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Bil working on this palm tree Hawkins' Review
(more reviews coming)
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The show details.
An Albuquerque Journal review.

1. Motorcycle Mama
2. Powderfinger
3. Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
4. I Believe In You   [electric]
5. Unknown Legend   [electric]
6. Dance Dance Dance
7. Buffalo Springfield Again
8. Razor Love
9. From Hank To Hendrix
10. Daddy Went Walkin'
11. Peace Of Mind
12. Walk On
13. Winterlong
14. Bad Fog Of Loneliness
15. Words (Between The Lines Of Age)
16. Harvest Moon
17. World On A String
18. Tonight's The Night   [on piano]
    Encore
19. Cowgirl In The Sand
    Second Encore
20. Mellow My Mind

Great Show!
i want to thank all the people in front of me and apologize to those behind me.

this is going to be one of the unique shows of the tour, because something happened to spooner. Neil didn't say what, only that spooner was in the hospital in santa fe. during the introduction of the entire band, Neil tipped his hat and applauded to the empty piano setup... ended up that everyone was picking up the "missing pieces" of spooner's musical fill-ins. end result was lots of extra harmonica & guitar-work from both Neil and ben.

highlights according to bil...

this venue just opened in july so some of the kinks are getting worked out. like: is drinking a brew on the tailgate of the truck "open container"... that's what we were doing while tegan & sara were on stage, so i have no report on them -- couldn't hear them from 250' away in the parking lot. but i definitely heard chrissie come out as we were walking in.

Neil's set:

• motorcycle -- great opener. just about everyone was out of the seat, on the feet. Neil's hands were almost hovering over ol black. just a prelude to the magic to come.

• powderfinger/ektin -- only a handful of folks seemed to know the words, but that didn't stop us from belting them out. some of the folks in the first few rows started to sit down when they did not recognize the song. again, that didn't stop us from dancing...

• believe in you/unknown legend -- even though they were played on black this was a very quiet portion, with very few catcalls (at least in our section). unfortunately our dancing, couldn't seem to pick up the emotional speed or the heartbeat of some of the folks around us.

• buffalo springfield -- on the martin, the start of the "latest" cd songs. still not too many takers on the sing along or dancing.

• razor love -- on the martin. Neil played most of the entire song on the harp (including the ending solo) as an introduction... lots of high pitched wailing of "the windoooooowww".

  nerdy structural engineer rant mode on:
  swinging the panels behind the stage with uncontrolled abandon creates cyclic forces on the aluminum structure that could bring them down on the stage. watch out for that! a little movement was alright, i guess, but it still became a distraction

• hank to hendrix -- on the martin. funny but cute pout on pegi during the line "headed for divorce..."

• daddy went walking -- on the martin. i am still not all that crazy about this song. i think i am partial to the solo version, but my four-year old loves it and sings along. so thinking of her right in here brought a smile.

• pom -- on the martin. again, just as the "unfamiliar" were coming around, they looked at each other, shrugged, and sat... again, no catcalls -- so it was a very nicely done quiet time...

• walk on -- on the white falcon. got folkies back up on their feet after an extended bit of "quiet time"... "stoned" and "strange" in abundance.   ;ob

• winterlong/bfol -- on the white falcon. again "quiet time", with many boyfriends explaining that they didn't know the songs either. kind of funny.

• words -- on the white falcon. how about a very large WOW!! and a rousing AMEN!! Neil was really pounding the axe again. only a handful of "AAAAAAAGGGGGGE", but we made our voices heard.

• harvest moon -- on the falcon, i think?? quiet time again.

• woas -- on a white strat i think, maybe teley. just about got folkies back off the arse.

  then stopped to walk to the piano for a very "real", emotional...

• ttn -- on the upright. could see the sparkle in bruce's eyes and feel the shaky fingers clutching, as he quivered "tonight's the night..." strange moment as Neil pounded the beat atop the piano, for jim & duck. then he could whirl around the melody.

first encore: cowgirl -- on ol black. i didn't know the setlist so this was a splendid surprise. i counted seven distinct guitar solos. must have lasted 20 minutes.

second encore: mmm -- on ol black, i think?? at first i felt this was an odd pick for the closer. but i was still singing it as i drove through the canyon home at 1:30. i couldn't help but smile...

he didn't play albuquerque... he has played it each of the times before, so maybe it got too old for him. how many other folkies can attach themselves to a song though...

at times it seemed that duck was either not able to relate to where Neil was headed, or just felt out of synch. seemed to apologize too many times after a good jaunt out into the unknown...

the ladies looked very FINE... and sounded even better !

lots of the general populous walked away a bit stunned at the lack of familiarity of the tunes. i have a warped theory here: Neil has done shows where he came out and soloed then brought out the "concept band/portion" of the show. so let's say that you take last season's solo tour as the first part of a split-show (including the "hits" that "they" know and love) and this year's tour as as the "concept" portion of that split-show -- its "all one show!" it seems like Neil has maintained that theme. i know that is a stretch, don't flame me...

looking forward to many years of listening to this show !

(more reviews coming soon... --RE*AC*TOR)