Neil Young - Page 2

Rikao4 · 10-24-2007, 12:36 PM

Saw him about 2 yrs ago , very small venue, like Supe's show..had a great time, everyone there was quite mellow / organic med smell from years past was evident.
Rika

Superman · 10-24-2007, 12:40 PM

I had no idea there might be anyone who doesn't like Neil.

Interesting observations. Yeah, I'd agree that the stuff he did before 1980 beats the piss out of the rest. But......some of you have put your finger on the important characteristic here. Neil Young is an artist. Not a technician. Stuff just flows out of him. And while I too wonder why the timeless anthems no longer flow, and what that says about the 'fire,' I can tell you unequivocally that Neil's heart is not cold and deaf. It was really THERE last night. The expression. The songs came from his core. The notes were not just perfectly pitched. They were inspired. He even sang some stuff at I'd guess maybe 20% windpipe volume, very very soft and very low-pitched at the same time, and it was amazing.

And then, if there was any remaining question (there was not), he came out and NAILED the electric set. Nailed is not the right word. It implies technical merit. Technically, it was perfect. But again, the real performance was the expression. He danced and tranced and made guitar sounds he's never made before and lit the audience up with his enthusiasm and.....I keep say it.......expression. He rocked. He did what, according to the word on the street, was unexpected. He had FUN. He had a lot of fun. Word on the street is wrong.

He did a great job. He is one of mine and the world's most favorite of all time. Because of his trueness to his art and expression. I had never seen him before, but I have seen many concerts. I think time will leave this concert as one of the ones I will be the very most grateful to have seen.

Gogar · 10-24-2007, 01:12 PM

That was a good post.

Sonic dB · Sonic dB's Garage

Quote:

Never mind $257 for the best seats in L.A., you've got to pay $132 in PORTLAND! I guess they're richer in Seattle, with all that Microsoft money, because there the price is $157. Or if you're really lucky, you live in Denver, where you get a break, the most expensive ducat is $104. BEFORE THE TICKETMASTER FEE!

This is comical. Why do artists of Neil Young's stature charge so much for tickets? Because they have to. There is a lot of overhead to go with a tour...but think about all of the people who download his music, past and present for 'free' through file sharing on the internet. Wanna get the Eagles new album, download it somewhere...want to go see them with your sweet petunia by your side, expect to pay $200 +... but its your one night out this month....and maybe you will get a little after wards.
Dont anyone expect ticket prices to start dropping, the way things are structured for the artist these days.

Quote:

there are very few guyz who have the creative spark left by the time they have hit 50. They either burn out or fade away.

This is about staying hungry too...not settling on your past and trying something different. An established artist over 50 has a catalog that the fans expect to hear in the live show...breaking out new material doesnt always go over so well. I would think, not being there yet, that an artist of that age would lose some incentive to cut new groundbreaking tracks, and write amazing material. Generally, it is not easy to write amazing material...as it takes a long time in most cases to work a song/lyrics/studio production from the lump of coal into a diamond. Why would the Stones bother with putting something together like "Sympathy for the Devil" when they can just as easily pump out "Dont Stop"... the live crowd will want to hear "Sympathy" anyway...

Hey im not defending them, just trying to figure it out... in an otherwise healty person, the creative spark shouldnt just disappear over 50 or 60 etc.
It has to have something to do with the willingness to work the material hard... combined maybe with some loss of youthful enthusiasm and hope.
But I cant say for sure cause I dont have 50 year old brain yet...

I agree on the weakness of McCartney's material, especially lately. The Flaming Pie album about 10 years ago or so was decently good...but after that it has seemingly been weaker and weaker. Billy Joel stopped writing pop songs at about 45 and has concentrated on writing classical pieces since then, and dragging out his old hits on tour for the live audiences.

Seahawk · 10-24-2007, 01:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Superman

I had never seen him before, but I have seen many concerts. I think time will leave this concert as one of the ones I will be the very most grateful to have seen.

