Jump down to...
Paul Stevens' quickie early report
Stuart SSandman Sands' early report
Chris CW Cannoneer Horn's full review
Floyd PIECE OF CRAP Meadows' stream-of-conciousness review
Random Rustie comments...
Also See:
The show details.
A San Francisco Chronicle review.
A Rolling Stone review.
A Wall of Sound review.

First Set
1. Sedan Delivey
2. Don't Cry No Tears
3. Love And Only Love
4. Cinammon Girl
5. Fuckin' Up
6. Cortez The Killer
7. Like a Hurricane
   Second Set
8. Big Time
9. Powderfinger
10. Welfare Mothers
11. Bite The Bullet
12. Down by the River
    Encore
13. Hey, Hey, My My (Into the Black)

The horse was smoking tonight! Not to brag, but I was so lucky tonight to be 2 people back from the rail, directly in front of Neil.

No new songs but absolutely superlative versions of everything. Opened with Sedan Delivery. Fantastic version of Love And Only Love. Big Time, Down By the River, Fucking Up, Welfare Mothers,...

So many rusties at the show and so many in the first few rows of the floor! Also a ton of folks I know from Dead shows. This show was such a treat and relatively easy to get in.

Have to get some sleep, but I'm plenty wired for the drive home from work (I car pooled to the show from here)...

The Horse is out and running wild!! South America will not be the same following the upcoming dates.

This was the closest I have ever been to the man, about 15 feet for the night. An amazing venue, very small with the balcony extremely close. Great sound, and yes, pretty damn loud, but very clear. Hopefully great for any tapers...

As an overview, performance-wise it was kind of middle ground between the feedback laden 90 tour and the groove of the 96 tour, which brought the Year Of The Horse material. Long extended jams in virtually all songs -- although Cinnamon Girl was a bit shorter than expected compared to the previous songs.

A couple side notes that I found interesting...

• No false starts.
• Very smooth show as if they never left stage together.
• The only miscue I noticed was Neil messed up the last verse of, you guessed it: Fuckin Up.
• Pegi and Astrid didn't come out till Hurricane, and were very much in the background. Kind of bizarre for them to be singing background during Welfare Mothers, I would imagine.
• Neil used a music stand for the words to Big Time.

Great show, definitely jumps into the top two or three of my 20-some Neil experiences. Under the circumstances, it may become #1.

What a show! It was like the Barn door was opened and we were all let in and allowed to watch them jam!!!!!

There wasn't a curtain behind Neil and the Horse, just the black painted back wall (a few stacked risers, pipes, etc). There was some simple subtle lighting (predominantly red) exposing the textures on the wall. The final effect for me made it resemble the simple backdrop of maybe a barn wall or something.

There was the upright piano, which wasn't used, and no sign of the pump organ. A couple of candles lit and an indian figure.

They played so well together, very tight, and the jams went way out there at times. I noticed while jamming extensively, it only took a very slight nod, glance, arm movement to signal the horse - no reins needed.

Every song was fantastic and played to the hilt. Highlights:

• Sedan Delivery -- WOW, what a rockin' opener. Took me back to the Rust Never Sleeps tour, where were my rust-o-vision specs?

• Love And Only Love -- Unfreakinbelievable!!!!! For me, this was THE song of the night!

• Cinnamon Girl>Fuckin' Up -- The feedback at the end of CG eventually blended into the opening of FU. During one of the FU solos Neil actually danced a little side shuffle, definitely more light hearted than his usual stomp-dance.

• Cortez The Killer -- Maybe Neil wanted to practice, or got out there too far: he repeated the last verse. That just extended the fun.

• Like A Hurricane -- Pegi and Astrid joined the boys for the first time on this one. Pegi was all smiles, and enjoyed watching Neil play. She also looked out into the crowd a bunch. (I swear, I thought she was looking right at me at times.)

• Hopes were high for a new song when Larry brought out the music stand before the 2nd set, but Neil only glanced at it during Big Time.

• Bite The Bullet -- First time for me hearing this one live, and I loved it.

• Down By The River -- Yet another 'epic' performance.

• HHMM -- Finished up with a bang that made sure the ears would be ringing into the night.

• The sound was excellent. Some bass feedback a time or two, but what the hey, part of the show. They all were definitely having a good time.

Fashion report: Neil wore a light straw hat, Don't Spook The Horse t-shirt, simple southwest-like overshirt that was on/off throughout the night. No dangling belt. Pegi wore a dark skirt with small peace signs tie dyed on it, simple black sweater. Astrid wore tight black leather pants, black shirt with a sewn/embroidered daisy, light black sweater, blue tinted sunglasses, scarf in hair - little or no makeup. Poncho wore sunglasses all night.

It was probably the closest to Neil I've ever been, (down front and center, about 6 'bodyrows' back, and surrounded by Rusties). We had a bonified Rustrow down there! What a wonderful experience, and sharing it with the likes of Ciaran, Richie, Jim and Els Beller, Bob Garriott, Kurt and Lisa Schubert, David and Julie Hobbs, Stuart Sands, Steve Portigal, Paul Stevens, Linda Nadolski and her sister, and probably many others.

Once outside on the sidewalk taking in some fresh air and basking in the experience, it was pretty funny to look up and see "Neil Young and Crazy Horse" in large letters on the Warfield marquee, and right next to it, the Crazy Horse Gentlemen's Club all lit up in neon.

Let the tours begin!!!! I hope they gallop to a venue near you this year!

Chris
CW Cannoner

Some random Warfield musings, from a tired & dazed cerebrum...

