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Mike Lost Dog Currie's Review

Patricia Imani's Review

Ruben The Great Bullfighter Arellano's Mini-Review

Stephen Golledge's Review

Nolan Zak's Mini-Review

michael hirano's Mini-Review

The Vancouver RustFest

The Set List

I have reported about the Rustfest at my place before the show, now a few final thoughts on the concert experience.

We took Rrrrrapid Transit down to General Motors Place, known locally as The Garage. In name at least, this is the most appropriate venue in the world for the World's Third Best Garage Band to play at.

On arrival at The Garage, we made our way past the scalpers, who seemed to be doing a strong business, and headed first to pick up another 5 t-shirts, some for myself and some to fulfil foreign requests. It was my perception that t-shirts were quite a bit cheaper than I paid before at the U.S. shows. For example, the orange tie-dyed shirt with the indians on front was $50 Canadian, or about $38 U.S.

Second stop was the beer stand. We used to be able to get some decent ales at The Garage (support your local brewery as I always say), however, they are now down to the lowest common denominator beers ... the light amber ones that look like watered down apple juice. All I can say is at least they had beer! More on beer later.

Next, we headed over to the Rust Row seats. As I have ranted about before, I was quite disappointed with the seat location. We complained strongly about that, and got a few good tickets on the floor for this show, plus a block of 40 Row 5 and 6 tickets for Canada's The Tragically Hip. Overall, this worked out okay I guess, but there is no excuse for Rusties not to be in the front 10 rows at any Neil Young show. From this point on, that will be a condition of any Rust Rows that I organize, assuming the opportunity arises.

I met a few Rusties at the Rust Row, and then headed to our own seats for the Moist set. Totally missed Pete Droge and the Sinners. Reviews on Moist were mixed, but I liked them quite alot. I wouldn't give them high points for originality, but they certainly have talent and energy.

After Moist, it was time to ... you guessed it ... get more beer and visit the Rust Row again. While at the Rust Row, I think it was Nolan who spotted Zeke sitting at the soundboard. As I posted earlier tonight, I arrived for a MORE BARN banner autograph just as he was putting on his headphones and twiddling knobs for Neil and The Horse to start. Sh*t! No autograph this time. While carrying the banner back to my seat, I was carefully scrutinized by the security knobs, but they didn't threaten to take it away.

I arrived at my seat just as Neil and The Horse were taking the stage. This would be my 4th show in 5 weeks, totally matching the number of shows I had seen in the previous 12 years.

Some people wrote that they liked the show, some didn't. Some thought the sound was good, others didn't. Some thought Neil wasn't into it, others thought he was. My own opinion was that the performance was very strong. The sound was really good to my ears. Some of the performances ranked up there with the best I saw in the previous 3 shows -- Cortez The Killer comes to mind immediately in this respect. The Lovely Elizabeth, attending her 4th Neil show, also thought song for song that this was an extremely strong performance.

When Neil cut the solo acoustic set short, it raised my expectations that there would be something different later on. I was disappointed that this didn't happen. The main problem for me ... and I think that Patty's description of a "premature" ending (see next review below) was appropriate ... was that the show only lasted about 1:45. Neil did this to us in Vancouver in 1991 (the last Crazy Horse show in town), so it was a real shock to get such a short show again this time, especially after having gone well over two hours at Sacramento and Gorge. Concord was short, but not as short as Vancouver.

We did manage to hoist the MORE BARN banner during Like A Hurricane. I have determined this to be the appropriate time in the show, because it usually ends the first set, and because the house lights are usually turned up. I think the banner was pretty visible, but because I was behind it, I couldn't see if Neil had any reaction.

There were two things about the audience that really bugged me. We were sitting 12th Row centre on the floor. Most of the people in the area seemed surprisingly unfamiliar with the material. Although people stood up for most of the electric songs, they were doing it to watch the show and not to participate in the show. Being a boogier, this always surprises me at electric shows (no flames please, sitters). As I have said before, good rock 'n roll is a participatory event, not a "show." My observation over four shows is that the crowd intensity was directly proportional to the length of show. I have submitted a question to Neil at MuchMusic on this topic, it will be interesting to hear if he has a response.

