My relationship (if that is the correct way of describing it) to Neil Young is as deep and meaningful to my appreciation for music as any artist out there. Easily on par with Dylan, The Dead and The Clash. The first chance I had to see him was in 1974 on the ill fated Crosby Stills Nash and Young reunion tour. As erratic and poorly received as that tour was, I was lucky enough to see them on the night that Richard Nixon resigned so that show turned out to be one of those special nights. I would see Neil and Crazy Horse 2 years later at The Palladium in New York City when I would take the week before Thanksgiving off from school in order to see him. (This gives you some idea of either what kind of student I was in College, how much I thought of seeing Neil Young or some kind of combination of the two). It would be at this show that I heard such (future) classic songs as “Pocahontas”, “Sugar Mountain” and “Like a Hurricane” for the first time. Not surprisingly, over the years I’ve managed to see Neil many many times, and while his concerts (like many of his albums) can have their ups and downs, he almost never leaves the listener wanting.
When I found out that Neil would be touring this year with Crazy Horse back in February, it was an absolute no brainer that I would be going. Remember my credo, “When in doubt, go to the show and especially always see the masters”. In Neil’s case, the dude is 78 years old. How many more opportunities will there be? Also, when covid hit and lockdown happened, it was quite apparent that he (Neil) was very apprehensive about going back out on the road again. So with all of these factors taken into account, how could one ever second guess attending one of these shows?
Neil and Crazy Horse took the stage at Forest Hills pretty much right at 8:00 PM and with nary a word spoken, delved right into a dirgy intro to “Cortez The Killer” which progressed into a 10 minute or so slow jam which I think served perfectly as a warm up for both the band as well as the crowd in anticipation for what was to follow. Things would immediately pick up with “Cinnamon Girl”, the first of 3 songs that we would hear from Neil’s second album from back in 1969, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere. The third song up would be Neil’s homage to his friend, collaborator and longtime engineer David Briggs, “Scattered” from 1996’s Broken Arrow LP.
Young would interject minor small talk banter between most songs throughout the evening, things like, “how ya doin’ out there?”, “what’s your favorite planet?” (which he would repeat numerous times throughout the evening until he finally got the crowd to respond appropriately). He would also mention how he’d never been to Forest HIlls before, although he’d always heard what a great space it was. Amusingly, he said that according to something he’d seen in the green room that The Monkees were the last band to have played here…with Jimi Hendrix as their opener. Moving along Neil and the current iteration of Crazy Horse, Billy Talbot, Ralph Molina and Micah Nelson stuck pretty close to a variation of sorts of the main setlist to which they’ve been playing throughout the tour thus far.
Speaking of the band, this version of Crazy Horse was exactly what anyone well versed in the world of Crazy Horse would expect. They plodded along, were a hot mess and as such were pure unadulterated Horse perfection. Billy with his spot on stage between Micah and Neil, appeared to be barely keeping up with things and then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, he would roll off a perfect bass riff (as he did tonight during Neil’s punky “Sedan Delivery”). Micah Nelson, on the other hand, was a ball of energy (well…at least compared to the geriatrics he was playing with). And while we’re on the subject, who’s got it better than Micah Nelson? I mean, he is Willie Freakin’ Nelson’s son. He grew up on The Luck Ranch and now he gets to jam Neil Young songs every night with none other than Neil himself. And for those who truly know me, there might not be anything more enjoyable than endlessly jamming to Neil Young tunes.
All in all, it was indeed a great evening and a wonderful show. Despite the drizzly weather and in spite of the sound problems which started up during Neil’s acoustic set and then continued through the closing electric set, it was a perfect night of music. And by perfect, I mean a night of sloppy, meandering and absolutely blissful jamming.
I came into this show thinking that I might not have another opportunity to see Neil again, given his age and his tempermental feelings about touring at this juncture in his life. In that respect this show almost feels like the second bookend to complete a set of 2. I mentioned the show I had seen Neil do back in ’76 earlier but what I hadn’t mentioned was that I had come out of that show with the distinct feeling that Young was on a crash course with mortality. I honestly, at the time did not expect him to make it much longer. He was an absolute mess and appeared to be smack dab in a tragic spiral. That being said, his playing that night was that of a virtuoso. So my bookends were complete, after walking out of a show almost 50 years ago thinking that Neil Young might not make it much longer, I got to see him and his band of brothers, Crazy Horse once again all these years later and despite his 78 years on this earth, those concerns for his mortality don’t seem to matter all that much anymore. After all, “Rock and roll can never die. There’s more to the picture than meets the eye”
SETLIST-
- Cortez the Killer
- Cinnamon Girl
- Scattered (Let’s Think About Livin’)
- Like a Hurricane
- Don’t Cry No Tears
- Vampire Blues
- The Losing End (When You’re On)
- Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
- Powderfinger
- Love and Only Love
- Comes a Time
- Heart of Gold
- Human Highway
- Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)
Encore:
- Sedan Delivery
- Rockin’ in the Free World
Neil Young & Crazy Horse Slideshow
W.S. Walcott Medicine Show 
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