OK, Saw Neil at the acoustically perfect Santa Barbara Bowl. His set went from about 7:35 to 10:37…3 hours and breaking the venue curfew.

Started off with a small solo set including After the Gold rush, Rust Never Sleeps and Helpless. I have to admit I wasn’t familiar with a lot of the material he played, but it was enjoyable nevertheless. Lucas Nelson & company complimented Neils playing. For about the first hour Mr. Young played an acoustic guitar before switching to electric. At one point Neil made fun of the band learning his songs after 2 false starts, but it turned out Neil had a guitar that was tuned wrong. If this happened to Eddie Vedder the tech would probably have been fired (like what happened in November 2013).

He played a number of songs about Monsanto…and Starbucks, a little too much IMHO, but that’s OK, we get it, (at least at home we keep Non GMO and Organic whenever possible). His voice sounded like a record, I could not believe how good he sounded. I’ve only seen him twice before, first in 1969 with CSN&Y at Pauly Pavilion and then again just a few years back at the Wiltern for the Buffalo Springfield reunion.

The one song Lucas Nelson sang, he sounded just like his old man. Great evening, great sounding venue, great music and thanks to Sweetcharmedlife for getting the tickets!

Oh yes, After The Gold Rush and Down By the River are my 2 favorite N.Y. songs, he did them both, he could have stopped there and I still would have been happy.

If you are seeing Neil at the Forum, and you've never seen Social Distortion, do not miss them!

Social Distortion is one of the best bands of the last 30 years

... and they opened for Neil 24 years ago!

Back to 2015 : if you see the Las Vegas show pop up on Guita101 or elsewhere don't miss it : it's a breathtaking recording (and show)! "Love And Only Love" is 17:58!

Thanks Bluzdude!
I have seen Social Distortion a few times before, and will be happy to see them again.
I've seen Neil Young apprx. 20 times in various incarnations/bands, etc., and will be very happy to see him again!

From all the reviews I've read, not a bad one in the bunch which isn't often the case with certain Neil tours of the past -see Greendale (which I happened to like)!

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Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......

I'm going to see Neil this Satirday at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley.....looking forward to seeing him as always. Reports from this tour have all been overwhelmingly positive.

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dcba
... and they opened for Neil 24 years ago!

Back to 2015 : if you see the Las Vegas show pop up on Guita101 or elsewhere don't miss it : it's a breathtaking recording (and show)! "Love And Only Love" is 17:58!

I will be looking for it for sure. I hope some of the shows from the northwest show up soon. Neil & POTR were awesome enough to overcome some acoustically sound but sterile rooms. I wish I could've seen Santa Barbara, etc. The WAMU in Seattle is a concrete box but sounds good due to strategic curtains. I recently saw Craig Ferguson at the Chelsea in the Cosmopolitan. I could see music sounding good there but the vibe was cold. I saw Jeff Beck/Brian Wilson at the Palms & that room was the same. Haven't been to the Joint since they redid it but it was cool before. Saw a phenomenal Crazy Horse show there on the Greendale tour where because they couldn't fit the set in the theater, Neil did 3 hours of intense Horse. One of the best shows I've ever seen. The setlists on the current west coast tour have been stunning! Glad everyone is enjoying it. PS: Saw the Stones at the Joint on the Licks tour. Bragging rights on that one but they were actually better the next night @ MGM Grand.

Chr :

according to comments I read at Dime the "Vampire Blues" show ahs been taped and will be shared as soon as the taper goes back home.

Personnally I really enjoyed the (tapes of the) summer shows and I think Neil rose things to another level with the current string of gigs.

very good setlist, ditto for the review. i would love to see Mr. Young again . Never have been let down by him !

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dcba
Chr :

according to comments I read at Dime the "Vampire Blues" show ahs been taped and will be shared as soon as the taper goes back home.

Personnally I really enjoyed the (tapes of the) summer shows and I think Neil rose things to another level with the current string of gigs.

