Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Open Letter to Neil Young

Dear Neil,

I hate to say it, but you’re just another greedy hippie. Yesterday I tried to place most of the blame on your overpriced tickets on the concert promoter, but as I reflected, there’s nobody to blame but you. When you’re the headliner of a show that charges $257 for tickets (and tickets that are 100 feet away from the stage) you’re setting expectations incredibly high. I have a feeling that you despise a lot of your fans (and after listening to them drunkenly shout at you between songs and watching them play air guitar all night long, I can understand why) but that’s no reason to take it out on the rest of us.

I’m willing to bet that you and I had the same reaction when we walked into the Nokia Theatre LA Live (or whatever it’s called). From the giant corporate logo on the side of the building, to the bombardment of the senses from the giant TV screens outside and in, to the new carpet smell (oddly mixed with some weird shit/barf smell), the place ain’t got no soul. It’s basically a 7,000 capacity, cold warehouse with corporate boxes and cramped seats. The big selling points from the developers are the state of the art sound, the fact (?) that no seat is more than a couple of hundred feet from the stage and the giant TV screens next to the stage. But when you saw those TV screens you probably went apeshit. “If the fans want to watch me on TV they can rent one of my fucking DVDs,” I imagine you said (or thought). So, for better or worse, those TV screens were dark last night.

And your performance? Starting off with the acoustic set and then having an intermission before the electric part was a good idea. “From Hank to Hendrix” isn’t my favorite song off of Harvest Moon, but a decent kicking off point (your fans cheering and applauding throughout the song was distracting, but not your fault). “Ambulance Blues” = great choice. I never thought I’d hear it. “Sad Movies” = interesting and obscure, but maybe a non-essential choice. The story about the Norwegians from the cover band was fun. “A Man Needs a Maid” sent a couple of chills up my spine when you started. The lyrics have always felt a little misogynistic, but it’s also autobiographical and honest and a classic. People were chuckling around me when you switched over to that organ to simulate the overblown strings. “No One Seems to Know” = good obscure choice. “Harvest” = great choice. It was another one that gave me some chills when it started. “Campaigner” = ok choice. Substituting George Bush for Richard Nixon (and the crowd’s reaction) was pretty obvious. “After the Gold Rush” = great choice. The old dork behind me who tried to clap and couldn’t keep time distracted me the whole time, so I didn’t get chills. “Mellow My Mind” = good choice. “Love Art Blues” = another good obscure choice that I didn’t think I’d hear. “Love Is a Rose” = good choice. And that concluded your acoustic set. It was an interesting and obscure set list that I can get behind. Unfortunately your fans distracted me and took me out of the moment during most of the songs.

I’ve never seen you electric, so I was excited but apprehensive for the second half of the show. Coming out of the gates with “The Loner” was a great choice. It’s one of my favorite early songs. When you followed it up with “Everybody Knows This is Nowhere” I was preparing to be blown away. But then you played “Dirty Old Man.” It’s kinda fun in spirit, but wouldn’t make a list of my top 100 Neil Young songs. And then you played “Spirit Road.” Bleh. When you followed it up with “Bad Fog of Loneliness” I thought we were back in business. And then “Winterlong” = great choice. I was happy with “Oh, Lonesome Me” too. “The Believer” is another OK song from the new album. Whatever. But then you lost me for good when you stretched out and jammed on “No Hidden Path” for about 25 minutes. Why Neil? If you wanna jam, pick a classic. Then you left the stage and the first song of your encore was “Cinnamon Girl.” It’s a classic and a crowd pleaser. Fine. And then you ended with “Tonight’s the Night” and finally lashed out. “If Bruce Berry was here he would have fixed this fucking speaker by now.” All in all it was a pretty good show, but not worth the cash. I would have walked away happy if the tickets had been $200 cheaper (each). I won’t be going back on Friday.