Good enough for me...just went online for tickets for 15 November in DC.
Thanks, Supe.

stealthn · 10-24-2007, 01:35 PM

Neil is a classic (and Canadian), a childhood friend of mine committed suicide and he was a budding guitarist and at his funeral his guitar instructor played "old man" on acoustic...I watched his dad the entire song...I will NEVER forget that song.

Neil may not be the best singer, but he is truly an artist. As for the cost being so high from downloadable music - rubbish - it's because the music industry/corporations are running the show, not the artists.

Superman · 10-24-2007, 02:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stealthn

Neil is a classic (and Canadian), a childhood friend of mine committed suicide and he was a budding guitarist and at his funeral his guitar instructor played "old man" on acoustic...I watched his dad the entire song...I will NEVER forget that song.

Neil may not be the best singer, but he is truly an artist. As for the cost being so high from downloadable music - rubbish - it's because the music industry/corporations are running the show, not the artists.

Wow. That would burn an image, for sure.

The artists will be recapturing their art and their industry. Totally win/win. Except of course for the folks who buy and sell musicians.

Sonic dB · Sonic dB's Garage

Quote:

As for the cost being so high from downloadable music - rubbish - it's because the music industry/corporations are running the show, not the artists.

That is not exactly what I said, though it is part of the equasion. My point is that the burden is on the artist to generate revenue through whatever means possible. If the market rate for an artist of Neil Young's stature, catalog and experience justifies these ticket prices then that is what it is. Neil Young is a corporation itself, if you really think about it... and has to be run as a corporation would be generating revenue whereever possible, particularly when other revenue streams have dried up to some extent.

ckissick · 10-24-2007, 02:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stealthn

Neil is a classic (and Canadian), a childhood friend of mine committed suicide and he was a budding guitarist and at his funeral his guitar instructor played "old man" on acoustic...I watched his dad the entire song...I will NEVER forget that song.

My best friend, Eric, died in a plane crash when he was 24 and, yes, we played "Old Man" at his funeral. "Twenty-four and there's so much more." Neil lived about 2 miles from us on his ranch and Eric's older sister worked for Neil. Eric was a huge fan of the music but had a special connection as well.

My favorite shows were when he showed up with just hours notice at the Catalyst in Santa Cruz. With Crazy Horse, no less. The place holds a couple hundred people.

I never caught him playing in front of the fireplace by himself at a local restaurant on Kings Mountain, but I always heard about it. He'd just walk in and start playing with maybe 20 or 30 patrons in the dining room or at the bar.

tabs · 02:56 PM

Sonic...it seems that when yourin your 20s your tryin to sort it all out and knockin about and all. By the the time you 40 or so your life is pretty well settled and your path is pretty much chosen. You mighta gotten fat and settled for what comes easy and use the tried and true formula...like the Stones or Paulie...

But there are guyz like Dylan, Young and Annie Lennox that keep on thinking and evolving for their entore life..they keep on trying to define themselves AT EVERY LIFE STAGE..now Billy Joel mighta quit Pop Songs at 45 cause he wore it out and to re define himself in what to him seems new and interesting ground based upon his experience it might be classical music...Frank Zappa was another one of those.

For me at this life stage I am able to harness my creativity and point it like a laser beam...

BTW John Lennon of the Fab 4 was the catalyst the spark of genius that Paulie needed to get the juice flowin. Lenon was one of thsoe that kept on asking questions and moving on.

Hendrix was probably another one...Jim Morrison was one whacked dude. So we just don't know if it was madness or creativity that drove him.

Moses · 10-24-2007, 03:13 PM

Neil Young is on the short list of artists whose work really moves me. I take issue with the notion that he can't sing. I love his voice. Although his voice isn't classically "beautiful", it is tremendously expressive and emotive. He used vocals as another instrument.

One of my dearest friends died when he was 28 years old. At the funeral they played Neil Young's cover of "Four Strong Winds." Not a dry eye to be found.

ckissick · 10-24-2007, 03:17 PM

Neil can sing. Not with his voice, but with his heart. Like Janus Joplin.