Thanks dcba! I got a bunch of the summer shows & they are quite good but I have to agree with you, Neil has taken it up a notch this fall. I got the Santa Barbara show & its awesome. I'm a little tech handicapped & can't do FLAC shows. Have to hope & make do with MP3s. My computer is a work one & I'm not able to load a FLAC player on it. I have to admit though, after decades of rocking my ears aren't what they used to be. I was lucky enough to work in the music industry for 25+ years & went to hundreds of shows. The real glory years for me were the grunge years. I was right in the middle of all that. I was a music buyer for a big retail concern in the northwest & reported sales to Billboard. I always played it straight with the numbers but still got to do a lot of cool stuff. Meeting Keith was pretty much the top of Mt. Schmooze, haha. I have a good pic of me with him. Meeting Neil (twice) wasn't far behind. Funny enough, meeting Neil wasn't job related. My first trip to NYC I went to the movies with my friend & a group of guys came in & sat in the row in front of me. The one directly in front of me looked familiar & was incognito. Turns out it was Neil! I sat there freaking out the whole movie but did not bother him. After the film was over, I finally worked up the nerve to talk to him. He was very nice & appreciated that I let him enjoy the film with no bother. Years later, I bought a charity ticket for a solo show with a meet & greet. There were a lot of real pushy fans of a certain hippy band there (The Hateful Fred, you know who I mean). I kind of hung back & Neil made it a point to come talk to me. He actually remembered me! Incidentally, Keith was very nice to me also & I got to talk to Bobby Keyes for a long time (it was a Winos show). Good memories. Now I work as a ghost in the machine at a certain corporate Satan involved with aerospace. I'm thankful to have a job with good insurance at this point but I view it as penance for having a job I actually liked for 25 years. Not everyone can say that. I really hope to see the Stones at home in Seattle next year. I went to see them in Vegas on the 50th Anniversary tour (have travelled for them a fair amount) but it would be good to see them at home one more time. Sorry if I rambled here. Doc has me on some ugly meds that are making sleep a challenge & am killing time until work. I'm glad I stared Neil thread & the response has been good & mostly positive. Love the Stones but there is plenty of other good music out there. Really like that Neil (turns 70 next month) is still pushing the boundaries. I think the new material has really benefitted from being played live. I think POTR has gotten him out of his comfort zone a little & we are getting the gifts from that. I will be definitely keeping an eye on that band in the future. In a sort of related (& controversial) topic, I think Jack White could do something similar for the Stones. It definitely would at least be interesting! Look forward to posting with you & others like you in the future. Thanks for reading & writing (the lost art)!

Next show on Rust radio : 2015-09-19 Chicago, IL (Neil Young w/ Promise Of The Real)

[www.rustradio.org]

Crholmstrom Vlc player should help you with FLAC files. If your system is old and won't accept the newest version, Oldapps has plenty of "old" versions of this player.

It seems like POTR will be his new Crazy Horse! Sad to think that the Horse may be gone forever but at least the incredoble music they made solo and with Neil will not die. Want to see more proshot footage, their set at Farm Aid was fantastic!

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Mr.D
It seems like POTR will be his new Crazy Horse! Sad to think that the Horse may be gone forever

Yeah that's exactly waht I thought while listening to these 2015 shows. But with Neil you never know. He might just need to release the 2001 NY&CH "Toast" album to have the urge to tour with them again...

While I'd been a fan since Harvest was released (I was only 9 yrs. old), the first time I saw Neil was during the "In a Rusted Out Garage" Tour with Crazy Horse in 1986.
Crazy stage setup and props...literally like being in a grungy old garage. I have to say the best Neil shows I've ever seen throughout the years he was backed by Crazy Horse.
Based on reviews of this current tour, this is the next best thing...

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Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......

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dcba

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Mr.D
It seems like POTR will be his new Crazy Horse! Sad to think that the Horse may be gone forever

Yeah that's exactly waht I thought while listening to these 2015 shows. But with Neil you never know. He might just need to release the 2001 NY&CH "Toast" album to have the urge to tour with them again...