By the way, we missed your wife’s set. The line to get beer was so slow moving that it took over a half hour to get through it. We let some dude cut in front of us at the front because he offered to buy us whatever we wanted (2 Buds for $12.50 and a champagne for $12.50). At least that made me feel better about paying $25 to park. As for the “state of the art sound?” There was a distracting surround sound effect and I kept hearing the high end (mostly the high-hat) over my right shoulder. And there was an annoying buzz in the front speaker for more than a couple of the acoustic numbers. For your fans who are used to seeing shows at the Staples or Forum, it was probably an improvement over that.

Your fan,
Duke

P.S. In case you’re kicking back in your pickup getting high and thinking to yourself, “I wonder what Duke would like hear” I’ve got some ideas (granted, you’ve worn a few of these out): “Lookin’ For a Love,” “Birds,” “See the Sky About to Rain,” “Cowgirl in the Sand,” “Helpless,” “Tell Me Why,” “Only Love Can Break Your Heart,” “Are You Ready for The Country, “Old Man,” “The Needle and the Damage Done,” “On the Beach,” “Roll Another Number (for the Road),” “Danger Bird,” “Cortez the Killer” or “Like a Hurricane” (to jam on), “Long May You Run,” “Hold Back the Tears,” “Will to Love,” “Peace of Mind,” “Already One,” “Comes a Time,” “Pocahontas,” “Unknown Legend,” “You and Me,” “Harvest Moon,” “Old King,” “Good to See You,” “Daddy Went Walkin’,” “This Old Guitar.”

P.P.S. I still love you.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

the acoustic set seemed shorter to me than that. did he really play all of that?

Passion of the Weiss said...

This is awesome. You know I never thought I'd walk away unhappy after seeing Neil Young but the Nokia Theater and those fans certainly proved me wrong.

nb said...

I would have been pissed if I had paid (thanks, kcrw). And the Nokia looks like an Orange County multiplex movie theater (no soul is right). #1 song not played: "Out on the Weekend" ("...take it down to L.A."). How about a 5-6 night, all-acoustic stand at the Wilshire Ebell or similar venue? That I would pay for.

Anonymous said...

I wish you had titled this blog entry "Todd was right. Neil Young sucks."

Anonymous said...

wow, that sucks.
sounds like a case of "i paid for these tickets so i have a right to be as obnoxious as i want to be!"

clap...clap...clap

Anonymous said...

neil played old man at end of set 1. maybe you had to pee after the beer. neil plays a lot of things for himself and if i could taylor his set i would have had him play many songs off zuma, on the beach, and other classic 60s and 70s albums, etc but neil marches to his own drummer that is how it is. i think "no hidden path" is a new great song that fits in the cannon of "like a hurricane" and "cortez". 25 minutes was excessive but what do you expect, its neil young.

i agree show was too expensive but nobody forced any of us to go. i for one am glad I went. who knows how many more neil shows, we will get. he aint no spring chicken. i have seen him play around 6 times. this was not the best show i have seen, but he played a lot of great songs and sounded in fine form. as a neil fan, i take the good with the bad.

also theater is a little soul-less but i had great seats and it sounded very good from where i was. its got more soul now that he played there.

lasted, i agree that many fans were annoying. one guy next to me started whistling during the acoustic set but thank god he stopped when i shot him a look that said "you suck".

anyways, i see some people here are pro music critics but i am sure neil does not give a shit what they think.

Anonymous said...

Dear David,
Shut up.

Duke said...

i realize neil is notorious for not giving a shit what his fans want to hear, but it doesn't stop us from holding out hope. the best show i've seen neil play was the acoustic set at Bass Concert Hall in Austin (which was recorded for the Silver & Gold DVD). the fans in Austin were respectful and the acoustics were great (and neil was in a great mood). i stand corrected on "old man."

Unknown said...

You forgot "Four Strong Winds" man.

Anonymous said...

...and you left out "Let's Roll" from the 2nd encore

Anonymous said...

Dad also didn't play anything off Trans.

Anonymous said...

Duke

Love your blog. Keep up the great work! Sounds like the Austin show was beautiful. I dont have the DVD (will have to netflix it).

