The Australian leg of Neil Young & Crazy Horse’s Alchemy Tour got off to a loud and heavily distorted start at Perth Arena on Saturday night.
Unlike many other international acts lately that will not be playing the world’s most isolated concert stadium, Neil Young & Crazy Horse seemed to relish the opportunity, putting on an amazing show for the WA fans.
Perth’s funky new state of the art arena was transformed into Neil Young’s garage, albeit a garage with 14,000 seats; mostly filled.
Wild, unpredictable and out of control but always intensely entertaining, more like an experimental jam session than a routine performance perfected over the past four decades.
Supported by Melbourne band Husky, a worthy act in their own right, Young and Crazy Horse improvised their way through an unpredictable and powerful two hour set.
Nothing fancy, nothing showy or glamorous, just simple, raw and honest rock delivered with passion and pleasure, sometimes pain.
Young means every word he sings like no one else can, his facial expressions and body language as twisted and contorted as his guitar sound, every lyric, riff and chord the result of decades of internal conflict and soul searching.
With 35 or more albums released to date it was anyone’s guess what the setlist would include tonight.
With scenes reminiscent of the group’s 1979 Rust Never Sleeps Tour, roadies in white laboratory coats and hard hats scuttled around the stage like busy worker bees to John Lennon’s “A Day In The Life” tugging at the heart strings; two massive Fender amps dominating the entire scene.
The unassuming rockers entered the stage, Australian National anthem playing, Young wearing old jeans and flannelette over his favorite faded black t-shirt emblazoned with the aboriginal flag, a bold statement from a bold man.
Wielding “Old Black”, his trusty 1953 Gibson Les Paul Young, he launched into extended versions of “Love and Only Love” and “Powderfinger”, setting the scene for an explosive evening.
Showing no sign of slowing down after 45 plus years of rocking the free (and not so free) world, new songs, such as “Walk Like A Giant”, ebbed and flowed for up to half an hour, Young’s unique brand of slowly resonating distortion saw his guitar crackling and roaring throughout the show.
The unmistakable backing vocals of bassist Billy Talbot, seemingly several octaves up the scale from Young, creating the “Crazy Horse” sound.
Telepathic-like communication between Young and rhythm guitarist, the sleeveless Frank Sampedro, sending shivers up and down spines throughout the audience.
Talbot energetically bopping a thick and heavy bass line, together with steady and perfect drumming from long time member, Ralph Molina, always holding the excitable guitarists accountable, reigning them in as required.
Young strapped on his old acoustic guitar and harmonica like a gunfighter from an old western while the band took a break. Playing timeless classic “Heart of Gold”. The lyrics, “keeps me searching for a heart of gold/ and I’m getting old” resonated well with much of the quietly reserved, baby boomer dominated Perth audience; with a smattering of generation X.
One cant help but feel a touch of sadness at the changing of the guard, a sadness that something the world will never see again will be lost forever when the likes of Neil Young & Crazy Horse, god forbid, retire.
The band returned to the stage playing through a mixture of 70’s classics such as “Cinnamon Girl” and material off the band’s latest offering, the epic Psychedelic Pill, followed by a perfect version of Ragged Glory’s “Fucking Up”.
The audience could barely contain themselves, some didn’t, hearing the familiar intro to “My My, Hey Hey” and Young belting out “it’s better to burn out than to fade away,” moving many of the seated punters to dance, the lyric most famously quoted in Kurt Cobain’s suicide note, clearly an emotionally charged moment for Young.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse gave the Perth audience everything that could be expected, that even after two hours left even the stiffest in the audience crying out for more, pleading for an encore.
The band did not disappoint and returned to the stage to play Tonight Tonight’s tongue in cheek song “Roll Another Number,” a classic number clearly not about playing dice.
With orse proving once again to the world that less is more and when it comes to live music there are none better. This stripped down version of a rock concert really hits the spot. Young and his ragged band of musicians should not be missed as they make their way around the country in the coming months.
With rumors of another album release in 2013, the band’s third in less than a year, fingers crossed the guys are up for another tour in the not too distant future.