The horse out to pasture. Kind of a sad thought indeed. I thought this might be the case when Billy moved from near Neil in CA up to the northern plains.

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Naturalust

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dcba

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Mr.D
It seems like POTR will be his new Crazy Horse! Sad to think that the Horse may be gone forever

Yeah that's exactly waht I thought while listening to these 2015 shows. But with Neil you never know. He might just need to release the 2001 NY&CH "Toast" album to have the urge to tour with them again...

The horse out to pasture. Kind of a sad thought indeed. I thought this might be the case when Billy moved from near Neil in CA up to the northern plains.

If memory serves, Billy had a stroke. Hopefully he is healing well but that doesn't completely go away.

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crholmstrom

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Naturalust

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dcba

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Mr.D
It seems like POTR will be his new Crazy Horse! Sad to think that the Horse may be gone forever

Yeah that's exactly waht I thought while listening to these 2015 shows. But with Neil you never know. He might just need to release the 2001 NY&CH "Toast" album to have the urge to tour with them again...

The horse out to pasture. Kind of a sad thought indeed. I thought this might be the case when Billy moved from near Neil in CA up to the northern plains.

If memory serves, Billy had a stroke. Hopefully he is healing well but that doesn't completely go away.

Yes he did about a year and a half ago, and had to sit out the European leg of the tour.

Here's an article from Rolling Stone mag dated June 30, 2014.

Billy Talbot

Evidently he's recovered fairly well since then, but don't know to what extent.

_____________________________________________________________
Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......

Santa Barbara was easily in the top 5 shows I have ever seen by anyone.Simply astonishing 3 hours of music.

Funny side note I went down to the venue early to sell an extra ticket,and then to lunch down the street>A famous Mexican place "La Super Rica".While standing in line to order,I see Darryl Hannah and a friend setting up a long table with 15-20 chairs.A few minutes later a black limo-bus pulls up and out come the band and crew.I was so busy playing it cool and pretending to not notice that I indeed failed to notice Neil Young not ten feet from me.He blended right in with the roadies!! It wasn';t until later that I heard that Neil was there.I did notice when Willie Nelson came strolling in,just in time to join the gang getting back on the bus.

edit - double post

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Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-10-15 21:04 by Hairball.

Cool story 72hotrocks!

La Super Rica Taqueria...
That was our traditional pre-show grub when I went to college in Santa Barbara, and continues to be a tradition to this day!
Now living about 20 miles south, I still make the trek for that reason alone sometimes.

_____________________________________________________________
Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......

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dcba
Crholmstrom Vlc player should help you with FLAC files. If your system is old and won't accept the newest version, Oldapps has plenty of "old" versions of this player.

Thanks. I tried but the issue is I don't have administrator rights on the computer. Kind of a pain but the price is right. I'll try it if I get someone friendly on the help desk. Until then, I'll just have to hope some MP3s come up. Incidentally, all San Diego & the Forum setlists look pretty awesome, too!

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dcba
Chr :

according to comments I read at Dime the "Vampire Blues" show ahs been taped and will be shared as soon as the taper goes back home.

Got the Forum show but also sadly came home to a crashed computer ...

(recycled review)

@#$%& scab Crazy Horse!

Just kidding.

I LOVE Neil Young, but at his gigs he plays to please himself which is why I respect him but it can lead to underwhelming shows almost every time I tried to see him. This show however was absolutely incredible, the kind of show I knew he was capable of and I would always hope to catch every time I went to see him before leaving feeling let down.

He's changing it around a bit but it follows a basic pattern.

He comes out solo and knocks out some of his biggest acoustic hits.

Then the band comes out and they do some of the mellow midtempo stuff. It basically follows an upward arc of increasing intensity before coming to an end 3 hours later followed by a quick encore that could be almost anything.

The Promise Of The Real is Lukas Nelson's band. It's almost like he traded in Crazy Horse for a newer model. 3 guitars, they handle a lot of the leads, he has great chemistry with these guys, killer extended jams.

