Set: Love And Only Love / Hey Hey, My My / Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere / Powderfinger / Spirit Road / Cortez The Killer / Cinnamon Girl / Oh, Lonesome Me / Mother Earth / The Needle And The Damage Done / Unknown Legend / Heart Of Gold / Get Back To The Country / Just Singing A Song / Sea Change / When Worlds Collide / Cowgirl In The Sand / Rockin’ In The Free World
Encore: A Day In The Life

At 63, Neil Young shows no sign of rust in his live performance. Where some of his contemporaries take you through the motions, Neil offers up classic after classic, earning the audience’s trust with plenty of A+ material before he borrows your ear for a few new tunes. The surprises came early last night when a giant piano appeared on the stage after opener Everest departed. Soon enough, legendary New Orleans singer and pianist Dr. John appeared on stage. I’ll admit to being thrilled as the good doctor’s been on my list to see live, but his music just wasn’t what you’d expect to her before Neil Young. That being said, there was some serious getting down by members of the audience on the standing room floor.

As I teenager I can remember daydreaming about having conversations with Neil Young. I’d listened to plenty of bootlegs, adored him because he paired up with Pearl Jam for a record, and just seemed like an all around good guy. This was my second time seeing him. The previous time came nearly a decade ago in Charlottesville, Va, where Neil was opening for, of all people, Dave Matthews. I was just about as far away from the stage as one could be in a football stadium, so I never really felt like I’d gotten to see a Neil Young performance in its proper setting. Combine the high praise from this recent tour, a steady diet of the recently released Sugar Mountain Live At Canterbury House 1968, and there was no chance a little inclement weather was going to keep me from seeing one of my heroes.

Hearing “Hey Hey, My My” early in the set really set the tone of the evening for me. This would definitely be a rock and roll performance. “Powderfinger” was an absolute gem. It took me a moment to remember the song, but about a minute in I was just enthralled. Throughout the course of the night I was simply amazed at how great Neil’s voice is, how his trademark guitar solo’s still sound so good coming out of “Old Black.” You could play a bootleg of last night’s show to a fan, and, aside from the new material that appeared late in the set, it would be hard to “date” the show, because the sound is still so intact.

The back-to-back punch of “Cortez The Killer” and “Cinnamon Girl” was perfection. I couldn’t even begin to calculate how many times I’ve listened to both of those numbers, but last night they were an absolute force. Most of the band departed, leaving Neil alone with a massive organ at the back of the stage for “Mother Earth.” He returned to an acoustic guitar for “Needle And The Damage Done” and “Unknown Legend,” the former being a crowd favorite, the latter being one of my all-time favorite Young-penned tunes.

I found the new material to be about 50/50 hit or miss. There were peaks and valleys, but overall I was much more elated when the opening notes of “Cowgirl In The Sand” filled the arena. What came next will forever live in my memory. An all out spectacle within “Rockin In The Free World.” It was so full of energy, so powerful. It was the first time I’d heard Neil himself play it after seeing Pearl Jam end countless shows with the same tune. He augmented the lyrics at the end of the the song to “Got a man of the people, says yes we can,” a nod to the president elect. The song ended with the same furious guitar work we were treated to all night. The band left the stage, leaving many to not even expect an encore after a finale like that.

Instead, Neil Young comes out and performs an absolutely massive version of the Beatles “A Day In The Life” I have downloaded various MP3′s of the song and watched countless live versions on YouTube of the cover since it first started appearing in his set lists. It was still magical, still unforgettable. Neil flubbed the beginning of the second verse, visibly upset, he took out his frustration on his guitar tearing every string from the instrument in grand rock and roll fashion. I realize that Neil Young takes the same set list into ever venue on this tour. There aren’t any surprises. You don’t need surprises when the material is as timeless as this.