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John Wood's Review
(more reviews coming)
Also See:
The show details.
A Boston Herald review. He REALLY wanted the hits...
A Boston Globe review. He pretty much did too...
While leaving the show last night I heard complaints
that "Neil didn't have his best stuff tonight." That clearly came from
the "wine-n-cheesers" who expected a "greatest hits" set. Instead of
listening to the same tunes spoonfed by "classic rock" radio, they should
have dusted off their copies of Comes A Time and the
Decade compilation. This was a NUGGETS show!
I had arrived at Great Woods (I loathe the name Tweeter Center)
and reached my seat a few minutes before the Pretenders took the stage
and played a most enjoyable warm-up set. Chrissie Hynde was quite cool, with
an engaging stage presence -- and possessing a great rock-and-roll voice in her
own right. I wasn't big into the Pretenders back in the early 80s --
then again, I loathe most of the popular music produced during that period.
But they scored points right off the bat with a cool cover of The Loner
to open their set.
There were a handful of Pretenders tunes that were gems -- the
understated Talk Of The Town, the *way* cool My City Was Gone
(where I did my first dancing of the night), the fun Back On The Chain
Gang and the fine Stop Your Sobbing. The set-closer was a
rearranged & inspired full-band cover of The Needle And The Damage Done.
Their encore of Middle Of The Road was pure rock & roll, with Chrissie's
harmonica solo adding that edgy touch.
Then came the main event. Any artist whom in the span of 2 hours and 5 minutes
who can make me cry three separate times, and give me a permagrin at some
serious musical breaks, is doing something right. Perhaps it helped that my
seats were excellent (15th row right side, but with the sweet *angle*), but
the bottom line is that Neil and this band are playing the real stuff!!!
The Motorcycle Mama opener was slow and deliberate,
with Pegi & Astrid taking the second and fourth
verses. Powderfinger was much the same, with the
first feeling of that locked groove from Keltner
and Duck both smooth as silk yet rocking.
I was downright giddy during Everybody Knows This
Is Nowhere -- one of Neil's finest pure rock anthems,
played to the bone.
Both the sweet I Believe In You and Unknown Legend
had Neil playing his black electric, working quite well
in giving a cool rock edge to the latter.
Where the corner was turned, though, was on Razor
Love -- so achingly beautiful that tears flowed from
my eyes as Neil and the band subtly built the ballad
to a gloriously understated peak. There's something
to be said about restraint and hushed dynamics... Here,
both were utilized magnificently.
From Hank To Hendrix featured plenty of harmonica
from Neil, with Astrid & Pegi's rough-but-just-right
harmonies complementing Neil's tenderness. Daddy
Went Walkin' in the hands of this band became a
good ol' hoedown! A playful shuffle that reminded me
once again IF IT AIN'T COUNTRY, IT AIN'T SHIT!
Once again, Neil changed moods, and the result
was that I dearly wished my sister Pam was
with me so we could have shared a long hug.
Piece Of Mind, simply put, was one of
the most beautiful, etheral, glowing and gorgeous
ballads I have ever experienced by ANY artist!
As I type this now on this Sunday morning, tears
are once again flowing from my eyes. The
placement of notes, the ache in Neil's vocal, the
bliss of Astrid, Pegi & Neil's harmony, the stunning
accompaniment...all I could ever ask for from a ballad
and more. Thank you, Neil!!
The next string of tunes were righteous and real.
Walk On was in a lower key, but contained every bit of
its playful personality -- "some get stoned, some
get strange, sooner or later, it all gets real, Walk
On."
Bad Fog Of Loneliness, a unreleased gem from
over 25 years ago, had that engaging feeling. Then
Winterlong placed another permagrin on me. It's
another of my personal favorite Neil rockers. Neil and the
band seemed to be where I belonged!
But then there's Words... Words... BETWEEN THE LINES
OF AAAAAAAAAGE! Thirteen-plus minutes of electric
bliss, with its slinky pace handled flawlessly by
the Duck and Keltner. It's a treat whenever the two
of them are on a stage backing anyone! But this was
good ol' rock-out Neil, bending stings, hurling his
body into every note, and there wasn't a single
dragging moment. The Real Stuff!
It was time to cry again, though... The full-band
treatment of Harvest Moon did that in the right
places. I *could* complain that Spooner Oldham's
organ was a touch loud in the mix from my vantage
point, but in the words of the late & great John
Coltrane, "Damn the rules, it's the feeling that
counts." Once again, tears of joy and bliss
flowed freely.
And again Neil shifts moods... The electric World
On A String was sheer coolness: Pure rock-out
fun! Then the set-closing Tonight's The Night
took that one step further -- played faithful to the
original arrangement with Neil attacking away
on piano. While this is not the rock-out of
Crazy Horse, it is pure feeling! This was
a snaky, slinky *greasy* groove, with Ben Keith's
steel touches perfectly augmenting Neil's piano.
The set seemed too short to end, primarily because
at that point, I was honest-to-God ready for
ten more hours of this stuff!
The night would not have been complete without
one more epic, and the 12-minute Like A Hurricane
delivered one. Neil's crazed electric runs wrapped
themselves around the urgent, rock-solid groove
by the Duck and Keltner. Finally, to close
the night, Neil "Mellowed Our Minds" with one
final dose of bliss... Wisely, he didn't shoot
for those impossible-to-reach high notes.
The last notes of the song ended a night that was sheer
bliss for me.
A few other notes: the "How ya doin'"
count for the night was 6, with one of them directed
to those "on the beach" (the lawn, which was filled with sand).
The only miffs I could think of was a slurred line in Powderfinger,
but Duck also chuckled about a goof he made that I didn't catch. Then
again, with crisp players like Duck and Keltner, anything off a millisecond
probably sounds erroneous to them.
Finally, while tickets were not cheap, I could
not complain one bit about last night. Music is
supposed to move you with many different feelings
and emotions: Neil did all that to me last night.
To those whom Neil failed to move because they wanted
to hear Heart Of Gold regurgitated the
umpteenth time, go home and listen to your
local radio station. For those like me there to see
NEIL last night, we were rewarded with bliss.
(more reviews coming soon... --RE*AC*TOR)