Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Hollywood Bowl - 10/17/12

By Katie Bain Thu., Oct. 18 2012 at 9:29 AM

Timothy Norris

Neil Young
Hollywood Bowl
10/17/12

Any number of incarnations of Neil Young & Crazy Horse could have shown up to play the Hollywood Bowl last night. They might have done the rock-soaked musical folklore of their most recent LP Americana or the slightly-campy concept rock opera that was 2003's Greendale. They made it quickly apparent, however, that they were there to do Neil Young & Crazy Horse as the grandfather heroes of grunge guitar rock.

Timothy Norris

After beginning the show with a brief (and questionably sincere) salute to the American flag, Young and company launched into "Love and Only Love" from 1990's Ragged Glory. From there the set was a relentless flow of the soaring powerhouse guitar and richly layered jamming that defines the act as one of the heaviest hitting rock acts of the century.

With four decades worth of music behind them, the group, Young, guitarist Frank "Pancho" Sampedro, bassist Billy Talbot and drummer Ralph Molina, could have easily ripped through a greatest hits set. But we all know Young is not one to offer straight crowd-pleasers and half-assed renditions of "Like a Hurricane."

Instead, the nearly two hour show, part of the group's current Alchemy tour, took heavily from the group's forthcoming release, Psychedelic Pill, out October 30. Standout jam "Walk Like a Giant" hovered around the 15 minute mark and like the majority of the new material folded in seamlessly with older songs including "Powderfinger" and "The Needle and the Damage Done." "This is a brand new song I just wrote this morning," Young announced with a grin before launching into "Cinnamon Girl." (This is his favorite recent joke.) The crowd went wild, with much spirited dancing in the aisles and a consistent smell of weed on the night's warm air.

Location Info

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Hollywood Bowl

2301 N. Highland Ave., Los Angeles, CA

Category: Music

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jon_ohnstad

It's too bad my enjoyment of the show was marred by the existence of some dolts sitting behind me who could not stop jabbering throughout the entire show. I'm talking about non-stop, non-Neil Young-related blather throughout every single song! Or the guy in his 50s who alternated between talking about his latest golf outing to whining "I lost my weed!" every other minute. OK, OK, after about the tenth time, we get it, you lost your weed. Now deal with it and move on. People pay close to a hundred bucks to see a band that plays about once per decade and then decide to spend the entire concert yammering on and on about absolutely nothing??? This was capped off by the rhythm-impaired lady who insisted on clapping along to every song but could not keep a beat if her very life depended on it. By the time they got to Mr. Soul she got a little more proficient but only lasted a few measures before falling back to clapping in the bizarre, jarring, arhythmic time signature that could only have made sense to her. This was my first time at the Hollywood Bowl. Is this a Hollywood Bowl thing, an LA concert-goer thing, or a fans of Neil Young & Crazy Horse thing? I don't remember people acting like this when I saw them in 1986.

anders.nellsonic

@jon_ohnstad jon_ohnstad - Did you say anything to any of them? If not, you missed an opportunity to make your little corner of the world a better place. Hollywood Bowl can definitely be a distracting environment to see a concert in. I've been to quite a few there recently, and on more than one occasion I have asked people around me to stop shouting over the music. I've been respectful and friendly about it and it has always had a good effect. The problem has been abated and people around me have thanked me for speaking up. What I don't understand is why rudeness in this type of situation is so often just ignored and tolerated. Rude people are most often just unaware and are so surprised to be addressed that they stop. I'm by no means a large or intimidating looking person btw.

jon_ohnstad

@anders.nellsonic The Chatty Cathys were talked to, yes. It didn't help much. It wasn't just a couple people. It was more like a couple rows full of them. I guess a band that plays about once per decade is just background music to them.

optionthis

Stage set up was the cover of Rust Never Sleeps.

roudebush_steve

What is disrespectful about playing our National Anthem and singing along? They did the Canadian anthem when playing in Canada. This was a great show.

anders.nellsonic

@roudebush_steve Nobody said disrespectful. The word was 'insincere'. There's a subtle difference. It seemed possibly tongue-in-cheek to me - a guy who's "Waging Heavy Peace" singing a song about the glories of war.