An ever prolific songwriter, Neil Young had a resurgence in popularity in the late 1980's and early 1990's with his two albums, Freedom (1989) and Ragged Glory (1990). I stumbled in to Neil Young admiration backwards via Nils Lofgren. Nils had met Neil backstage at the Cellar Door in Washington, DC in the late 60's. Neil was so impressed, he invited Nils to come out to California to play on After the Goldrush (1969). So in 1985, I had bought that album and Tonight's the Night which had Nils as one of the musicians. Of course, Neil was such an excellent songwriter and musician, I became a Neil Young fan.
What fun it was to find out Neil would be performing at the Desert Sky Pavilion in March of 1991. Always finding it hard to find a companion, especially someone bold enough to drive from Mesa to the west side of Phoenix, I had some great luck. My brother, Steve, would be visiting mainly to take the Professional Engineer's exam, but he would be there in time to see the show!
BUT the day before the show, I found out it had been postponed. Something to do with an ear infection of Mr. Young. It would be rescheduled for April 21, a Sunday.
Who would I go with now? I had worked something out with a friend to go, but he cancelled at the last minute. I had to call my cousin of Monkees, John Denver, and Frank, Liza and Sammy concerts, who agreed to go. Whew.
When we got to the show, I heard Nils Lofgren's new album, Silver Lining, playing over the loud speaker. Neil always likes to support his fellow musician friends.
Opening acts were the Buck Pets (not Sonic Youth) and Social Distortion.
At 9:26, the Pavilion darkened and I heard the first guitar notes of "The Star-Spangled Banner" (Hendrix style) being played as a spotlight shone on "Farmer John" (aka roadie Larry Cragg) who dragged out this gigantic microphone and then he tied a yellow ribbon on it. (Remember, the Gulf War was still ongoing).
The spotlight dimmed and in the shadows I could see the figures of drummer Ralph Molina, bassist Billy Talbot, guitarist Frank Sampedro and finally Neil Young appearing on stage and starting the great opening chords to "Hey Hey My My." Neil was clad in a black t-shirt which had a gold silhouette of Elvis on it, plus a black long-sleeved shirt over that, jeans with holes at the knees and back Nike's with a white streak. His outfit was very appropriate for the rough and heavy guitar performance he and Crazy Horse displayed throughout the show. Definitely defining his place as the "Grandfather of Grunge."
Here are the rest of the songs from that evening:
Crime in the City
Blowin' in the Wind (Bob Dylan cover)--one of my favorites of the evening
Love to Burn
Cinnamon Girl
Mansion on the Hill
F#&kin' Up
Cortez the Killer
Powderfinger
Love and Only Love
Rockin' in the Free World
The audience was thankfully blessed with two encores. The first was "Like a Hurricane." A personal favorite of mine, I would have been satisfied with the excellent guitar playing and poetic lyrics, but Neil threw in some theatrics which were a humorous plus. It was either Frank or Billy who was pushing around this little blowing cloud prop which was hanging from the ceiling. Another unplanned theatric were the 12+ people who got up on stage during Neil's fabulous solo. All of the 12+ were chased off by the roadies. All Neil did was turn away from the crowd more and face Ralph's drums, but that was only a minor disappointment. As "Hurricane" neared its conclusion, Neil pretended to fight the wind (and the cloud prop) but was getting blown away to the point where his strings popped off his guitar one by one. He even tried to shield his face from the storm with his guitar. In the end, Neil just slid the guitar off and set it on the ground and walked off.
Neil came back for his second encore, a little known gem from the album "Tonight's the Night" called "Roll Another Number." It was a fun song and very special because it was so unexpected.
Speaking of unexpected, I found that with Neil Young, I have to expect the unexpected whether it is dealing with the postponement of shows or the selection of songs. I definitely experienced by fair share of Ragged Glory with Neil Young and Crazy Horse--and it was fantastic!
