12/16/08 Neil Young @ MSG

Last year at this time I attended one of Neil's many shows at the Palace Theater uptown. Even with my seats being near the last row it was one of the best concerts i've been to. That said i went into this show with high expectations and unfortunately was somewhat let down.

Not wanting to hear either opening band, i arrived at 9:00, thinking Neil would take the stage around 9:30 or so. I was wrong. I had to sit thru about 45 minutes of Wilco. I can appreciate that they play their instruments well and sing in key, but these guys did nothing for me. To be fair, the audience was very into their set, so i assume they performed up to their usual par. I just don't like their sound and i wast bored me to death. There was one part i really enjoyed, the crowd sang happy birthday to the son of the lead singer, then he (at 13) replaced the drummer for 1 song. It was a very cool moment and the kid was good on the drums. The lead singer followed with the line of the night, "It all goes downhill from here" referring to his son's musical ambitious. Funny moment.

Neil Young and band ended up going onstage at 10:15, which is my opinion and those of the people around me is way to late for a Tuesday night, especially when the main headlining act is Neil Young, who should be playing for hours, preferably 2 sets. Being that it was a Tuesday night and i'm a 9-5er, I ended up leaving around 11:30.

What i enjoyed so much about last years show was his first set. He played 60 minutes solo. It was incredible. I knew he would not play solo that long being that MSG is massive and needs a full band, but i did expect to hear a few more on the acoustic. I did not get a set list, but i know he played "Oh Lonesome Me", "Cortez the Killer", "Cinnamon Girl", "Everyone Knows this is Knowhere" and "Needle and the Damaged Dun" (!!!!).

Most of the songs were full band, playing that grungy, loose, anthemic, southern rock style that Neil is so famous. Unfortunately many of the songs hovered around the 10 minutes mark, "Cortez..." hitting 14, which limited the number of songs he played. I heard about 10 songs in the 75 minutes i was there. Mostly old, a couple of new ones that were decent, and one or two that just missed the mark. The crowd response was minimal, perhaps as a result of it starting so late, although the classics do still get a good reaction. "Needle..." and "Everyone knows...." were the highlights to me.

While i did not enjoy all the full band songs he played, Neil was excellent vocally and on the guitar/organ/harmonica. He is still passionate about music and about life, he is a pleasure to watch live and always seems to appreciate what he has. "Thanks so much for coming out" he said at one point, earnestly.

The show was not at all sold out, and in fact they upgraded our seats which was a nice bonus. Still, at $55 a ticket for the way upper level, i expected more, and an earlier start. That said I'll still go see him again every time he returns to NYC, he is a legend for sure.