Niedziela 9 Mar 2008, 7:25
"I love to get hammered on a Friday night, sometimes I can't wait so Monday's alright" Neil Young, Dirty Old Man.
It would be nice to be writing an excited review of a great Neil Young show (which it was) but the curse of the allocated seat struck and we were stuck next to some of the most obnoxious people I’d ever encountered at a gig. So let’s get the moan over with first.
We’d spotted (no, the whole upper tier had spotted) a guy in the bar before the show shouting crap at the top of his voice and maybe we’d all thought, charitably, “perhaps he’s forgotten his medication.” But no, he was just a drunken jerk and, despite the “no drink in the auditorium” signs, the friendly Hammersmith staff actually helped him find his seat, pint in hand, directly in front of us – a good 15 minutes into Neil’s acoustic set – where he proceeded to engage the people either side of him in attempts at conversation (sample: “Is that Neil Young on stage. I love him”), shout “encouragement” to Neil, before his grand climax of vomiting on the woman seated in front of him (I hope the Apollo have offered her free tickets to all the remaining shows). This led to a spat all the way through the last number of NY’s acoustic set between the stewards and the drunk. Thankfully one of the more sound HA stewards talked him out of the auditorium between sets.
As if this bloke wasn’t sufficient distraction, we also had two numb-nuts sitting in the aisle beside us who were either too drunk to find their proper seats or who had got in on duplicate tickets. They spent their time alternately trying to persuade some poor guy in front of us out of his seat (not the other drunk, sadly) or just talking crap between themselves. Again, all this through the acoustic set.
Maybe we were just unlucky. Or maybe some people out there need to ask themselves some difficult questions about why they bother going to gigs in the first place (aren’t there cheaper ways to get drunk and make enemies?).
Anyway, the music…..
When we could focus on the acoustic set, we got some real treats. A lovely Heart Of Gold, a very rare outing for Flying On The Ground Is Wrong, a version of Mellow My Mind on the banjo that beat the album version hands down and a very confident Ambulance Blues. Laid out around him, NY had a large selection of his guitars and a couple of pianos to choose from and he genuinely looked like he was picking songs and instruments on a whim, wandering the stage lost in thought between numbers. His voice and playing were great.
The real blast for me though was the electric set with the band that followed. Not only had the jerks left the auditorium by now but this was a set that would have cut through anything anyway. Kicking off with a riff-heavy Mr. Soul, NY played like a demon for an hour, with a good chugging Spirit Road, a long discursive Down By The River and, best of all, a version of Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black) that reminded me why the fan I’d seen earlier wearing a Sonic Youth t-shirt wasn’t out of place after all.
If you’re catching Neil later in the tour, you’re in for a treat. Just be careful where you sit.