Apparently some people who read your blog can't tolerate a different perspective, hence the anonymous "shut up david". Personally, I am taking away from that show memories of Ambulance Blues, the Loner, Everyone Know this is Nowhere, and Tonights the Night performances (and hearing new material for the first time) etched into my brain And yea I wish I would have paid a lot less, and the audience didn't have the idiots in it and seen Neil play somewhere (like the greek where I have seen him play before with Jim Keltner on drums and he opened with Walk On) but this will do for Neil in 2007 for me. I am gonna focus on the positive here.

Anonymous said...

(part one of two)
Let me preface my comment with this: I am NOT a Neil Young fan and that last night my husband dragged me to my VERY LAST Neil Young OR Bob Dylan concert EVER. Having said that, I shall now review the concert.

We bought two front row loge seats on ebay for $175.00. We found a $15 lot behind the theatre and took this neat shortcut through the construction site. We bought some food and a couple of sodas at the Wolfgang Puck stand ($30), but because the bartender put our soft drinks in clear plastic cups, we could not leave the restaurant area, which was claustrophobic, if it was anything. I angrily threw my drink away so we could go sit out in front of the theatre, and sat down on one of the planters. A few moments later they opened the doors. A woman wearing a portable amplification system began screaming at everyone to empty their pockets and open their purses and get in line and no drinks and no smoking and just kept on and on!
(end of part one)

Anonymous said...

(part two)
In addition to the screaming woman, the big screens and sound systems from both the Nokia and the Staples center did a good job making me feel like I was an unknowing subject in some sort of experiment in sensory overload. We passed through security and were immediately greeted by a booming and incessently repeating announcement that, "restrooms are located on either side of the concession stand on every level," and an attendant who grabbed our tickets and told us where our seats were and, again, where the restrooms were located. We stopped off at the concession stand for a drink-- $3.75 for water, (they were out of Diet Coke), got to our seats, and waited for the music to start. Mary was into her third song, I believe, as I began falling asleep. I left to get some fresh air and walk around, hoping to shake the feeling of semi-unconsciousness that folk music tends to evoke in me. I returned to my seat during intermission and watched as the parade of freaky Neil Young fans began to descend upon us. And he has a lot of fans 'cause I heard them all yelling things like, "I love you, Neil," and "Thank you," during his sad, sleepy ballads. Neil got through 4?? songs before I fell asleep. I again went to the lobby to shake it off and remained there until intermission. I returned for some more people-watching, (I got to watch a paralyzed gent get his ventilator flushed and his urine bag changed-yay), and waited anxiously for Neil's more lively music to start. The first song, I was told by my husband, was called, "Loner". I liked that song a lot. It reminded me of when I was a kid and my hippy parents had grain alcohol and pot parties with all their scientist friends from Cal-Tech, kinda' like a flash-back without the acid. The next song was okay... and then he played "Dirty Old Man" and lost me. Sorry folks, but that song is a joke. My dog could have pounded out that rhythmn and wrote better lyrics, too. I know he played a few more songs, but I must have had an out of body experience 'cause the next thing I remember is Neil playing the same goddamn song for what seemed like an hour. I had a splitting headache and was sure I had been transported to a Phil Lesh concert, without the dancing hippies and haze of marijuana smoke, (although some people did try to smoke weed during the concert 'cause I saw the cops writing them a ticket in the lobby after I walked out for the last time.) I know Neil Young has a lot of die hard fans,my husband being one of them, but I honestly don't get it. I don't get Neil Young fans the same way I don't get George Bush supporters.

Unknown said...

I just want to compliment you - this is a really good review, very honest and carefully considered in addition to being, as your posts always are, very well-written. A true fan's articulately-phrased explanation of why he didn't like a show is one of the most worthwhile reads in concert criticism, and I really appreciate your thoughts.

And for what it's worth, I was also impressed with Wittbelle's review here in the comments. A non-fan's perspective is always worth getting as well. In other words, great post!