NEIL YOUNG & CRAZY HORSE @ HORDE Festival, Shoreline Amphitheater, Mountain View, California
July 11, 1997
Concert Review by Dave "The Priz" Sigler
Originally posted to Human Highway 
.
---------- Forwarded message ---------- Neil's more-or-less announced solo acoustic set began at about 3:15
pm...while I was still in the parking lot. It was not a good sign. What I
was doing in the lot while Neil is playing under a tent to about 100 people
is a long story. I was able to hear 90% of it from the side walk that
circles the Shoreline...and from all appearances it was glorious.
The new "Slowpoke" (guess) and "Buffalo Springfield Again" (extreme guess)
were very nice...but I'll have to wait on the tape to comment on the
lyrics. Could have lived without "Needle," but :Out on The Weekend" was a
great surprize. "Long May You Run" and "Pocahontas" were straightforward in
their presentation. "Someday" was a treat as well. "Homegrown" closed out
the early set...and when I say early...I mean the scheduled start time of
the show was four and Neil began playing this at approximately 3:10 or so.
Oh well, with the hassle free environment, tapers were in abundance and
primo documentation will be circulating as I speak.
The "festival" amounted to a zillion ways to separate one from their cash
(or credit card limit)...but really had very little in the way of a cogent,
coherent theme. Food, jewelry, food, temp tattoos, food, clothing and oh
yeah, food and beverage stands. Greenpeace was there exhorting us to sign
paper petitions to help preserve the rainforests...and maybe protect
nuclear whales with AIDS too...I don't know. (Just kidding)
Anyway...the Lionel train exhibit was OK...had some nice landscaping to it
and the engines had mini-cams in the headlight slot with the video being
fed to the array of Sonys slung beneath an overhead rack. Neil (and
security entourage) came by to check it out for about 10 or 15 minutes.
I spent the day talking to quite an assortment of people....the Oxidized
(signed the ULTRA COOL "Ordinary People" tour banner), the hardcore tapers,
old friends. Did not see a single other act...in fact still don't even know
who all was actually there. Most of what I heard emanating from the Main
Stage and Stage 1 was very forgettable.
At about 8:45 I found my seat. The stage was adorned with the now cliche'
candles. There was a huge backdrop depicting a very cartoonish train dubbed
the HORDE Express. The drawing sported a caricatured engineer leaning out
with a maniacal grin on his face. Somebody please confirm it WAS NOT
supposed to be Neil.
Neil and the Horse strode out to the delight of the mostly full house. They
bopped right into a pedestrian "Cinnamon Girl." The sound was fine, but
could have stood a bit more volume. Then came a pretty good "Big Time",
that did feature some nice soloing. "Throw Your Hatred Down" possessed none
of the fire or extension it was given at the Troc or Catalyst.
"Hippie Dream" was probably not familiar to the majority of those in the
arena...but it was a smashing version. Great guitar...and the lyrics have
always been impressive. In my opinion, this is the point where the show
went south.
"From Hank To Hendrix" was finely played, but seemed out of place in that
setting. One thing about this song has always bothered me. I have never
understood the mentality of those morons that cheer the line "...headin'
for the big divorce California style..." What could they possibly be
cheering ? The shattering of lives ?...the sad,and often bitter, ending of
a long term relationship ?. Or do these Pavlovian bottom feeders merely
recognize the word "California" and cheer it. I would wonder if Neil ever
catches that moment of the song.
A gorgeous, re-worked intro brings us to a great "Helpless." This lead to
the new "Slowpoke." Then Neil and the boys went into what I felt was
another out-of-place piece: "Look Out For My Love." Don't get me wrong, I
love the song, just felt it didn't belong. The fact that Neil appeared to
have forgotten a verse did not add to my enjoyment either.
The two acoustic songs that did appear to "work" briefly staved off the
shows total decline into a rehash of what we have all heard (repeatedly)
for years. Been there, done that, bought the t-shirt.
Maybe the long wait and the sun affected my mind...but from "Hurricane" on
it was Neil playing at and for the lowest common denominator. "Hurricane"
was less than windy. Ordinary. "Powderfinger." Please. I won't even go
there. "Roll Another Number"...this is another one of those tunes Neil can
omit from set lists for a long time before I'd find myself wanting to hear
it. It's not that the playing was bad...it just seemed uninspired. Also, if
you were to look up "uninspired" in Websters you'd probably see a copy of
the the show's set list.
"Slowpoke" aside...no surprizes. Where was "Don't be Denied" ? Hearing
those opening chords reverberate through the amphitheater would have been
majestic. How about "I'm The Ocean" ??
"Slip Away" was great...a brief reprieve..."Crime in the City" was
average...and then Tim Foster walks on stage to Neil and they meet at the
mike. Not a good sign at all. They race through "Hey Hey, My My" and walk
off...and almost instantly the lights come up and the house PA begins to
play. Not even a hint of an encore.
They played less than 90 minutes. It was 11:10 pm. Shit, were the Mtn View
timecops outside or what ? I was having painful Concord/1996 flashbacks.
Oh well. Any Neil show is good. Some are better than others. This one will
never rank among my top 20. I love the Horse...and I hope Neil continues to
play with them in the future...but right now they are bordering on tedious.
I realize that the tour must carry on...and if it comes to
Europe...consider it mixed blessing....but after all is said and
done...maybe it's time to move on to something else...maybe it's time to
turn the page.
just one prisoner's opinion
Date: Sat, 12 Jul 1997 15:37:19
From: ThePriz
To: human_highway@bosco.dyndns.com
Cc: corgiess@cybercomm.nl, goldrush@ix.netcom.com, nyas@compuserve.com,
petel@babbey.demon.co.uk, adrian@tdl.co.uk, VANSABBEN@PDVAX.LNV.AGRO.NL,
klaas.zwier@solvay.com
Subject: HH: Shoreline/11 July 97
Dave Sigler
Prisoner of Rock'n'Roll
Concert Reviews 
A Neil Young Archives