The second thing that bugged me was the number of people going in and out to get beer and popcorn and anything else. Now, as many of you know, few people enjoy a beer as much as I do, but it just drives me nuts when people leave during F*#!in' Up to go to the concession stands. It is very distracting.

The floor seating and security arrangements were very distracting to me also. This marks the 4th straight show where I found security to be a constant distraction during the show. Is a Neil Young crowd so unruly that this is really necessary? Next time, I will work hard to get a seat where I can't see the bastards (except for the ones in front of the stage, which are unavoidable). I have developed a strong preference for mosh pit or general admission seating in front of the stage, at least for rock 'n roll shows. As I have said before, Don't Fear The Mosh Pit (and Rainer, the story IS coming if I can ever get my sh*t together!).

We headed home with our 3 houseguests for the evening. After cranking up the stereo, we set out to demolish all the left over pizza from the RustFest. Too soon, it was time to crash.

So ends the story, except to say that I had to present a paper at a major engineering conference at 3 PM the next day. This wasn't too difficult, except for the fact that my voice was a little rusty, and that the slide projector bulb burned out during the presentation! So here I have about 200 people captive with a mike in my hand. I was tempted to break into HHMM, but I resisted the urge!

Cheers,
Lost Dog
A Rust Row In Every City

One very large grey sky and a steady rain from Vancouver to Olympia, thankful for the blue sky and moments of sun on the trip up yesterday.

Missed the Rustfest, but was able to meet up with Mike and Elizabeth at the show and I was happy I did. Cought the last song from Moist. Liked them. Maybe they are practicing in front of the mirror but that dude was cute and sexy as hell. Another 30-something woman and I commented on that fact later in the bathroom and on how we got ripped off cause when we were young and hot, all the rocker dudes were old and ugly - and now that they're cute, WE are old and ugly.

I had a great time at the show, never did find my seat as I was up dancing in the isle the whole time, somehow managed to stay on the good side of the venue cops. During the encore they gave up trying to get me to sit down and only asked that I stand up closer to the stage by a few rows. That compromise worked for me. I figured it's been 20 years of Neil for me and I'd probably never have the chance to see him up that close again. Also, my mothers spirit was there in the room and she was telling me loud and clear to keep on dancing.

And from there it all became 20 years of Neil in this moment. During Big Time I was flashing back on I Want to Feel Your Love. Didn't Neil say once in an interview last summer something like, he's basically been playing the same song for 30 years. Well that's how the show was for me. One big Neil song.

I got the feeling when he first came on that Neil was going to play it mellow, and he did. Yea, there was the feeling that Neil just wasn't in the element, so to say, but there were some moments where I felt it was all pretty high, for me during Big Time, The Needle and the Damage Done, Helpless, LAH, and Sedan Delivery.

Vancouver and The Gorge - NO comparison between the shows. The songs weren't extended in that electric dream that was had by all at the Gorge, rather here they seemed cut short. Even when they tried to break through that magical boundry, as in LAH, it just seemed like, despite trying and hitting it all where it was supposed to be hit, it still wouldn't fly. Still it was all Neil, simple no frills, but real, and I give the man credit for not giving folks what they expect all the time. I like his pissy attitude - I think it keeps the thing sane for him.

There at the 13th row, sound didn't seem so hot. I wonder how the folks up on the sides and further back experienced it. I wonder if the venue just was not working for him in terms of sound, energy (I wonder if all the beer cloged the collective pores of the audience...)

Ahhh, or maybe he just figured it was the first of a long string of shows and wanted to say Fuck ya all!

I am still waiting for that song that never happened, what was it going to be? And the second encore, still filling in the gaps with my mind. Kind of like a guy pulling out just at the wrong moment, getting dressed, and walking away...

(Fuck you too..)

Still, I had a hell of a good time.

AND LOVE THOSE SHORTS!!!

From the opening couple of songs, I could tell that Neil wasn't really 'into' or 'up' for the show. I didn't see any exceptional performances -- well at least not like at The Gorge. Like A Hurricane had an excellent thunderous, chaotic ending, but it seemed like Neil couldn't break all the strings on Old Black -- in the end only 1 or 2 were snapped (I think).

