Neil Young and Crazy Horse
MSG-NYC Ragged Glory review 1991
by Lorraine Kaczorowski
"Set List" from the show.
TBA = Welfare Mothers
TBA = Tonight's the Night
Streams of Consciousness....
Rust Never Sleeps era oversized amps ... old props from over the
years. Blue
bulls eye painted on small fender amp. Large oversized mic. Large
painted
peace sign on black cloth (white silk screened). Opening act Sonic
Youth.
LOUD!!!!!!
Sat on stage left in front of the stacks. Farmer John (Ben Keith)
comes out
before the start of the show, dressed in his overallís and hat,
placed a
large yellow ribbon on the oversized mic. Yellow ribbon symbolizing
the Gulf
War, which had just begun.
Neil comes out on stage, to the PA cranking out Jimi Hendrix's
"Star Spangled
Banner" from Woodstock. Neil has a prince valiant hair cut. Wore
blue
corduroy jacket and a cut off ripped black Jimmy Reed shirt, jeans
and
sneakers. Neil's a fan too!
He gave fully of himself in his performance.... energized!!!!
Hard to convey
through the written word, the music is a language all it's own.
An electrical
current seemed to run through Neil during the whole performance.
When he
plugged in his guitar, he plugged himself into "The Horse". Wore
his peace
sign guitar strap.
Rick Ocasek (The Cars) was backstage, easily visible from where
I stood
during the whole show. A supreme segue of Love and Only Love>>>>
into Rockin
In the Free World.
Hard to tell what the crowd reaction was being right up front
cause it was
real loud. The band veered slightly of sync atleast three times
but got back
on track quickly. Talbot was very good. Neil mainly showed one
side of
himself here; angry, loud, rock and roller; the way he only plays
with "The
Horse". The only other song that showed a varying emotion was
"Cortez", which
had a sheer magical and ethereal quality. Here he transcended
the adrenaline
enriched sounds that prevailed the rest of the show. What a full
performance!
The reason in my opinion for a short set, was because he was wiped
out,
physically and emotionally from the driving pace of the show.
Looked very
normal upclose. The closer you get the more real it all becomes.
I do not
know if the crowd knew the new material. I got the feeling they
didn't. To me
that's the stuff I really want to see - the latest work, new and
exciting.
The NY&CH really had flames igniting on stage. Seeing this kind
of
performance makes me wish harder for the chance to see the electricity
of
Neil and Stephen exchange leads and share the stage. Looking at
Neil I get a
sense of history. Look at him and see years and years of music,
albums,
genres, musical partners, places across the globe - genius. The
list goes
on.. Very special concert experience. Always stirs great emotion!!!