WOW! I think it is fair to say that Neil is feeling better! Had no idea when
I woke up yesterday I would see Neil later that night, that is too cool. I
must be blessed, got a stealth show & my beloved Heels won! I won't repeat
the set-list since it has already been posted. The Horse looked lean &
loose, certainly showing no signs of being stabled for nearly 4 years. The
ticket intrigue was shitty--by the time they went on sale at 4 we barely had
time to make the 3-hour drive from Chico. Left town at 5 & were parked
behind the Warfield & inside by a little past 8. Unusually rare smooth
sailing into the city. Neil is really 8 feet tall! He is obviously the only
person with the ability to ride the Horse. At the Warfield last night I saw
4 wild animals stalk & methodically kill their prey. It was an awesome
sight. It's hard to find a job, indeed! No set-list surprises but everything
was extremely well-played. The only song I thought that didn't "happen" was
Bite the Bullet. Astrid & Pegi sounded horrible on that one. It was easily
the shortest song, by far, & it looked like to me they cut it off when they
realized it blew. Everything else was grade-A, quintessential Horse!!! The
first set was one massive body blow, especially with the triumvirate of
Fuckin' Up>Cortez>Hurricane to end it. After that I had no idea what they
would do. I was really looking for Prisoners of R&R, but alas. Ran into the
omnipresent Rustie Jim Beller, who now holds the title for being the Rustie
I have seen the most (other than local Butte County Rusties, who are few &
far between), and David & Julie Hobbs. Don't Cry No Tears had a slightly
slower-than-usual arrangement, with amazingly angelic backing vocals from
Billy and Ralph.  It was truly an epic night & I felt honored to be there.
Neil looked as if his body was made of rubber, his "dance" was even greater
than usual. I hope I represented all of you who couldn't be there with
honor & integrity, I did my best. I know that I went places last night that I
haven't been to in ages. They sounded like plate tectonics at work, I
know they rattled a few plates in the Earth's crust for sure. Tsunamis in
the Pacific followed. He looked so cool chewing gum while singing HHMM, but
he looked even cooler when he spit it out. Did I mention that Neil is really
8 feet tall? Billy Talbot was the night's co-MVP, what a little gremlin that
guy is. Well, I better wrap this up. I have forgotten so much that I wanted
to tell y'all, but when it comes back to me I will post. There were no
t-shirts or gear of any kind. Saw them bring Ben in to the Warfield. Bought
tickets at 4 PM & was back home & got in bed right at 4 AM, not a bad 12 hours.
It was a cannonball for us but worth every moment. Enough of my ramblings...

If someone sees my brain please return it. I am nothing without it.
Some might say I am nothing with it.

Erik Simonson:

Warfield show was superb. Don't ever remember seeing Neil and CH so damn happy... They were loving every minute... Not much talking, just playing. Imagine Rust Never Sleeps circa 2001, less Sugar Mountain and I Am A Child. Throw in a few more recent rockers and you get the gist. Tight. Did not stray from the Plot. $20.00 tickets for the Neil show of a lifetime!

Linda Nadolski:

The Horse is definitely out of the barn! The boys sounded great! Very tight, lots of smiles. Amazing show. It just doesn't get any better than this!!! Don't Cry No Tears was a treat -- they really sounded tight. Some amazing solos during Cortez & Hurricane. During Welfare Mothers, Neil was making some pretty funny faces. DBTR was amazing...

Bruce Haemmerle:

Neil was in fine form last night. The highlight was definitly Welfare Mothers, where The Horse took it to a very psychedelic old Sonic Youthesque drone, until they were beating a dead horse. Billy really took over here by beating the crap out of his p-bass. Who would have thought that Pegi & Astrid would be singing "Welfare Mothers make better lovers..."?

SntStvn:

In a word: Stellar. But when is Neil anything but great? Having seen Neil a number of times, I thought that he was really in his element. At one point, my wife leaned over to me and said, "Do you even think he knows we're here?" It was as if Neil was up there going, "Hey, me and my friends are just up here making great sounds - oh, you guys are here? Cool."

Steve Portigal:

At one point, Billy came and stood facing the audience right next to Neil, faced outwards, and did this up and down head shake thing with a look on his face like he was a 4-year-old who just ate something he didn't like. He held this for quite a while. I remember thinking that watching this was just incredibly cool... They did a "Three Men Working" thing later on in the show, all standing beside each other, all facing out, all playing and moving in their very different fashions, and it was just amazing to look at...

fontainebleau:

Though Billy and Ralph can supply a more than adequate support vocal to Neil and The Horse, I thought the additional voices of Pegi and Astrid did add an extra dimension. Particularly during the 'ooooooooo's' of Powderfinger. I thought the songs were played with extra fervour in places, with some novel noodling, so it was quite a pleasing show...

Karen Popp:

Totally psyched! The show was just incredible. 2300 people -- Neil in just amazing form, and once more, totally enjoying performing for us fans. Powderfinger was out of this world! I love the way that song can sound like a southern gospel. Big Time: Wow! Always have loved the lines

Talking about you and me,
Talkin 'bout eternity,
Talkin' 'bout the Big Time.

Hurricane wowed us, Fuc*ing Up was also divine. Cinnamon Girl rocked, and a hot Cortez too. Neil and the Horse and my friend from the past made this day unreal! The rain, heavy meetings and bumper to bumper traffic for hours, all worth it for the experience of Neil and Crazy Horse. Hey Hey, My My, Rock n Roll will NEVER die!