Neil Young Concert Review

Albuquerque, New Mexico

February 28, 2004 - Tingley Coliseum

Neil Young News

Greendale

From Tom in New Mexico in the Guestbook, the concert was what he called "a poet's vision".

"Neil Young has always been the bearer of unexpected things. His musical genius combined with the backwoods reality that is his music is the perfect vehicle for this Kielloresque drama. What I liked about the show was the way it was introduced. It was just suddenly there. Most other bands or musicians that have even half of Young's vast collection of hits will play a show and introduce new material almost apologetically. The crowd wants to hear the old time hits, right?

Neil Young has always carried us into uncharted territory whether we liked it or not. We have always been deeply rewarded for his brazen fearless attitude. The Greendale show was pure, fresh, unaltered Neil Young at his best, the encore was wonderful too...icing on the cake. The political and social messages were there also. Neil Young has never been afraid to take a stand for a cause he believes in. Yeah, there were some old burn outs in the audience grousing because they didn't get to hear Cinnamon Girl. If they live long enough, they'll be in the audience again shouting for an old Greendale tune."

Tom Schifani Albuquerque, NM
02.03.2004
01:15
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From Coder in the Guestbook on a show where "it seems like we were surrounded by Californians that flew out to see the show."

"Very good. My wife was getting into it, she had a good time. We were in row 29 out of 37 on the floor, about 20 feet to the right of the mixers.

Just before the show started, it had to be Neil's son Ben, rolling out on a very fancy wheelchair and wearing a Greendale Demons letter jacket. They parked him behind the fence between us and the mixers. He was grinning the whole time. I pointed him out to my wife, I don't think anyone else around realized who he was.

She was concerned that a couple of guys standing in front of him were blocking his view. I was sure they would escort me back to my seat if I said anything ;} He was up on the stage for the grand finale at the end of "be the rain".

We were there about 7:00, the showtime was 7:30, it started at 8:00. That's about when everybody got there. 8000 people it said in the paper. Should have bought a t-shirt when we walked in. We got 4 beers and a marg instead... It seems like we were surrounded by Californians that flew out to see the show. The ones behind us were whining that the people in Abq didn't know what real traffic was. The ones to the left of us were sort of hostile at first but after a while they talked to me a little. Turns out they had seen the show like 4 times already. They all left early. Strange. Fortunately, the Indian reservations were well represented too- maybe that will scare most of them into staying in CA.

They played for 3 hours without a break. 2 hours of Greendale and 1 hour of Crazy Horse. Neil pretty much stuck to the program. At one point he commented "this place sounds pretty good", it did too. I think it was also a good crowd for him. No negative vibes got reinforced. He sort of got (acted?) distracted when he was introducing "devil's sidewalk", making somewhat vague statements about evil in the world. He said something like "but anyway, this song isn't about that" just before starting to play. Somebody in the back got in a good "fuck bush!" in the last instant.

The crowd was kind of rowdy for the first 3 songs or so, yelling stuff. One guy really wanted to hear "Cortez the Killer". But by the third song everyone started to figure it out and settle down. The Greendale stuff was really working. It sounded almost exactly like the album only better. "Sun Green" was my wifes's favorite (with no coaching). She was singing "hey mister clean" in the shower the next morning.

After "be the rain", they took about 3 minutes (the longest pause) to swap out equipment and clear the props before launching about an hour of Crazy Horse. I don't remember exactly songs in order but roughly they did a jimi hendrix tune, "rust never sleeps", "down by the river", "powderfinger", "rockin in the free world", "cortez the killer" and a couple others. Cortez was the extended encore that ended the show. I'm pretty sure the guy yelling for it had already left. Neil worked some interesting stuff into "free world", at one point I think he said "we're losing boys every day because we didn't have a plan"

About 20% of the people left after Greendale and during the last hour. The rest of us all stood up and for the last three songs ignored security and crowded the stage.

Grandpa can really crank it out."

02-28-2004, Tingley Coliseum, Albuquerque, New Mexico w/ Crazy Horse Setlist

1. Falling From Above
2. Double E
3. Devil's Sidewalk
4. Leave The Driving
5. Carmichael
6. Bandit
7. Grandpa's Interview
8. Bringin' Down Dinner
9. Sun Green
10. Be The Rain
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11. All Along The Watchtower
12. Hey Hey, My My
13. Powderfinger
14. Down by the River
15. Roll Another Number
16. Rockin' In The Free World
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17. Just Like Tom Thumb Blues
18. Farmer John
19. Cortez the Killer

Setlist thanks to Tom at Sugar Mountain and Bad News Beat.

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