Mansion On The Hill was the "it" song for me though. Ragged Glory is my favorite Neil Young album. In the 1980's I mostly listened to classic rock radio followed by metal. By 1990/early 1991 the classic rock bands really declined in quality and frequency of new material as did even the metal bands I was just getting into. Seemed like newer bands were the ones bringing it and it was time to wipe the slate clean. Then someone (Jim Ladd?) on KLOS late night played the album all the way through and I was completely blown away. THIS is what Neil Young sounds like NOW?

The Monsanto songs sounded good musically but were a bit repetitive lyrically but nowhere near as tedious an enduring all of Greendale was in 2003.

There was a bit of weirdness with a civil disobedience segment where he referenced a law just passed a few weeks ago where it's against the law to transfer seeds to anyone who lives more than 3 miles away and he started throwing packs of seeds out and had people dressed in farmer attire handing them out throughout the arena while daring Inglewood's finest to arrest him.

Anyway greatest Neil Young show I had seen out of 5 and really wish I could go to more this tour.

Went on stage about 9:05 to 12:05-12:10.

Social Distortion opened, they are like gawds here but they knocked out a perfunctory set that sounded at times like a slowed down 45. When they went on there were maybe 50 people in the pit and it seemed almost clubby but it filled in quick.

Words

[www.youtube.com]

Cowgirl In The Sand (Las Vegas - nothing from the Forum up yet, people had post orgasmic facial expressions all around me)

[www.youtube.com]

Excellent post Dan, enjoyed reading it!

Yeah bands aren't the only thing Neil has been trading in for the new model lately. lol Strange stuff about him handing the seeds out, but in my opinion pretty cool. Gotta get the news about that stupid law out there somehow, and of course it's going to be difficult to enforce that one. What kind of seeds were they?

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Dan

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dcba
Chr :

according to comments I read at Dime the "Vampire Blues" show ahs been taped and will be shared as soon as the taper goes back home.

Got the Forum show but also sadly came home to a crashed computer ...

(recycled review)

@#$%& scab Crazy Horse!

Just kidding.

I LOVE Neil Young, but at his gigs he plays to please himself which is why I respect him but it can lead to underwhelming shows almost every time I tried to see him. This show however was absolutely incredible, the kind of show I knew he was capable of and I would always hope to catch every time I went to see him before leaving feeling let down.

He's changing it around a bit but it follows a basic pattern.

He comes out solo and knocks out some of his biggest acoustic hits.

Then the band comes out and they do some of the mellow midtempo stuff. It basically follows an upward arc of increasing intensity before coming to an end 3 hours later followed by a quick encore that could be almost anything.

The Promise Of The Real is Lukas Nelson's band. It's almost like he traded in Crazy Horse for a newer model. 3 guitars, they handle a lot of the leads, he has great chemistry with these guys, killer extended jams.

Mansion On The Hill was the "it" song for me though. Ragged Glory is my favorite Neil Young album. In the 1980's I mostly listened to classic rock radio followed by metal. By 1990/early 1991 the classic rock bands really declined in quality and frequency of new material as did even the metal bands I was just getting into. Seemed like newer bands were the ones bringing it and it was time to wipe the slate clean. Then someone (Jim Ladd?) on KLOS late night played the album all the way through and I was completely blown away. THIS is what Neil Young sounds like NOW?

The Monsanto songs sounded good musically but were a bit repetitive lyrically but nowhere near as tedious an enduring all of Greendale was in 2003.

There was a bit of weirdness with a civil disobedience segment where he referenced a law just passed a few weeks ago where it's against the law to transfer seeds to anyone who lives more than 3 miles away and he started throwing packs of seeds out and had people dressed in farmer attire handing them out throughout the arena while daring Inglewood's finest to arrest him.

Anyway greatest Neil Young show I had seen out of 5 and really wish I could go to more this tour.

Went on stage about 9:05 to 12:05-12:10.

