Neil Young opens festival set with 40 minute "Down by the River"

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Rockinrob, May 3, 2016.

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  1. lucan_g

    lucan_g Forum Resident

    I still can't believe I'm reading a thread complaining about Neil jamming for 40min at this stage in his career, and instead reading about people wishing he would just do a perfunctory 6-8 min run through so he can get on to doing a bunch more perfunctory songs. Really?
     
  2. JoeRockhead

    JoeRockhead Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Jersey
    always been tough (impossible?) to get a consensus among Neil fans
     
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  3. vertigone

    vertigone Forum Resident

    Location:
    NYC
    Yes, I was there too. Check out his "reputation" on this glorious 17+ minute Cortez.

     
    ARK, Scopitone, nowhereman87 and 7 others like this.
  4. qwerty

    qwerty A resident of the SH_Forums.

    At least you can have a good expectation that Young will put on a unique show and that each tour will be different. I think it's better to run with the risk of chaos than be bored with predictability.
     
    ARK, lightbulb, Spadeygrove and 5 others like this.
  5. mmorris3

    mmorris3 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Memphis, TN, USA
    I was at this show and it was awesome! I'd rather he cut Down By The River in half and played Cowgirl In The Sand, Like A Hurricane or Cortez The Killer instead, but I'm not complaining. The highlight of the show for me was a killer version of F*!#in' Up.
     
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  6. Todd W.

    Todd W. It's a Puggle

    Location:
    Maryland
    C'mon.........it ain't about that at all. If I went to a Neil show and he did this I would've walked out. As I have mentioned, I darn near did for Greendale. It would be like Zeppelin doing Dazed and Confused for 40 minutes with Jimmy on the bow for 35. How about Baba O'Reiley or You Can't Always Get What You Want for 40 Alex?

    It amazes me how The Stones, Who, McCartney, Clapton, etc.........get excoriated for what they might play and people slobber over 40 minutes of Down by the River?

    He is not Dickey and Duane and this isn't Mountain Jam 44 years ago. I felt the same when the Dead meandered and wandered through some of their long winded stuff.

    In ending, I am a fan, and yes, I would have quite liked to hear something else than this for 40 minutes. I am absolutely glad I didn't pay for this. Just another man's opinion.
     
    vinylphile, Marko L. and Jackson like this.
  7. dance_hall_keeper

    dance_hall_keeper Forum Resident

    Longest. love song. ever.
     
  8. Rne

    Rne weltschmerz

    Location:
    Malaver
    It's great to see Neil having such an anti-festival attitude :D
     
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  9. chrisblower

    chrisblower Norfolk n'good

    Hope he plays a three hour version of Southern Man at that big festival he's goona do - that'll piss them off
     
    rednoise likes this.
  10. Lightworker

    Lightworker Forum Resident

    Location:
    Deep Texas
    How much funding does your university receive from Monsanto?
    Much like old Webb Pierce, I'm just 'wonderin'...
     
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  11. RayS

    RayS A Little Bit Older and a Little Bit Slower

    Location:
    Out of My Element
    [​IMG]
     
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  12. Lightworker

    Lightworker Forum Resident

    Location:
    Deep Texas
    Keep 'yo bullet in 'yo pocket, homes...
     
    RayS likes this.
  13. JoseUnidos

    JoseUnidos Forum Resident

    Location:
    Bluefield, WV
    It could've been worse - it could've been 40 mins. of Neil throwing grass seed around the stage accompanied by feedback.
     
  14. Brian Lux

    Brian Lux One in the Crowd

    Location:
    Placerville, CA
    Wow- some of the hate here for Uncle Neil. Cracks me up!

    Neil rules!
     
  15. kanakaris

    kanakaris Forum Resident

    Location:
    Belgium
    Imagine how many great songs he could play in those 40 minutes...
     
  16. JoeRockhead

    JoeRockhead Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Jersey
    don't give him any ideas!
     
    Matthew Tate, Jackson and DTK like this.
  17. JoeRockhead

    JoeRockhead Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Jersey
    realistically it would have just been 6 more new songs instead of the one or two he played.
     
  18. lightbulb

    lightbulb Not the Brightest of the Bunch

    Location:
    Smogville CA USA
    To me, the main point of Neil Young's extended performance of Down By The River is that it demonstrates how much he's in tune with Promise Of The Real.
    It could have been Like A Hurricane, or Cortez the Killer.

    As most of us know, especially those of us who've seen him live, he won't play anything if it doesn't "feel right" to him.

    Playing something because "he should", "that's what the audience wants to hear", "the record label wants to promote", is not part of his musical vocabulary.

    In theory, if he noticed half the audience walk out during this jam, I would not be surprised if he would have extended it by 10 more minutes.

    Although this song may not be my #1 choice to hear a live extended version, I applaud Ol' Neil for still following his musical instincts.
     
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  19. apple-richard

    apple-richard *Overnight Sensation*

    :agree:

    Remember this my friends;

    Neil gets things done.
     
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  20. Crispy Rob

    Crispy Rob Cat Juggler

    Location:
    Oakland, CA
    During the excellent Neil & Crazy Horse set at the Outside Lands Festival a few years ago, slightly before Psychedelic Pill came out, they played a long version of the not-yet-released Walk Like a Giant that ended with at least five minutes of loud atonal, arrhythmic chords that mimicked the stomping of dinosaurs/giants. No one else at his level of fame or with his audience demographics would have even thought of doing anything remotely of the kind, and members of the audience were streaming past us heading away from the stage in droves. It was both awesome and hilarious, and as a side benefit it enabled us to move in a heck of a lot closer for the rest of a great set.
     
  21. R. Totale

    R. Totale The Voice of Reason

    Cut off at 31 minutes, do not like. I want the ten minutes I was cheated out of.

    My major concern is that 20 years ago it was Pearl Jam, and now it's these guys, and I'm worried that 20 years from now he won't be able to come up with a new young hotsh!t band to keep up with him like this. They don't make 'em like they used to.
     
  22. And I would have loved to hear what he did play. Shockingly, different strokes for different folks.
     
    ARK likes this.
  23. adm62

    adm62 Senior Member

    Location:
    Ottawa, Canada
    Could have played the whole of Everybody's Rockin' ..... TWICE!
     
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  24. DLeet

    DLeet Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chernigov, Ukraine
    that's a bit less than the duration of Rust Never Sleeps lol
     
  25. rednoise

    rednoise Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston
    True, it seems. Playing like this takes a combination of focus, freedom, and stamina. Focus to keep in the moment and be aware of everything that's going on around you, freedom to follow an unexpected tangent, and stamina to keep physically and mentally sharp over time. This applies to both the players and the listeners. Judging from many of the comments in this thread, those qualities are becoming forgotten or devalued.

    Hey, I love a concise 3-minute pop song as much or more than anyone, but it's a thrilling thing to let the music carry you away and take you places you never expected. They both have a place in my world
     
    Last edited: May 4, 2016
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