LIVE: Neil Young

Bounding on to stage dressed like it's 1993; all loose fitting jeans with a plaid shirt open over a scruffy t-shirt, Neil Young and his band let rip with a towering version of Hey Hey, My My (In To The Black) with the guitars threatening to demolish the Arena down to its very foundations, it shows why he was called the “God Father of Grunge” way back in the early 90s.

The last few Neil Young albums have been an astonishing return to form, containing some of his strongest songwriting since his mighty run of albums in the late 60s and 70s. It is these 70s albums that he mainly cherry picks from tonight, much to the delight of the sold out audience.

Mansion on the Hill is followed by a a sublime Pocahontas, but it is a thunderous version of Cinnamon Girl that elicits the first huge reaction from the crowd. The whole hall gives a standing ovation that is eagerly lapped up by Neil Young as he wrangles the last few notes from his guitar standing on the edge of the stage.

Proceedings mellow in the middle as the band strip things back and slap on the acoustic guitars. The highlight of this section has to be the heart melting Don't Let It Bring You Down from 'After The Goldrush', with Neil standing solo on stage basked in a warm glow of oranges and reds and that high pitched voice still intact after all these years ringing around the whole Arena. Nights don't get much better than this.

At 63 years old, Neil Young still plays with a passion and energy of someone closer to 23. At numerous times throughout the night he bounds across the stage and throws shapes as he squeezes another ear wrecking solo from his guitar. And my god, those solo's; he can still make his guitar sound like a chainsaw being taken to a jet engine. What a glorious noise. This is the most notable in a 10 minute long version of Down By The River. It's soulful chorus about murder perfectly complemented by some killer melodies that Neil Young throttles out of his instrument.

This leads perfectly in to Rockin' In The Free World, it's irony-tinged chorus is dragged out to a euphoric end, as Neil and his band then stand at the front of the stage to take a grateful bow.

They encore by tearing through a version of The Beatles A Day In the Life, with Neil Young literally tearing shreds out of his guitar as the songs descends in to waves of howling feedback .

He may have played it slightly safe by ploughing through the so-called 'classics', but when you've got songs such as what he played tonight in your back catalogue and you can still perform them with such heart and enthusiasm, it really doesn't matter. And I want to be as cool as him when I am 63.

Neil Young and his band played:
Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black)
Mansion On The Hill
Are You Ready For The Country?
Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
Pocahontas
Words
Cinnamon Girl
Mother Earth
Don't Let It Bring You Down
On The Way Home
Burned
Heart Of Gold
Comes A Time
Old Man
Down By The River
Get Behind The Wheel
Rockin' In The Free World
Encore
A Day In The Life

Neil Young played at Nottingham Arena on Tuesday 23 June 2009.

Neil Young website

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