January 9,2014: NEIL YOUNG Solo @ Carnegie Hall

Including stints with CSNY, Crazy Horse, Booker T and The MG’s, and solo I have seen Neil Young perform nine times and this was by far one of the best.Neil, his guitars, keyboards, harmonicas, and a slightly nasty attitude toward the audience members whom were yelling out requests, he was in a zone. Two sets with a slight intermission, and a few encores, while the tickets were expensive, they were worth every penny.

From Billboard: But the highlight of the evening was the sheer strength of the performances of the classic material. Young played versions of songs like “Only Love Can Break Your Heart,” “Ohio,” “Old Man,” “After the Gold Rush” and “Comes A Time” as powerfully and cleanly as you’ve ever heard him play those songs. Performances of 30 or 40-year old songs are rarely so breathtaking and compelling. The gravitas of the venue was a likely contributor to that feeling, but a room can’t carry an entire performance. The credit for that goes entirely to Neil Young, who, at age 68, still has an abundance of grit and fortitude. These songs are giants, and at Carnegie Hall, they were performed as such.

Set 1:

From Hank to Hendrix

Helpless (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young song)

On the Way Home (Buffalo Springfield song)

Only Love Can Break Your Heart

Love in Mind

Birds

Mellow My Mind

Are You Ready for the Country

Someday

Changes (Phil Ochs cover)

Harvest

Old Man

Set 2:

Goin’ Back

A Man Needs a Maid

Ohio (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young song)

Southern Man

Needle of Death (Bert Jansch cover)

The Needle and the Damage Done

Harvest Moon

Flying on the Ground Is Wrong (Buffalo Springfield song) After the Gold Rush

Journey Through the Past

Heart of Gold

Encore:

Comes a Time

Long May You Run (The Stills-Young Band song)