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The John Mortimer Hearseberger Evans Review

Kurt Johnson's Review

Bud Van Ryn and Kevin Yagle's Review

Stephen Changed Mind Golledge's Review

Ruben The Great Bullfighter Arellano's Review

Don Adair's Review

The Bruce Berry Review

michael hirano's Review

The Gorge RustFest

Cool dual-review of Neil's & Pearl Jam's Shows.

Nolan Zak's Gorge Experience.

The Set List

Hello!

I don't know what to say about the Gorge show other than "Wow!" Being that this was my first Neil Young concert, he and the Horse could have played T-Bone for two hours and I'd still have been in nirvana!

It's about a 3 1/2 hour drive from La Grande, Oregon to the Gorge, so I left about noon on Saturday and had an uneventful but adrenaline- filled trip to a nice viewpoint ten minutes from the venue. I got there about 3:40, and Lost Dog had said we should all meet about 3 p.m. I thought I'd be too late to meet any Rusties, but a great group was still there! I had the pleasure of meeting Clayton Trapp, Mike Joss, Mike Currie the Lost Dog, Ruben Arellano the Great Bullfighter, Brad MORE BARN! Brandeau and his friend Kumi (sp?), Mick Ring, Rick Selby and then Jim Lagerquist as well! Lost Dog made certain I didn't go thirsty, we all signed the MORE BARN banner and then convoyed to the Amphitheater.

Clayton, Brad and Kumi and I weren't staying overnight, so we parked in the big lot and journeyed to the camping area, about 1/4 to 1/2 mile away, to meet the campers. Bruce Berry (aka Mike Durham) showed up, and Steve Golledge came too. Soon Sandra and David Verhoeff from B.C. came by, and then David Mullan (our gracious ticket purchaser/distributor!) Nolan Zak (Campaigner) and Patrick Abadi and three friends were there also.

After some beers and fun conversation, we all gradually made it back over to the parking lot/ concert area. Rustie John Tosch was right about Gorge security... I was not allowed to bring in my water bottle or my bottled coffee drink. I guess they must have figured I was bringing in a bunch of hits of purple microdot in the water and that I would then proceed to use the empty coffee drink bottle as a weapon in a drug-crazed frenzy!   :-)>   (Paranoia strikes deep... actually I can understand them not wanting any broken glass in the venue... but geez....!)

Anyone else get any tour t-shirts? I got the black one with the two-hands/guitar frets design that says "Neil Young" and has the feathers. Nolan and his crew all grabbed their own black ones that have the action shot of The Man! There went most of the rest of my bucks for the evening, but so what, I can stand to lose a few pounds... who needs meal money?   :-)>

Sponge had started playing by then, so I went and found my seat and although I had thought Sponge would suck I enjoyed them quite a bit!

I found my two eastern Oregon friends, Karyl and Adam (Karyl absolutely wants to subscribe to the list! Adam is pretty interested.) They sat to my right, and Brad and Kumi were to my left. Patti Smith was IMHO incredible. Her set lasted about an hour, and she did a lot of spoken word/poetry to a background of very intense psychedlic guitar... Lenny Kaye was in her band, and so was ex-Televison guitarist Tom Verlaine, who sat in a chair at the far left of the stage throughout the set, wearing an interesting looking sort-of fur hat and noodling away on his guitar!

Near the end of Patti's set, a roadie came out and whispered something to her, and then Peter Buck of REM came out and sat in on Not Fade Away. "Oh, just dropped by, and thought since I was in the neighborhood...." ! Patti Smith's set got a pretty warm response for the most part, I thought.

Things were getting pretty exciting now! Neil and The Horse came on about 9:15 if I remember correctly, but I was pretty addled by nerves by then! It had been fun watching the road crew setting up the stage; the organ was back behind the drum set, which sported the jolly roger flag. Several dream catchers hung from the amps on left stage, and atop one amp was a little statuette of a Native American on horseback (it's the popular sculpture/scene I can't think of the name of at this moment) made from what looked like jade. Large white candles were place on stage, maybe about six of them.

Neil was wearing the knee-length baggy shorts and a rather plain-looking greenish-gray short-sleeved shirt, short black socks with Nike logos, and what looked like cross-trainer shoes. He looked comfortable. Billy was dressed in white for the most part; he had a light white jacket over a Rage Against The Machine t-shirt. Pancho had on a t-shirt with a picture of Hendrix. I couldn't see much of Ralph, just a head with a black baseball cap on backwards and arms everywhere around the drums!

The next two and a quarter hours were like an ecstatic blur; Billy in his semi-trance state, playing his bass as if he was under some kind of spell, opening his eyes now and then, contorting his face here and there... Pancho was laughing a lot, having a wonderful time... and Neil was absolutely incredible, playing his guts out the entire time... despite a more-or-less steady rain for the last 3/4 of the show! Ralph would hit a crash cymbal and a spray of water would explode from it... the candles had to be re-lit periodically... when Neil would stomp, water would splash up sometimes. Everybody got wet, but it mattered not!

