Big Day Out, Melbourne, Australia Neil Young Concert Reviews: 1/26/09
Neil Young will be performing tonight at Big Day Out 2009, Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
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Check Sugar Mountain for setlist updates. Also, see Grid Chart on Rust Radio.
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Also, see giant BIG DAY OUT :: Neil Fucking Young Thread.
by thrasher@PermaLink: 1/26/2009 05:29:00 AM
13 comments
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13 Comments:
from the big day out in melbourne..it was a sonic mindblowing experience..ive seen many neil shows before but this one was extremely special..from what those who have been to the interstate shows say this was the best of all///rockin in the free world had the entire crowd arms pumping the air shouting the lyrics.... this was extroadinary..the crowd was soooo very very much into it..im amazed by how much the crowd young and old,love neil and loved this show..singing and dancing folk all around me..neil seemed to just love the show,he smiled said thank you ,not into the mic,but as he walked to the edge of the stage,during his soloing end to cimnamon girl..an incredible night.
NEIL NEIL NEIL NEIL NEIL XOXOXOXOX
Also enjoyed BDO at Melbourne; 4 rows from front and dead centre in eye contact with the great man. Neil is obviously the master of the guitar; my only regret was that dear old Ben Keith in lounge slacks and jacket looked about as disinterested and aged as he could be. A great set from a consummate and ageless performer who thankfully is garnering a whole new audience.
Two years ago today a great dog passed away
Lillihammer was her name
Like Neil's King she was to me
Dear Neil, sing one for King and Lillihammer, man's best friend
remember and sing a song of love
Gracie
If ever there was a definitive answer to the sitting vs standing debate, we just witnessed it with a 15 minute RITFW.
I dont know how these shows keep getting better, but that just blew the back of my head off. I'm in shock by how good that was. I think maybe Neil had some pent up energy from Sydney to get rid off!!
Goodnight! (not that I'm gonna get much sleep after that)
Cheers - Dave from Australia
Like others have said this was a mindblowing concert. I too was amazed by how many in the crowd got into it. I was 4 rows back just inside the right speakers (facing the stage). Highlights were Hey hey My My, Cowgirl in the Sand, Cortex and Rockin in the Free World. A Day in the Life was pretty good to with the ripping off the strings of Old Black at the end and going round the stage beating the pick ups with the loose strings.
something completely different...
UNCUT ARCHIVES? NY COVERSTAR
....And then, last December, Archives appeared on Amazon’s forthcoming release schedule. We even got hold of a tracklisting for what would now be a 10-disc CD and DVD boxset and thus armed started tracking down as many of Neil’s past-collaborators as we could for this month’s cover story which we fearlessly predicted would coincide with its release...
http://www.uncut.co.uk/magazine/
Any week you get to see Ol' Neil play once - let alone twice - is a good week. Tonight's BDO performance was a really, really good, but not the Neil you get when he's not playing to the Harvest crowd. As my girlfriend says "I came to hear X sing, not all you people!". Having said that, it's kinda great that the guy to headed for the ditch so long ago has a huge number of people who know all the lyrics to his non-hits.
I loved watching Larry do his thing, all baggy black Levi's and all fielding comments from the people up the front who know him by sight. And watching Ben drag on a ciggie at the rear of the stage before the show. Rick was a enigmatic as ever.
I'm looking forward to Wednesday night where, hopefully, he'll dispense with some of the crowd-pleasers and pull some more new stuff out. I'd love to hear The Way (best track off CD2, imho), or something like Country Home or Don't Cry No Tears, or ... anyway, with so many great tunes to pick, the only complaint I ever have of Young is that he does tend to pick his standard issue show fodder over some real gold that hardly ever gets an airing. Title track from Prairie Wind, anyone? Stupid Girl? Ten Men Workin'? Little Thing Called Love? Coastline? And how come NONE of Greendale has gotten a second wind?
I actually thought we might get Fork In The Road seeing as it's just hit the web site.
"15 minute RITFW"
BUH???
When the Sydney version came onto Winamp, I thought the file might've been corrupt... "5:40" in length, as I recall, with an actual song length of 5:00. Most abrupt, un-Neil-like ending ever! Less "ending" than SNL. Astonishing! 10-15 minutes... ALSO astonishing. Can't wait to hear. :)
I saw Neil at the Big Day Out yesterday and it was amazing. I was three rows back from the front - centre stage - and I took some awesome photos that I've put on my facebook page :) Anyway, I really appreciated the great show that Neil put on for all of the people that were seeing him last night. Highlights for me were a RITFW that never seemed to end and Old Man. I left the concert feeling totally high (on music). It was one of the best shows I've seen.
Release "Homegrown," Neil!
I saw Neil play a bunch of times before I emigrated from the U.S., and his Melbourne BDO performance was the second-best of them all! ("Rust" tour in late 70s was better, but that was a full-on stage show, so it's a different ategory.)
There was no slack in the way he played at Big Day Out yesterday. (Which is why I'm glad he didn't dip into any "Greendale.") He was ripping it on every note. Even though I could see him better on the big screen than I could in person (what was with this D-section they had at BDO this year to keep the crowd back?) his facial expression and body language showed that he was totally into it.
And he had a political message to Australia in his set list, too. "Cortez the Killer" on Australia Day? Wicked! I think he was trying to say "Captain Cook the Killer." (For non-Aussies, Australia Day marks when the First Fleet of settlers landed in 1788 and thus began the genocide of the Aborigines.)
"Everybody Knows This is Nowhere"? What a slam on Oz. My wife saw Neil play once in Concord, a redneck town across the mountains from Oakland. She said Neil sneered at the crowd, which was not getting into him enough, and said "Concord, huh? You look it." Maybe I'm reading too much into things, but "Nowhere" seemed like a snark on Australia.
That said, most of the audience seemed to be way into Neil. There were a few who left early, and two idiot girls in front of us spent most of his show texting. They're in the presence of a master, and they can't be in the moment -- they've gotta be focused on their tech-crutches instead of savouring a stellar show. This might be the last time Neil gets Down Under, and his Melbourne show was one to remember. Too bad some people won't. If this is the last time in my life I see him, I can die with a good note in my mind.
Were there a couple of new songs in there? I didn't recognise the one about "Singing this song won't change the world." That seemed like it related back to Obama (or maybe Kevin Rudd.) I forget the other one that was new to me earlier in the set (I was only a trifle stoned) but they were great -- like Neil Young doing new versions of classic Neil Young. If that's indicative of what's coming out for a new recording, sign me up for an advance sale!
Cortez on Australia Day and Everyone knows this is nowhere being a shot against Australia rates up with the Media slagging Neil for glorifying drugs when he sang every junkie is like a setting sun.Stupid
Neil Young was awesome at the Melbourne Big Day Out.
You can view some of my photos at http://blackshadow.smugmug.com/gallery/7200972_toQaL/1/462475672_jX8b2
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