Social Distortion opened, they are like gawds here but they knocked out a perfunctory set that sounded at times like a slowed down 45. When they went on there were maybe 50 people in the pit and it seemed almost clubby but it filled in quick.

Words

[www.youtube.com]

Cowgirl In The Sand (Las Vegas - nothing from the Forum up yet, people had post orgasmic facial expressions all around me)

[www.youtube.com]

Thanks Dan for the review (and ticket!) as you took alot of words out of my mouth that I was about to write !!!
(I've highlighted in bold a few of the exact same thoughts I had).

A few additional thoughts:

Social Distortion: The same three chord punky grunge rock they've been playing since they began -seems kind of generic now, but it is what it is...typical Social D which can be a good thing.

Stunning 3 hour marathon set...I was about 5 people back from center stage, and my legs and feet were sore as sh*t towards the end (I have an artificial 'bionic' knee that stayed strong). But how could I complain when a red-faced Neil was still bouncing and swaying all the way through!!!

From a mellow solo acoustic set to begin (amazing), to a semi-mellow set when the band come on (from Hank to Hendrix ), and then the full on blow out session (mind boggling).
Screaming feedback laden solo's from Neil, to a cacophony of a 3 guitar assault during various jams in the midst of several songs, and everything in between - the show was one for the ages.

The 'young-uns' (Promise of the Real) that make up his new band bring an intense energy that Neil obviously feeds off of.
Lukas Neslon is an above adequate guitar player and foil for Neil to intertwine leads with, and he punctuates his rhythm/leads with a Neil-esque technique that sounds very Crazy Horse-ish at times. Once or twice he would blast out a blazing fast bluesy solo to show off his chops, but it may have not been warranted for what was being played by the band. Don't know the other's names yet, but the bass player is a maniac WAY into every song - he was a joy to watch and listen to as he bounced around and sometimes jumped like an angry young punk rocker. The young guy on the far right - a multi-instrumentalist - was probably the most talented and all around skilled of the bunch. The backup vocals from all of them throughout the show were pretty much perfect. All in all they are a well-oiled machine that sound like they've been backing Neil for years.


Ranks up there with some of the best shows from Neil I've seen, and yes...it is next best thing after Crazy Horse.

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edit - just researched and discovered the young and talented multi-instrumentalist on the right of stage I mentioned is Micah Nelson...another one of Willie's sons.

Micah Nelson

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Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 2015-10-15 22:26 by Hairball.

I'm glad you guys got great shows. I've seen Neil as much as the Stones & I think this was the best without the Horse. I did see one in a theater that was kind of half horse (Frank) & Ben Keith, etc. "Rockin' in the Free World" was written that day. Started off acoustic & some bikers pissed Neil off yelling. He came back for electric set & all hell broke loose musically.

Some pics taken from my little old cybershot - maybe not the best quality (some better than others), but I was trying to be incognito...














The above was when the team of Monsanto workers stormed the stage dressed in full protective gear and sprayed us all down with their 'friendly'chemicals










Neil and Micah Nelson

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Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-10-16 02:42 by Hairball.

Nice Hairball! Thanks for taking the time to upload those shots. I know lots of people who work for Neil and the stuff he hauls around on tour keeps some of them well employed. Old Amps, old guitars, old stage props....he is quite the eccentric. He's also still got a pretty mad collection of old cars and his home studio is filled with some of the most amazing old gear you could imagine. Probably the largest collection of Fender Champs and other small vintage Fenders in the world.

It's great to see him out there doing 3 hour shows!

Thanks Naturalust. No prob uploading shots, once I had them on shutterfly (which I do for most of my pics) it's just a matter of copying and pasting url's here.

And yes 3 hour shows...reminded me of the way Mick (and Keith to an extent) used to run around the giant stage extensions at stadium shows for two hours- I'd get out of breath just watching.
While Neil's not as physically fit as Mick and doesn't run around like that, it's amazing to see him cranking away, bobbing, and weaving... for 3 hours!
His stamina is amazing, and he definitely gets an extra boost from his new young comrades.

