After several years of remaining adamant he may not tour again due to COVID-19 safety concerns, Neil Young returned to the road this summer with a brief 14-date west coast tour.
He said the urge to play songs live he rarely performs is what made him decide to return to the road, and his 21-song, two-hour set at White River Amphitheatre was filled with deep cuts, classics and new deliveries of old favorites. As a bonus, the setlist, combined with the and stage setup and an empty lawn area, helped the atmosphere feel as intimate as possible at an outdoor shed show.
From the moment he launched into his first song of the night, an acoustic delivery of “I Am The Ocean” from his 1995 album “Mirror Ball,” it felt like he was playing a living room show. He was flanked by two pianos (one of which was an 1800s Steinway Young restored after it was damaged in a fire) and stood in front of an organ and fireplace complete with a toy train circling around it, creating a calm and cozy concert vibe.
The setlist spanned all phases of his five-decade career covering his solo material, Crazy Horse records and his time in Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and Buffalo Springfield. Some songs recieved new arrangements including “Mr Soul” which was played on an organ, giving the song a darker, heavier tone. While others like “Heart of Gold” were more faithful to the original material.
When he wasn’t singing Young was delivering history lessons by telling the stories of several of the instruments he played, including a guitar owned by Hank Williams and the story of the saved Steinway. And Prior to “Ohio” he told the story of how he wrote the song on the back of a Time magazine while hiking in the woods after seeing images from the 1970 Kent State masacre.
For the most part, Young stuck to playing acoustic guitar, piano and organ but the evening wasn’t an all-acoutsic affair. Midway through the set he picked up his trusty 1953 Gibson Les Paul, “Old Black,” and launched into the deep cut “Vampire Blues” from 1974’s “On The Beach,” one of Young’s most emotional albums. And it wasn’t just the rarities that got the plugged-in treatment. “Ohio,” which made an appearance near the end of the set, and a few other songs were also performed with an electric guitar.
Young’s unmistable tenor and falsetto were in top form and it was clear he was enjoying himself on stage throughout the night, often times making inaudible offhand comments to himself between songs. Hopefully the fun he had convinced him to rethink his position on touring, because at 77-years-old Young’s metaphoircal tour bus still has a lot of gas left in its tank.
