You might say that my first Neil Young concert experience was not bad. in 1978 I bought a fifth row center orchestra seat from a scalper in front of Madison Square Garden for $30; the concert with Crazy Horse turned out to be the legendary “Rust Never Sleeps” tour and I was hooked for life.

 I was in my first semester at Queens College when Neil Young and Crazy Horse raised the bar on the concert experience and I have attended every Neil Young tour that has made its way to the northeast (and beyond) ever since. 

This year’s tour with The Promise of the Real is in support of “The Monsanto Years” album and Neil Young provided a free copy of the CD or download with each ticket purchased. Mr. Young’s beef with Monsanto (and Starbucks) regarding GMOs had become unsettling as the cantankerous elder statesman of rock will play what he wants to play (irregardless of the ticket prices). Ticket sales had been slow prior to the start of the tour as those periphal fans who only want to hear “Harvest Moon” may have been scared off by the possibility of a political rant and a twenty minute distorted guitar solo. Just when you think you have Neil figured out, Young will change course and usually will provide the unexpected. If you want “greatest hits” only, there are plenty of acts on the road year after year playing the same fifteen hits from the 70’s. Neil Young is a vital artist following his muse. 

I emmersed myself in The “Monsanto Years” before the Camden, New Jersey show and, much to my surprise, it is some of the best work Neil has put out  since “Psychodelic Pill”.

I got a late start toward Camden, and traffic crawled, but I made it to the Susquehanna Bank Center in time to hear Mr. Young singing a solo acoustic “Old Man” 

This tour starts off solo acoustic and after players in white Hazmat suits spray the seeds that had been placed on the stage with faux pesticides, the Promise of the Real appear on stage with Neil to play “Hold Back the Tears” and what turns into a country rock set before finishing up the three hour plus concert with a fiery electric barrage by Young and his baby colt.

Solo acoustic, greatest hits, golden nuggets, new music, electric distortion; this show had something for everyone from the casual fan to the hardcore fanatic. The Promise of the Real started out as “the band with Willie Nelson’s sons” but turned into another brilliant decision by Young as he fed off of the much younger group who is earning a Masters degree in rock and roll all the while standing toe to toe with the king of grunge. It is an amazing concert alive in the moment as Young and the band travel the country changing up the setlist as his new cohorts learn the tunes along the way. There are too many highlights to list them all but the energetic frontman shreds on the new tunes as well as “Down by the River”, “Cortez the Killer”, or “Cowgirl in the Sand” which he played in Bethel Woods near Woodstock where he voiced his displeasure at there being no pit in front of the stage.

In Camden and Bethel Woods, Darryl Hannah was seen on the down low wearing a hoodie while videotaping the show from the side of the stage with what looked to be an IPad and a cell phone.

At Jones Beach Theater, we arrived before the venue was open to the public and my wife managed to outmaneuver some Neil Young fans from all over the country who came to see a true rock and roll legend; we had a front row view from the general admission pit as Young added yet another extraordinary chapter to a career like no other.

Long May You Run

GQ