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New review from The Orange County Register:

Neil Young keeps on rockin' in the Forum
Oct. 15, 2015
By PETER LARSEN

Neil at Forum

Neil Young turns 70 next month, but if you had closed your eyes and just listened to him singing and playing guitar at the Forum on Wednesday, you would have heard the decades rewinding in reverse, the legendary singer and songwriter sounding as powerful and passionate as ever.

It’s perhaps even more remarkable when you ask yourself this: How many musicians of any age can go out and play a three-hour show night after night as Young has this fall on a tour whose stop Wednesday saw him thrill fans with a 25-song set that included best-loved hits, back-catalog chestnuts and a chunk of his new record, “The Monsanto Years,” the 36th studio album of his career?

Once you get past Bruce Springsteen and groups such as Foo Fighters or maybe Dave Matthews Band, there really aren’t many at all. All of which made Young’s night in Inglewood even more remarkable.

The show was smartly structured to build from the soft and acoustic to the loud and hard-rocking, with Young slipping onstage almost unnoticed to start the night at an upright piano to sing “After the Gold Rush. The next four songs also featured him alone in a stark spotlight on stage, playing guitar, harmonica and pump organ. Those handful of classics included “My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)”; “Helpless,” a tune from his days as part of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; and “Old Man.”

After those lovely, wistful, occasionally mournful songs ended, Young was joined by Promise of the Real, his band on the tour and on his most recent album. The group includes Willie Nelson’s sons Lukas and Micah, and formed after Lukas Nelson met drummer Anthony LoGerfo at a Young concert in Los Angeles seven years ago and started playing with him in the drummer’s hometown of Seal Beach.

“Hold Back the Tears,” with its Texas country-Western vibe, and “Out on the Weekend,” the lovely lead-off track on Young’s classic “Harvest” album, picked up the pace a little, though at the end of the latter tune Young felt the need to explain the progression he had mind: “Hold on,” he said. “We’re going to get through the laid-back part of the show.”

Promise of the Real has earned praise throughout this tour for its sharp musicianship and vast knowledge of Young’s catalog, and the old guy seemed to be truly enthused by his much younger musical accomplices, feeling comfortable enough throughout each stop on the tour to pull songs out of his time machine such as “L.A.,” a track off his 1973 album, “Time Fades Away,” which online fan sites flagged as not having been performed live since then, and “Burned,” a song from his days in Buffalo Springfield.

More than halfway through the night the new album finally got its spotlight with songs such as “A Rock Star Bucks a Coffee Shop,” “People Want to Hear About Love” and “Big Box,” all fitting nicely into that record’s themes and warnings about GMOs and corporate greed. While the lyrics might be a touch on the nose at times – repeated name-checks of the likes of Monsanto, Starbucks and Chevron, for instance – musically, these are strong songs, catchy, with room for Young and the band to expand instrumental sections into hard-rocking jams. (Scattered throughout the show, too, were references – and actual organic seeds – to highlight the dangers Young sees in the way things are going.)

The final hour of the show hit hard on the guitar explorations of Young, armed here with his usual black Les Paul, who formed a huddle on stage with his two guitarists and bass player, and soared on flights of electric rock ‘n’ roll, with songs such as “Cowgirl in the Sand” and the set-closing “Love and Only Love” running to 15 minutes long each.

That last one wrapped at midnight, after which Young and the band quickly came back for an encore with “Vampire Blues” and then waved goodbye. Though you did get the feeling he could have gone on for another hour if he’d wanted. After all, if rust never sleeps, why should he?

Orange County roots-rock heroes Social Distortion opened the show, and while most of the crowd was still filtering in – they were done by 8:15 p.m. – they tore through hits such as “Story of My Life,” “Ball and Chain” and “Ring of Fire” with the usual vigor you expect from Mike Ness and Co.

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Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2015-10-16 04:16 by Hairball.

edit - oops another double post.

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Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-10-16 04:13 by Hairball.

Some photos for you of last night's show at The Forum in Los Angeles.