There were also four large mirror balls hanging from the rafters that never got used -- I was expecting Downtown. At the end, the techies were still expecting another encore (Guitar Tech Guy was re-tuning Old Black). But suddenly the house lights went up. Unfortunately, the crowd started to boo. Typical. The show clocked in at around 1:45, far less than the 2:30 from the Gorge show.

Then there was the matter of the butthead two rows in front of us who wouldn't sit down, eventhough everyone for 50 seats around him was during the 'quiet' songs.

Also, Moist had an 'interesting' closing song. It started out as Enter Sandman, then turned into Billie Jean, then turned into something else. Funny as hell!

-------{=* The Great Bullfighter *=}-------

I don't have too much to add to the lukewarm reviews, am in general agreement. Didn't hold a candle to The Gorge performance. Still, worth the trip from Seattle.

The RustFest was FANTASTIC, thanks Lost Dog and Beth. Many, many positive vibes and great chats. Good thing I brought along some American microbrews, tho.   :-)

The RustRow seats were OK, nothing to crow about. (No offense meant to Mike and Ruben.) Had to resort to the binoculars to get a clear glimpse of the cockroach stompin'. Good sound.

The crowd: well, plenty of us were swaying in our seats, but plenty were not, and I missed the feeling of being carried away by the surrounding crowd. I missed the Gorge dancers (Kurt!). The frequent comings and goings of nearby fans (?) was a distraction, I was just floored to see that the guy who went out during a too-short but kick-ass Fuckin' Up came back with a brew and pizza! The easy access to beer necessitated several "My back teeth are floatin', eh" trips among our neighbors.

A steady stream of people was heading towards the exits after LAH. Actually I felt lucky to get anything at all by way of an encore set. I was a little disappointed about the overall length but wonder about the influence of the crowd... Even on the floor, though it looked like everyone pretty much stayed standing the whole time, I didn't see much movement. Did that get to Neil? Was it the fact that the upper deck was basically empty? Did he hurt his hand during HHMM? I don't know, but I AM glad I have the Gorge to look back on.

As for Moist, well, I'll take a washed-up has-been Patti Smith over a hundred such "We've practiced in the mirror 'til we can imitate Eddie and the rest" acts any time.   :-)   :-)   :-)   They provided a great and telling contrast to Neil & CH.

I'm in the same boat as Stephen, I can't really add much on to the review of the Gorge, except to say maybe that it seemed to be a poor carbon-copy of The Gorge... ...with the exception of the superior train-wreck at the end of LAH. Never seen or heard anything like that before! Even from Neil.. I

Still think that Neil may have hurt his left hand during HHMM, he looked as though he was wincing in pain and the neck of the guitar dropped down to below his waist, which i've never really seen from Neil before so something must have happened. Eastern Canada rusties watch out for sore left hand fingers!

Anyways, the highlight for me was meeting all the faces that go along with the names at Mike's place (Thanks for everything Mike & Beth!) and finally getting some pictures. The only face that should have been there but wasn't was John Evans... Next time John! By the way, it seems that my little group of Jenny and I came the farthest (5 1/2 hrs by car) to see Neil! (please hold back the excitement..)

Personal to the blonde woman at Mike's house who was more than drunk by the end of the show: What was your name again? Jenny wants to know... (This is your chance to finally post something to the list!)

"it's nice to be back in canada"

then why didn't you play longer?

when it was over it didn't feel like a dream. could be because of the crowd booing in response to the short encore. neil seemed uneven at times and there were tech problems.

the upright colour scroller screwed up all night and splashed white light all over the back drop. and the lighting guy had to flash it every song to make sure it was still broken.

neil started another acoustic song after a very beautiful rendition of helpless, then stopped and said, "we'll get back to that one" and never got back to it.

i thought neil's guitar sounded terrible on music arcade. it made the sound system buzz like hell.

the jam at the beginning of powderfinger came across more as fishing than swimming.

maybe neil was burned out after the bridge shows.
maybe neil got hassled at the border.
maybe neil was grumpy because gm place was a long way from being sold out.

but, while i did, in fact, enjoy neils big fat sound, it mostly makes me feel lucky that i saw the gorge show.

m

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