I am not good at remembering setlists... that is best left for others to relate later. My personal highlights were Like A Hurricane, Big Time and Fucking Up, although it was all fantastic! And some of the endings were amazing... Neil and the guys were getting into some pretty avant-garde goings on, i.e. pounding on guitars with fists, Neil busting a bunch of strings and beating what strings were still attached with the broken ones, and retiring Old Black for the night by pouring on a large splash of candle wax... ! He would sing a few lines of songs while all this was going on... almost in self- parody?

The endings I remember mostly were from Like A Hurricane, Fuckin' Up and Rockin' In The Free World.... wow! Anyone who taped the show, PLEASE contact me!   :-)>   (especially if you got it on video!   :-)>

The acoustic numbers were beautifully done, and I never cease to be amazed by Neil's harmonica playing abilities...

So, watching a couple of hours of The Horse having a blast while Neil stomped, jack-knifed, spun, gyrated, jumped, contorted, catharted sweated and did what he does best... only serves to confirm what I have known for the past 29 or 30 years: Neil rules!

After the show, I waited for Brad, who had an errand to run, but got chased away from near the stage by the security folks. I also got to meet Todd Devries, Jon Osterberg, Don Leary and Barbara Hardaway and Kurt among others. Bill Booth, Mirror Bill, The Prisoner, Jason, Matt, Mathew and any other NW Rustfolks in the Rows, I will meet you too one day!

The trip home was long. Long enough that I started falling asleep at the wheel, so about two hours short of La Grande I stopped at a Motel 6 (Motel Sux) for about five hours of sleep (I couldn't sleep longer because I was still too wired!)

And I'm not wired now, either, eh! People who are wired don't sit and blabber aimlessly for this long now, do they?   :-)>

Actually, I'm wired for the rest of my life! Thanks Brad, thanks David Mullan, thanks everybody, and THANKS NEIL!!!!!

many cheers,

John W. Evans (Mort)
aka Mortimer Hearseberger

Well, Here I sit back in New Brunswick, jet-lagged, tired, spaced out and still fucking pumped.

First, an update. I was that Major Groveller who had a west coast business trip fall in his lap and who pleaded for both a ticket and a ride from the Rust Community. The Rust Community came through BIG TIME and it was all meant to be.

First of all thanks to Lost Dog's (Mike Currie's) wife who did not go to the show. I got her ticket! It is my personal opinion the ticket went to the right person. Thanks to Lost Dog who couriered the ticket to me so it was in my hand on Thursday. And, thanks to Barb Hardaway who responded to my pleas for a ride almost immediately. Fucking Saints, I tell you.

So, I get on the ferry in Victoria on Saturday morning and my adrenaline is beginning to flow. I meet up with some YOUNGsters who are heading to the show. They know not of RUST but are on their own pilgrimage. So half of the time is spent in the lounge with these "kids" ( "...and I'm getting old") listening to one fellow play some real nice guitar and singing along. The other half was spent on the deck watching the Puget Sound go by and singing Neil (ask me for my set list).

Get to the dock. Catch a cab and to my hotel. God, it is all happening. Get my key and an extremely piercing alarm goes off. Everyone out in the street, it is not a test (Well, I used to be a fireman). The Fire Dept came and I sat there for 15 minutes thinking "I will not let this fuck anything up". Just as I am about to get a room at the hotel across the street, they let us in. Rush upstairs and call Barb Hardaway. Yes, she is there and my ride is still on. I love you Barb!!!

Barb's daughter was coming also, but her ogre of a boss was making her work 'til 4:00. So, I met Barb a bit earlier and we burbled around a bit 'til it was time to head off. Off we went and headed to the Gorge. Nice ride full of Neil and Neil-related banter. Let me tell you, that car has a hell of a heating system. We got there about 7:15.

The Gorge is kind of a weird place. I mean it is totally in the middle of nowhere ("Everybody knows this is..."). Kind of like the movie Field of Dreams - "build it and they will come". We park and by now I am rising off the ground in a Pre-Neil, internally driven drugged state. I make a decision to leave my raincoat in the car. A real inspired decision.

We funnel into the sight like cattle. I go for a bottled water and then head for the seat. The place is pretty different than I expected, as I'd expected a "shed" like Saratoga or Great Woods (I had seen Neil there a few weeks earlier). No, this was totally open with fold-up, movable seats. I had a fleeting thought that maybe I should have brought my rain coat. Nah! I get down to section C, row 6, seat 4 and it is heavenly. I'm at about "2:00", from the Neil's viewpoint, about 30-40 feet from his Rustiness. Oh lord, it was a good seat.

