NEIL YOUNG

Tempodrom, Berlin 30 April 2003
dampen666@hotmail.com

Berlin is a strange and wonderful city. A city that's busy trying to reinvent itself. Whilst never forgetting it's own turbulent history, Berlin has become a strange contrast of all that was old and new. So much rebuilding has happened and is currently underway that the city gives off a strange vibe. No longer does it look like a city rebuilding itself from the ashes. Although there's still as many cranes peppering the skyline as skyscrapers, the older parts of the city now look like they've been flown in. Berlin gives off the impression now that it is a huge, sprawling brand spanking new city and that they've imported various historical buildings as a kind of museum to its history. This contrast is everywhere, including in the Tempodrom tonight, which is a stunning new hall currently housing the old fossil himself Neil Young.

OK, so that was a cheesy link, but Neil takes the stage just after 8 o'clock and the first thing that strikes him is how grey his mane has become in the last couple of years. I must say, it suits him down to the ground. The set up tonight is very simple, the stage dark, lit only by a gentle spotlight and a few candles. Instruments on show tonight include two pianos, one grand, one upright, a pump organ, three guitars and a number of harmonicas.

Some performers often do themselves a disservice by opening with a few new songs. This can sometimes frustrate an audience, unfamiliarity doesn't often work with a crowd. (See my Badly Drawn Boy gig from last year for an idea of what I'm talking about) The average person wants to go to a gig and hear their favourite tunes. Interesting and diverse setlists may drive journalists wild, but the average Joe and his drunken buddies just wanna hear the greatest hits, 'cause that's all they know.

Neil doesn't like to make things easy for himself, or for his audience for that matter. Constantly challenging himself and his fans, every album he releases is more often than not a complete departure from his last and tonight he opens not with one or two new songs, but a whole set's worth of them!

There's no need to worry though. Neil's experimentation is what makes him so interesting. Of course, the occasional project may fall flat on its face (anyone remember Landing on Water?) but most of the time he comes up with something worth listening too. The new material tonight is all about a place called Greendale. Yep, you guessed it, looks like Neil's come back with a concept album. Now that may have caused the majority of you to turn and run for the hills thinking, 'That's it, Neil's lost it' but I can safely assure you that he hasn't.

The opening song, (which I'll name Love and Affection as I don't know the real title) takes the guts of Buffalo Springfield Again, (from 2000 album Silver and Gold) slows it down, stretches it out and turns it into something completely different. This works as a great opener. Although a new song, it sounds familiar and allowed me to relax and put my faith in Neil completely. Pleased that this wasn't going to be another Old Ways the nerves eased and within minutes I was already glad to be spending time in Greendale.

This kind of familiarity is present in most of the Greendale tracks, ghosts of familiar tunes floating in and out. At times I could hear similarities to War Of Man, Pocahontas and a number of other tunes from his back catalogue. What this does is allows Greendale to seem like a town you already know, even though you've never been there. Each reminiscence stirring past memories as you're hearing the story of a bunch of fictional characters.

The Greendale stuff reminds me of the Talking Heads film, True Stories. Not in its sound, but in its atmosphere. In True Stories David Byrne takes us on a trip through a small fictional town, introducing us to various quirky characters. Each song telling a slight story about a different character and, whilst there's no real plot to it, there's a wonderful atmosphere, full of a very pleasant and heart warming air. Despite its flimsy structure and its many faults True Stories is a delightful film and a great little album that warrants a regular watch/listen. From the songs presented here in Berlin, I get the impression that Neil's forthcoming album and hopefully the film to accompany it, will hold as many pleasant surprises for us.

By the end of the set I wanted to live in Greendale, I felt I knew the place that well and the material proves on its first listen to be some of the most interesting stuff he's come up with in a long while. Over the course of an hour and a half Neil told the story of Earle and his wife, who live on their ranch, 'The Double E', Carmichael, the local law enforcer and other interesting little characters. By the end of the set you've come to know these guys well. This is helped, not only by the songs, but the inbetween banter that sometimes stretched past the ten minute mark. It was great to see Neil in such a chirpy and talkative mood. The enthusiasm he has for this material was easy to see, and it quickly rubbed off on the audience.

Of course, not everyone in the audience felt the same way and the occasional heckler ruined the respectful silence that the majority of the 3000 or so crowd gave Neil. One particular comment, "Neil vee car not understand yuuuuu. It is not German!' His response was quick, 'Hey man, if I could speak German I would be doing that right now and I can assure you, this story would be very funny in German.' The crowd were won over instantly, cheering him loudly. 'Hey, why don't ya just forget about the words and just listen to the instrumentals?' The rest of the set passed without much comment.

After a short break he returned to wild applause and the second set rewarded the crowd for their patience. Lotta Love, Comes A Time, Don't Let it Bring You Down and Harvest Moon amongst the favourites. He also played some real gems. From his Buffalo Springfield days we got Expecting to Fly on the grand piano, which, even though he had troubles remembering it, was astonishing. False starts and mishaps were common in the second set but nothing could ruin it, even messing up the lyrics to Old Man didn't matter, it sounded wonderful. Then, after we were treated to After the Gold Rush on the piano, he opened his songbook, an A4 binder about 6 inches thick. He picked out a couple of sheets, tuned up a guitar, but that wouldn't do. Picked up a second guitar and tuned that and after a few non starts he broke into Hitchiker. I nearly fainted.

I must digress here a second. I read Shakey, a great biography of Neil Young by Jimmy McDonough from cover to cover last year and the one part that sticks out for me more than anything in there is a small paragraph that tells the tale of when Neil recorded Hitchiker. According to McDonough, Neil recorded Hitchiker on the night of August 11th 1976, running into the early hours of August 12th. Judging the time differences between California and Bishop Auckland, County Durham, England - Neil was recording Hitchiker at the time I was born. For a geek like me, that information was pretty cool. So imagine how I felt when he played it in Berlin. It's the only time I'll be seeing him on this tour (shame on me) and I have it on reliable authority that he's only ever sang this song live on half a dozen occasions. I count myself a very lucky man indeed.

After Hitchiker we got a wonderful version of War of Man, from Harvest Moon and the night was over. It was 11 o'clock yet time had passed so quickly I could scarcely believe it. The crowd went ballistic, stamping and applauding for a full ten minutes before Neil returned, smiling, and played Heart of Gold to round proceedings off.

On the tickets it said A Very Special Evening with Neil Young. They weren't wrong. Neil plays the Heineken Music Hall on the 8th May. Do what you can to get there.

© Damien Leslie 2003