Neil Young and Crazy Horse ride high in Winnipeg
by tarryrob on 2012-11-17MTS Centre - Winnipeg, MBRating: 5 out of 5Neil Young returned to his former hometown last night for the first time since his two-night stand “Twisted Road” solo tour visit to Winnipeg’s Centennial Concert Hall in July 2010.
On this trip, the legendary singer-songwriter, who turned 67-years old on Monday, brought along his “on again-off again” backing band Crazy Horse.
Having just published his biography “Waging Heavy Peace” and now touring on the heels of two new studio releases this year, his retro-sixties collection of original rockers, titled “Psychedelic Pill” and his album of folk covers “Americana,” “Shakey” is definitely not your typical sedentary old age pensioner.
Anyone thinking Young might have lost a step or two with age in concert were in for a pleasant surprise.
With the world’s greatest garage band in tow, the ever-unpredictable Young came to rock the MTS Centre, armed with a setlist heavily laden with lengthy, solo heavy originals from “Pill.”
The stage was stacked with giant sized amps, initially crated in road cases, a backdrop bearing Crazy Horse’s logo, and a couple of LED screens, tripped out to look like old tube style black and white TV sets.
As The Beatles’ classic “Sgt Pepper” track “A Day in the Life” began to play, roadcrew members comically attired in white lab coats and hardhats began to remove the road cases, exposing huge Fender amps and a monster microphone, as Young along with bandmates guitarist/vocalist Frank "Poncho" Sampedro, bassist Billy Talbot and drummer Ralph Molina took the stage to sing “O Canada.”
Young, clad in a trademark plaid shirt, Bridge School t-shirt and jeans, then went to work, opening the night with the fiery doublebarrel blast of “Love and Only Love” from 1990’s “Ragged Glory,” followed by the 1979 “Rust Never Sleeps” classic “Powderfinger.”
Sampedro and Talbot stayed huddled together in front of Molina’s drummer riser with Young either on the mike, singing in that instantly recognizable nasal twang or prowling the stage, thrashing his guitar like some crazed madman, wringing every ounce of emotion from each note
The ex-Winnipeger paused long enough to say, “Nice to back in Prairie Town,” before launching into the first of two back-to-back tracks from “Pyschedelic Pill, the autobiographical “Born in Ontario” and the retrospective jam vehicle “Walk Like a Giant.”
The loud, lengthy feedback laden ending of “Giant,” though thrilling many, had a few people covering their ears and heading for the concessions, but all was quickly forgiven, when, following the “no rain” audio clip from “Woodstock,” Young returned with his acoustic guitar to perform a solo version of his haunting “Harvest” chestnut, “The Needle and the Damage Done.”
He stayed on acoustic to perform another track from “Pill,” the nostalgic “Twisted Road,” which had the crowd clapping along by the song’s end.
Young then moved to piano, and Crazy Horse rejoined him to perform on a new original ballad, first performed live in Chicago on the current tour, titled “Singer Without a Song,” which featured the added theatrical touch of young female crew member, wandering the stage, looking lost with guitar case in hand.
Fans looking for more “Harvest” era hits like “Heart of Gold” or “Old Man” were out of luck as Young strapped on his Les Paul electric “Ol’ Blacky” and led Crazy Horse on another lengthy workout from “Pill,” a emotional number about a dissolving marriage due to alcohol abuse titled “Ramada Inn.”
Neil finally threw a bone to the hit seekers, performing a slightly extended version of his 1969 hit “Cinnamon Girl,” which earned him his first standing ovation, followed by another track from “Ragged Glory” titled, “F**ckin’ Up,” which featured fierce guitar interplay between Sampedro and Young.
In the homestretch, Young’s familiar “Satisfaction”-like guitar riff introduced his 1967 Buffalo Springfield classic “Mr. Soul,” which had many of the thousands of babyboomers misty-eyed and cinched the evening with his rock anthem “Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black) prior to returning for a quick encore, performing “Roll Another Number” from 1975’s “Tonight’s the Night.”
Young clearly still has his muse and remains a relevant creative force. Teamed with Crazy Horse, he is still riding high and can rock with the best of them.
Toronto country- rockers The Sadies opened the night and had help via a guest appearance by Winnipeg guitar hero Randy Bachman, who joined them to perform his Guess Who hit “No Time.”
Veteran East L.A. rockers Los Lobos put in a solid no-frills set of Latino-rock and blues that worked as a perfect primer to get the crowd in a party mood.
