Neil Young, seen here playing Magness Arena on Monday, is like a good wine. He gets better with age, and the music that pours out of him still tastes damn fine. Photos by Tim Rasmussen.
Cars and rock ‘n’ roll have been going steady since the 1950s when the high-octane, bastard son of rhythm & blues and country music revved into first gear with “Rocket 88.” Pioneering musicians helped to create a car tune culture that would continue to rumble throughout the evolution of rock ‘n’ roll to this very day. However, instead of a gas guzzling “Hot Rod Lincoln,” “Brand New Cadillac” or “Little Duece Coupe,” now we’ve got the zero-emissions smart car called a “Linc-Volt.”
This is thanks to – a noted car buff, lifelong hippy and revolutionary musician who has always done what he damn well pleases. Young’s latest record, “Fork In The Road,” consists of songs inspired by his experimental, eco-friendly ride. When the tunes first started appearing at Young’s shows earlier this year, many critics and fans alike were either scratching their heads or complaining as loud as their blogs would let them. But after hearing the record, I really can’t see why. Sure, the lyrics can be a bit clunky at times, not unlike an old Chevy you drive off the used lot. But when you get down to it, “Fork In The Road” is a spirited collection of fuzzed-out garage rock and a prime example of how the imperfections have continued to make the man a legend.
And so, at Young’s sold-out show at on Monday, I was interested to hear if those same new songs would be able to keep up with his classic cuts — and even spark a bit of renewable energy into both Young and the audience.
Neil Young and His Electric Band — the six-piece consisting of longtime Young collaborator Ben Keith on pedal steel, guitar and organ; Rick Rosas on bass; Anthony Crawford on guitar; Chad Cromwell on drums; and Young’s wife, Pegi, on backing vocals and vibes — hit the stage and launched into “Love and Only Love” from Young’s incendiary “Ragged Glory” LP. This was followed nicely by the chugging “Fuel Line,” where Neil gets right to the point of his current muse, “The awesome power of electricity/stored for you in a giant battery/she don’t use much though, and thatap pretty smart for a car.”
The crowd dug it, but responded even more to “Are You Ready for the Country?,” a gem from the classic “Harvest” LP that picked up after a false start by Young and the band. Following this was a soaring take on “Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere.”
“When Worlds Collide” sputtered a bit, but the crowd was fortunately given a boost with an electric version of “Pocahontas,” which saw drummer Crawford pounding out a tribal beat on his tom toms. “Hit The Road” fell flat, but things picked up with the epic “Change Your Mind” — a rarely played gem from “Sleeps With Angels.” The track was highlighted by openers Everest providing backing vox, and countless searing guitar solos from Young, who stalked the stage in a crouched position, coaxing unbelievably distorted tones from his Gibson Les Paul.
Taking cues from one another, the band was tight and was clearly having fun during the extended instrumental workouts. However it was during this lengthy tune that the short attention span of many audience members around us reared its ugly head in the form of glowing cellphone screens and frantic text messaging.
Luckily, they all seemed to recognize the next tune and turned off their phones to sing along to a roaring version of “Cinnamon Girl.”
After this, Young took a solo spot on the pipe organ and harmonica for a take on his eco-anthem, “Mother Earth.” He then strapped on the acoustic guitar for a wonderful set of songs, including “The Needle and the Damage Done,” “Light a Candle,” another rare gem, “Goin’ Back” and the classic “Heart of Gold,” with the band rejoining him for the last three.
The highlight of the evening came next with three songs in a row from the harrowing 1975 masterpiece “Tonightap the Night,” starting with an absolutely gorgeous version of “Albuquerque.” Young’s shaky tenor was as resplendent as the day that heartbreaking record was written. He then ambled over to a juke joint piano for a bluesy rendition of “Speakin’ Out,” and the crowd-favorite title track.
After strapping back on the Gibson, Young completely blew the doors off with a version of “Down by the River” that was so energetic and amplified that it would put rock and rollers a third of the man’s age to shame. The band closed with two new tracks, “Get Behind the Wheel” and “Just Singing a Song,” whose lyric “just singing a song won’t change the world,” really takes away from any eco-friendly message to stress the fact that these are just rock and roll songs about cars.
Unfortunately, they were anticlimactic and saw much of the crowd heading for the exit ramps.
For the many who did stay through the encore, they were treated to a vicious version of Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower,” in which Young put the pedal to the metal and proved once again to his fans that anytime he does something, itap well worth it to just sit back and enjoy the ride, no matter where he takes you.
Michael Behrenhausen is a Denver-based writer, musician and occasional Reverb contributor.
Tim Rasmussen is the assistant managing editor of photography for The Denver Post.
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