Mule · 10-24-2007, 03:19 PM

Tabs, maybe you consider Bob Dylans current level of performance as impressive. My opinion would differ. The last 2 times I saw him stand at the mike & mumble so badly that sometimes it was impossible to even tell what song he was playing. The Stones are still entertaining. Paul McCartney is still very entertaining. Currently Dylan sucks. The last Annie Lennox CD I bought was all covers. Your logic has some buffeteer size holes.

Lennon was great, maybe the most talented of the Beatles. Had he not had ***** for taste in women, they may have been even greater.

tabs · 10-24-2007, 03:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mule

Tabs, maybe you consider Bob Dylans current level of performance as impressive. My opinion would differ. The last 2 times I saw him stand at the mike & mumble so badly that sometimes it was impossible to even tell what song he was playing. The Stones are still entertaining. Paul McCartney is still very entertaining. Currently Dylan sucks. The last Annie Lennox CD I bought was all covers. Your logic has some buffeteer size holes.

Lennon was great, maybe the most talented of the Beatles. Had he not had ***** for taste in women, they may have been even greater.

Mule your just confused and out of touch with the latest greatest....Look at what they have written not the shows they put on...Lennox has a new CD with new material...the song I heard from it is pretty powerfull stuff..right from the soul.

The Stones have their show timed down to the SECOND...Jagger cut a verse of Sympathy at the show I saw to make up 17 seconds...great show...should be after 45 years of doing it. doesn't mean it is cutting edge. Its kind of like the what the Beach Boys did 20 years ago, live on past glory...

Dylan just might not be capable of doing a show anymore or is so bored with it. yet he still does write engagingily and from the soul.

tabs · 10-24-2007, 03:39 PM

John was tired of the Beatles by the time they hit America...the album HELP..was a plea...that he was lost and needed some help...Yoko...was jsut the one John got hooked up with, the Fab 4 were finished as John wanted to move on..to something new...or more fulfilling.

Mule · 10-24-2007, 03:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tabs

John was tired of the Beatles by the time they hit America...the album HELP..was a plea...that he was lost and needed some help...Yoko...was jsut the one John got hooked up with, the Fab 4 were finished as John wanted to move on..to something new...or more fulfilling.

May be, but alone he was a very, very pale shadow of himself as a Beatle.

Superman · 10-24-2007, 04:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moses

Neil Young is on the short list of artists whose work really moves me. I take issue with the notion that he can't sing. I love his voice. Although his voice isn't classically "beautiful", it is tremendously expressive and emotive. He used vocals as another instrument.

Ablosutely agree. Nothing whatsoever wrong with that voice.

I used to play bass in bands and have had many musician friends. Even since my heyday. A young fellow I knew years ago, several years or ten or so younger than I, was/is a very gifted guitarist. Speed metal, mostly. He was friends with the Seattle grunge contingent (Pearl Jam, Soundgarten, etc). He is highly respected, though he never got the Big Break. Brilliant guy. He once told me he envies my generation for its anthems. He said we have dozens. By some counts, many dozens. His generation has approximately none, unless you count Running With the Devil. Yes, we have your anthems. Several by Neil. And in those, his voice is ESSENTIAL to the song. When was the last time you heard someone try to cover a Neil Young song?

tcar · 10-24-2007, 04:34 PM

Yoko was a surrogate mother for John.

targa911S · 10-24-2007, 04:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scottmandue

Gogar,

Aren't you a musician? At what age do you think you stop playing? Yeah I think the crazy prices people are paying are stupid... but no one is holding a gun to these peoples head to buy the tickets for yet another old guy (Police, VH, Cream) who may be perceived as "milking it".

I paid good money to see Ray Charles when he was in his waining years and it was worth every penny... same with Carlos Montoya.

BTW I would love to see Neil, VH, or Cream. (did see Neil about twenty years ago when people did the same complaining because he had laid off for a decade)

If Neil were a black blues artist this would not even come up. Quit? I don't think so.

red-beard · red-beard's Garage

I saw Neil in '85. He pissed off the entire audience. We went to see Neil Young, not some crappy country band. Won't go again.