Live Show Reviews

[Romanelli]

Post 'em if you saw 'em!

NEIL YOUNG & CRAZY HORSE
RED ROCKS AMPHITEATER
MORRISON, CO
8/5/12


Love And Only Love
Powderfinger
Born In Ontario
Walk Like A Giant
The Needle And The Damage Done
Twisted Road
For The Love Of Man
Ramada Inn
Cinnamon Girl
F*!#in' Up
Psychedelic Pill
Mr. Soul
Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black)

Encore:
Over And Over

Day 2 of the 2012 Crazy Horse tour brought the exact same setlist as day one, with the exception of the encore. They came out strong, with an about 8 minute version of "Love And Only Love", followed by a blistering "Powderfinger", which was the highlight of the night. Three of the next four songs were new, which took a little air out of the venue. Neil took the stage solo for only two songs before Crazy Horse was back and pounding. The song selection picked back up towards the end, with the Buffalo Springfield song "Mr. Soul" and "Hey Hey My My (Into The Black) closing the set strongly.

On the plus side, Neil was in exceptional voice, snarling and hitting all of the right high notes like no 66 year old in this world has any right to do. His interplay with Crazy Horse, particularly with guitarist Frank Sampedro, was fun to watch. The vocals of all three Crazy Horse members are very good. And Neil attacks the guitar like a hungry 20 year old. He also interacted a lot with the audience. And "POWDERFINGER"!

On the down side, the song selection was overall pretty weak...mostly in the middle of the set. There were several songs with VERY extended endings, a couple of which ran four to five minutes. The band was having fun with it...the audience, not so much. And the single song encore was too short and not the best selection for a closer.

Not a bad show overall. A good time, and some great jams.
_________________
May we all get to heaven
'Fore the devil knows we're dead...

[Guest]

Alright, I'm going to try and review some of the people I saw at the mighty Bestival, in haiku form:

Alabama Shakes:

Raw, soulful blues rock
lovingly lapped up by a
drunken audience.

MF Doom:

Wasn't a patch on
previous Doom gigs I've seen.
Why's he always late?

Gold Panda:

Bleep and sample-based
instrumental hip-hop beats.
Chilled out Sunday fun.

The xx:

Though I quite like them
this was stale background music.
Kids seemed to like it.

Major Lazer:

Terrible music
that I turn my nose up at.
Too drunk to care though.

De La Soul:

Great set (not) marred by
technical difficulties.
Longtime goal fulfilled.

New Order:

My lord they were shite.
No-one had good things to say.
Can't they just fuck off?

Roots Manuva:

As he's thrown himself
further into cod-reggae
he's more fun, yet shit.

Earth, Wind and Fire:

Crazy white outfits
met goodtime (if cheap) disco.
Perfect for the mood.

Gallows:

Cheesy new frontman
couldn't stop their punk assault.
Pussy moshpit though.

Little Dragon:

Really, really fun,
if a little, well, little
for their Main Stage slot.

Stevie Wonder:

Undoubted highlight
of the entire festival.
My voice ain't back yet.

Overall, a great festival. Wish I'd seen more, but was just too out of it most of the time. I saw loads of DJ sets but can't be bothered to haiku them. Overall, Stevie was easily the best thing I saw, followed by De La Soul and Alabama Shakes. I'd recommend it to anyone, great festival.

[Romanelli]

Alabama Shakes was the opening act for the Neil Young show above. I didn't catch all of it, but what I did see was pretty cool. That girl can SING!!!!!
_________________
May we all get to heaven
'Fore the devil knows we're dead...