This was my second time seeing Neil Young, and as luck would have it,
I was able to see this show in the same company as the
last time in Dallas in 2014. That show was a rare solo outing
focusing on acoustic guitar performances and rambling storytelling.
This show was part of a larger tour with Neil's preferred backing
band of late, Promise of the Real, and as expected, the focus was on
electric guitar workouts. The name of the venue translates to "Forest
Stage", which is accurate: it is located in the western
outskirts of Berlin, surrounded by the woods, but adjacent to the
large Olympic stadium complex from the 1930s. It made for a beautiful
environment, and thankfully the weather was pleasant.
Artist: Neil Young &
Promise of the Real
Venue: Waldbühne
Location: Berlin,
Germany
Date: 3 July 2019
Opening Act: Bear's Den
Setlist:
01. Country Home
01. Country Home
02. Everybody Knows
This Is Nowhere
03. Over and Over
04. Mr. Soul
[originally performed by Buffalo Springfield]
05. Helpless
[originally performed by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young]
06. Old Man
07. Field of
Opportunity
08. Heart of Gold
09. Words (Between the
Lines of Age)
10. Lotta Love
11. Walk On
12. Winterlong
13. Bad Fog of
Loneliness
14. Danger Bird
15. Hey Hey, My My
(Into the Black)
16. Love and Only Love
17. Rockin' in the Free
World
Encore:
18. Roll Another Number
(For the Road)
19. Piece of Crap
Opening act Bear's
Den played a rather generic
brand of Americana that blended country pop with hints of what
might've been dream pop. However, they leaned much too heavily on the
country and pop side of the equation and had none of the delicate
balance of Mojave 3. The songs maintained a steady, dance-friendly
beat and featured synthesizers despite a lack of anyone playing an
instrument that seemed capable of creating that sound. This all was
paired with lyrics of minimal content. They were harmless but also
edgeless and I was unimpressed.
When
Neil Young showed up
with Promise of the Real,
they were ready to rock. They started with a strong series of songs
mixing Young's early days ("Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere",
"Mr. Soul") with extended, jam-oriented songs from Ragged
Glory
(1990). This transitioned into several of his biggest hits and some
of his more serene, country-rock material, including a rare
electric
version
of "Lotta Love" (from Comes
a Time,
1978). Another highlight was "Words", a great song with an
unusual time signature that that band pulled off with finesse.
That
was followed by a few of Neil's best
early 70s deep cuts, namely the still-relevant "Walk On"
(from On the
Beach,
1974), personal favorite "Winterlong" (first played in 1970
but unreleased until Decade,
1977), and the almost forgotten "Bad Fog of Loneliness"
(also first
performed in
1970,
but
unreleased until Live
at Massey Hall 1971,
2007).
The rest of the main set consisted of lengthy rockers. First was the
dark and brooding "Danger Bird" (from Zuma,
1975), and
then came
"Hey Hey, My My" (from
Rust Never Sleeps,
1979), which
was as
heavy and intense as ever. "Love and Only Love" (another
from Ragged Glory)
was given an extremely long workout, including sections with dueling
lead guitars and warped delay manipulation of Neil's guitar. "Rockin'
in the Free World" went over even better with the crowd than
"Heart of Gold", and the band's triple-fakeout ending was
received with ecstatic delight instead of annoyed impatience. No one
seemed to mind
that Neil forgot a few of the words.
The
encore consisted of a
ridiculously comic pair of
tunes: "Roll
Another Number" (from Tonight's
the Night,
1975) and "Piece of Crap" (from Sleeps
with Angels,
1994). The latter's consumer capitalism critique is just as relevant
as ever. Young
mentioned wanting to finish on a "spiritual" song, which
led me to think he had one more song to offer, but he left the stage,
so he must have been referring to "Piece of Crap"!
Young
and Promise of the Real performed in top form. The band played tight,
followed Neil's energy and whims without hesitation, and provided a
huge space for impressive improvisational solos. However, Tato
Melgar's
percussion was mostly overshadowed by Anthony
Logerfo's
drumming, and there was rarely space for three distinct guitar parts.
Lukas and
Micah
Nelson seemed to often play the same thing, although on a few songs
like "Winterlong", they played distinct parts that fleshed
out the song wonderfully. Micah also switched to a piano for a few
songs in the middle.
If
there was a weak link, it was probably Young's voice. For the most
part, he was still in good form, and he even managed to make the
almost-whined lines of "Helpless" sound convincing.
However, "Old Man" was less successful, as Neil couldn't
quite hit the notes in the chorus, so some of the power of the song
was sapped.
I
was surprised at the lack of songs performed from either of Young's
albums with Promise of the Real (The
Monsanto Years,
2015, and The
Visitor,
2017). In fact, everything the band performed was written in the
20th century. However,
they played a variety of fairly obscure songs from Young's
discography in addition to some big hits, so I can't really complain
with what we got.
Much like with John
Cale, you can never be quite sure what you are going to get when
you buy a ticket to a Neil Young show. On this occasion, he seemed to
be aiming to please the audience, but he still had some time for
extended jams and rare songs from across his back catalog. It's
strange for Young to completely bypass his recent records, but his
choice of material was nonetheless a pleasure. The jams were good and
the performance quality was high, so this was another thoroughly
enjoyable show from Neil.
[Neil Young &
Promise of the Real.]
Scores:
Bear's Den: C-
Neil Young &
Promise of the Real: A
P.S. Thanks to Cheryl
and Alyssa!
