, made our way to the front and rocked out to a stunning Cortez and Cinnamon Girl. Alas, I turned around expecting to see a writhing, bopping mass of old hippies and rockers, but to my dismay I found a group of zombies sitting and watching.
Rock concerts have come a long way from the days of rebellion and nudity and public marijuana smoking and over the past decade this has now come to an almost unwritten ban on dancing and standing. Of course, promoters and artists picking certain venues are to blame, along with the heavy-handed security at these arena shows. I also believe the artist has some responsibility to ensure that the audience and security understand that grooving and dancing at a concert is all right. Neil ignored my plea to tell the audience to get up and dance but I guess he had other things on his mind.
So we headed into a more country and quiet set of numbers for 6 songs where we had Needle And The Damage Done, Four Strong Winds (very special and one of 2 covers), One Of These Days and Unknown Legend, which were well received but definitely not rockers. Of course, Neil has to please a selection of fans, but with him not hitting some of his big favourites from Harvest or After The Goldrush, the less Neil Young obsessive fans may have been disappointed.
Neil got back to the electric machine with Get Back To The Country and then a stunning rendition of Words (Between The Lines Of Age) from Harvest. This is a rarely played selection and Neil and Keith duelled between pedal steel and guitar. This was a moment where Neil took us back in time once more and displayed how great a song well over 30 years old can sound today. You just had to stand their in awe and sing-along to his fairly cryptic lyrics.
But there was consternation and a blue condition on Neil’s face throughout the gig and Rick Rosas and Ben Keith also seemed concerned at the audience participation based on their facial expressions. I was kind of amazed people were still sitting behind me, and at one point, I had a confrontation with a dude who wanted me to sit down. Neil jumped into Keep On Rockin’ In The Free World and the people near me went even crazier. Neil seemed to be playing with fervour for the people up front who were giving him positive feedback. His response to the people sitting behind us was to feign a heart attack, rest his head on his hands, and ask them if they were asleep in pantomime.
I’ve seen it before in Sydney when Patti Smith asked the crowd if they were in a coma; Elvis Costello cut his set short and departed the stage for 10 minutes until people went crazy and were standing (he then returned for over 90 minutes); and at John Fogerty recently, where the security let no one get up at all.
We have so few places and moments where we can take a journey through the past. Rock concerts are those moments to discover your youth if you are young or to recall what it was like to be if you have been around the block. People may argue about whether to stand or not at a gig, and whether it has an impact (or should) on a musician. especially someone as well-travelled as Neil Young. All I can say is that I have never seen Neil play a non-festival show that lasted less then 2 hours until this night.
Let’s hope he comes back.
PS-There was something very good that came out of this concert besides Neil and Crazy Horse coming back one final time in 2013.
Meeting this Dead Head, pictured below.
Setlist:
1- Love And Only Love
2- Sea Change
3- Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
4- Spirit Road
5- Cortez The Killer
6- Cinnamon Girl
7- Mother Earth
8- The Needle And The Damage Done
9- Light A Candle
10- Four Strong Winds
11- Unknown Legend
12- One Of These Days
13- Get Back To The Country
14- Words
15- Just Singing A Song
16- Rockin' In The Free World
17- A Day In The Life
Coming up at the end of the month, my review of the last Crazy Horse gig at the Sydney Entertainment Centre on the 10th of March 2013.
We love ya, Neil….thanks for all the barn.