I meet Lost Dog, Steve and a couple others and Patti Smith is starting her set. Pretty calm at first with her acoustic guitar. That did not last long. She is definitely a wild woman who appears quite on the edge of it all. Pretty soon she is wailing away and the band lets loose. Peter Buck showed up and they did kind of a Deadsy Fade Away. I really liked it and was figuring this would certainly inspire Neil to great heights. Bingo.

In between sets, I metd a few more great Rusties. I wish I would have made an effort to meet John and the others but I was a bit too excited to think straight. About 9:15 the Nazi's told us to get to our seats and soon we were off on a musical ride. Like I said, I had seen Neil at Great Woods a few weeks earlier. I had seen him once before that in '83 with the Shocking Pinks. So, I knew what to expect. Time for my education to begin.

Almost as soon as Neil and CH started, so did the rain. Light rain at first. From the first note this seemed like it was to be a special evening. Correct. What a great view. God, he was facing right at me and so close. The volume -- perfect. Deafening but not lethal. It was a Pocahontas night which was fine with me, since I had gotten Powderfinger at Great Woods. Other than that, the set list was the same as GW through the acoustic set.

It has been mentioned that Neil had a "writers block" during LMYR. Actually, it was a long one. And it does seem to me that he was playing with us Rusties' heads when he announced "bonus song" and began a fairly long amble into some chord changes. We guessed Interstate and this and that. But then he goes into Heart of Gold and gives a particularly devilish smile. Messing with our minds, I tell you.

Fucking Up was particularly inspired with some extra little fun verses. By the time Hurricane came, it was definitely not raining lightly. The Techies were covering this and that with plastic. Let me tell you, not only did the rain not matter, it made it better. I really got the feeling that Neil was feeling something like "These folks are enduring some discomfort out there so I am gonna muster up a little extra special". He was even more possessed than usual. Hurricane is best in the driving rain I tell you. Unfuckingbelievable.

The encore really was magnificent. Sedan Delivery just plain shows these guys have more fun than seems humanly possible. That was THE BEST TONIGHT'S THE NIGHT I HAVE EVER HEARD!!! It started off kind of bluesy and spooky like the side-2 original and proceeded from there to Weld-like destruction. Roll Another Number was great but I was getting nervous that this would be it. But then Welfare Mothers came up next -- I was so glad he played this one. I think the boys were really getting off on how loud we were all singing. (I still really don't have much of my voice back!)

At his point I was so soaking wet that I took my flannel off and was just in my Rust@Death shirt in the rain. Not cold at all, however. Neil was flapping his soaking wet shirt at his strings adding a new technique to his arsenal. Last but not least was Rockin' In The Free World in which the Star Spangled Banner morphed into chaos and into Taps. Nice touch.

The thing about this concert was, when it was over I think I'd really had it. I had been "dancing" almost all night. My dancing is akin to my down-hill skiing. Not very pretty, out-of-control, on the edge and dangerous. Also very exhausting. Neil is in far superior shape than I am, but I tried to keep up. By the time it was done, there was no doubt he had given us his all.

What next? We headed over to the RUST Camp which Lost Dog assured us was "five minutes away". We soon came to the conclusion there is a world of difference between "Pre-Neil time" and "Post-Neil time". Especially when it's "soaked-and-cold-post-Neil time". Anyway, we hung out for a bit and then headed off.

Thanks to the Rusty who drove us to Barbs car, which we finally found. The ride home was long, because:

• it was raining
• the lane markers were poor
• it was often foggy
• there is a 45 mile downhill to Seattle and we were a bit paranoid about Barb's car hydroplaning

Now I hear Neil will do another leg in Canada. He is coming to St. John, which is an hour from my house. Oh, lord here we go again. Stay tuned for news of a St. John RustFest...

I must be doing something right in this life.

Kurt

Whew! What a night at the Gorge! Rain or shine indeed. About a third of the way through Neil and Crazy Horse's act, the wind and rain arrived ... on-time, as promised. Well, everyone just donned rain gear and hung in there. The rain came from behind and (of course) above, and those of us deep on the bowl floor of the ampitheatre were fairly immune from its worst effects. That can't be said for the band. The storm came at them head on, horizontal rain gusts soaking the stage and everything on it. Within minutes they and their equipment were sloppy wet.

Neil stomped around the soggy stage, his wispy thin cotton-candy hair limp and matted, his grunge t-shirt and baggy shorts and black high-top tennies soaked through. Spray splatted from every stomped puddle. Ralph Molina's crashing cymbals gave off mist shards mimicing their sound. No mistaking it. These guys and their million watts of equipment were wet and getting wetter.

Two thoughts hit me with succeeding levels of discomfort: