Personal experiences at concerts will pop up more as we move higher on the list, so I figured now would be as good a time as any to post the setlists from my shows with a few comments.
1991-02-05, Civic Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
w/ Crazy Horse
Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black) / Crime In The City / Blowin' In The Wind / Love To Burn / Cinnamon Girl / Days That Used To Be / F*!#in' Up / Cortez The Killer / Powderfinger / Love And Only Love / Rockin' In The Free World // Welfare Mothers / Like A Hurricane
This tour was the source material for Weld and the noise collage Arc. Nothing from this show was used because the venue was a dump with terrible sound (it has since been torn down), but I remember several songs, especially Cortez and Welfare Mothers, being better than their corresponding versions on Weld. I will have a LOT to say about this version of Cortez when we get to that entry. This was every bit the mindblowing experience that Weld sounds like, and remains one of the best concerts I have ever seen by anyone. Sonic Youth opened and was horrible. There's a significant biker crowd that comes to electric Neil shows. SY was not their thing and they were vocal about it. By this point, SY had decided that their sets weren't going to go over well regardless of what they did and were mailing it in. Social Distortion also opened but I missed them.
1996-08-16, Sony Music Entertainment Center, Camden, New Jersey, USA
w/ Crazy Horse
Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black) / Sedan Delivery / Big Time / Slip Away / The Needle And The Damage Done / Heart Of Gold / Sugar Mountain / Cinnamon Girl / F*!#in' Up / Cortez The Killer / Music Arcade / Like A Hurricane // This Town / Welfare Mothers / Rockin' In The Free World // Roll Another Number (For The Road)
What I most remember about this show, during which Broken Arrow was the current album, is that after Welfare Mothers, everyone figured there was one more "big" song coming, so factions on the lawn started bellowing what they wanted. The Gen-Xers got what they wanted with Rockin' in the Free World. The second encore of Roll Another Number very much functioned as a "cooldown after a freakout" type of thing. The openers were again strange choices: The Gin Blossoms (really?) and Ben Folds Five, who were good.
1999-04-22, Theatre at Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, USA
Solo
Tell Me Why / Looking Forward / War Of Man / Out Of Control / Dreamin' Man / Razor Love / Pocahontas / Philadelphia / Homegrown / Daddy Went Walkin' // Distant Camera / Ambulance Blues / Old King / Long May You Run / Harvest Moon / The Needle And The Damage Done / Slowpoke / After The Gold Rush // Good To See You / Heart Of Gold // Down By The River / I Am A Child
This was the first tour I got to discuss in real time with people on the internet (Neil did not tour in 1998, the year I got internet access). This show was the last night of a three night run at the Theatre at MSG. The highlight of the first set was the breakout of Razor Love, which had last been played regularly in 1984 (there were three random appearances in between) and which I knew from a bootleg 1989 radio broadcast I'd been given. The highlights of the second set were Ambulance Blues, a major song that is usually ignored for setlists but was getting run on this tour, and After the Gold Rush, which started on piano and switched midway to pump organ. I was also really happy to get my first Down by the River, even if it was acoustic. The electric gift would come later.
1999-04-24, Tower Theater, Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, USA
Solo
Tell Me Why / Looking Forward / War Of Man / Out Of Control / Albuquerque / World On A String / Don't Let It Bring You Down / Philadelphia / Love Is A Rose / Daddy Went Walkin' // Distant Camera / The Last Trip To Tulsa / Southern Pacific / Old Man / Long May You Run / Harvest Moon / Slowpoke / The Needle And The Damage Done / After The Gold Rush // Good To See You / Red Sun / Sugar Mountain // Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
This became known on The Rust List as "The Shut Up A$$hole show." Before Albuquerque or World on a String, as Neil was telling the story of the guitar he was playing, which had been owned by Hank Williams (and would later become the subject of "This Old Guitar"), some drunk lout interrupted him and yelled "Play it!" After a pause to process what had just happened, Neil sneered, "Shut up, a$$hole!" The venue erupted with laughter and cheers. This version of Philadelphia was extremely emotional, as you might expect (Upper Darby borders West Philadelphia and is not much different from it visually), and the After the Gold Rush may be even better than the NYC version I had just seen. Last Trip to Tulsa was a nice surprise, and Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere was a fun closer; it had not yet appeared on the tour and no one was expecting it.
2000-03-20, First Union Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
w/ Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young
Carry On / Southern Man / Stand And Be Counted / Pre-Road Downs / Heartland / 49 Bye-Byes / Slowpoke / Marrakesh Express / Faith In Me / Almost Cut My Hair / Cinnamon Girl // Helplessly Hoping / Our House / Old Man / Dream For Him / Someday Soon / Looking Forward / After The Gold Rush / Guinnevere / Out Of Control / Seen Enough / Teach Your Children // Woodstock / Long Time Gone / Ohio / Love The One You're With / Down By The River // For What It's Worth / Rockin' In The Free World
My first CSNY show occurred on their first real tour since 1974 and can be summed up thusly: Down by the Em-Effing River. People on the Rust List had reported that two nights before in Pittsburgh, they had taken Down by the River to a different level than displayed previously on the tour, and that peak continued at this show. Neil and Stills generated all kinds of beautiful noise during a version that lasted for about 20 minutes. That was such a dominating performance that I don't remember a whole lot about the rest of the show, other than being amused that an act that is always touting their cultural significance to the '60s and '70s closed with a song released in 1989. My high school buddy and I had nosebleed seats and just before the band took the stage, an usher gave us lower-level tickets that had gone unsold, so that was nice.
2000-08-09, Sony Music Entertainment Center, Camden, New Jersey, USA
w/ The Friends And Relatives
Motorcycle Mama / Powderfinger / Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere / I Believe In You / Unknown Legend / Dance, Dance, Dance / Buffalo Springfield Again / Razor Love / Lotta Love / Daddy Went Walkin' / Peace Of Mind / Walk On / Bad Fog Of Loneliness / Winterlong / Words / Harvest Moon / World On A String / Tonight's The Night // Like A Hurricane // Mellow My Mind
For this tour, Neil put together a band of legends: Duck Dunn, Jim Keltner, Ben Keith and Spooner Oldham (along with wife Pegi and sister Astrid). Much of what I have to say about this show is in entry #30, but I loved the mixing of everyday favorites (Powderfinger, Tonight's the Night (my first), Like a Hurricane) with underrated stuff that around then didn't surface often (I Believe in You, the whole sequence between Peace of Mind and Words, Mellow My Mind). Tonight's the Night with Crazy Horse usually sounds like the harder-rocking Part II that ends the TTN album; this version, with Neil on piano, sounded like the subtler Part I that opens it. The Pretenders opened, beginning their set with The Loner and ending it, unfortunately appropriately, with The Needle and the Damage Done.
2002-04-19, First Union Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
w/ Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young
Carry On>Questions / Military Madness / Wooden Ships / Goin' Home / Feed The People / You're My Girl / I Used To Be A King / Down By The River / Southern Cross / Almost Cut My Hair / Cinnamon Girl // Helplessly Hoping / Our House / Old Man / Guinnevere / The Lee Shore / Harvest Moon / Ole Man Trouble / Half Your Angels / Suite: Judy Blue Eyes // Let's Roll / Long Time Gone / Two Old Friends / Woodstock / Rockin' In The Free World // For What It's Worth / Teach Your Children
This had some of the same material as my first CSNY show, but more older stuff as none of C, S or N were promoting a new album (I irrationally love The Lee Shore, so this was fine). The excellent Goin' Home, which came from a Crazy Horse album Neil had scrapped the year before, was an early highlight. Neil had put out the flat Are You Passionate? (on which Goin' Home appears but seems really out of place) 10 days before, and the choice to give Two Old Friends, a long song that is neither musically nor lyrically interesting, a prominent place in the runup to the end was a poor one. Down by the River was good again but did not reach the heights of the version from 2 years before.
2003-07-02, Tweeter Center at The Waterfront, Camden, New Jersey, USA
w/ Crazy Horse
Falling From Above / Double E / Devil's Sidewalk / Leave The Driving / Carmichael / Bandit / Grandpa's Interview / Bringin' Down Dinner / Sun Green / Be The Rain // Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black) / Sedan Delivery / Prisoners Of Rock 'n' Roll / Powderfinger // Cinnamon Girl / F*!#in' Up
I went to a Neil Young concert and a theater production broke out. Yes, on this tour Neil performed Greendale in its entirety, with actors playing out the "script". As you will see in my end-of-list writeups, I am not a fan of Greendale, so most of the time I was more amused by my friend who was baked out of his mind than anything that was going on onstage. I also felt sorry for Poncho Sampedro, who did not play on the Greendale album and plunked away on an inaudible piano during that material. The highlight of the Greendale stuff was Carmichael, which elicited some sublime guitar passages from Neil. Luckily, the non-Greendale material was played with the same vitality as I'd seen at the 1991 and 1996 shows (coincidentally, all three had 3/4 of side 2 of Rust Never Sleeps, with a different song missing each time).
2006-08-12, Nissan Pavilion, Bristow, Virginia, USA
w/ Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young
Flags Of Freedom / Carry On / Wooden Ships / Long Time Gone / Military Madness / After The Garden / Living With War / The Restless Consumer / Shock And Awe / Wounded World / Almost Cut My Hair / Immigration Man / Families / Déjà Vu // Helplessly Hoping / Our House / Only Love Can Break Your Heart / Guinnevere / Milky Way Tonight / Treetop Flyer / Roger And Out / Southbound Train / Ole Man Trouble / Carry Me / Teach Your Children / Southern Cross / Find The Cost Of Freedom // Let's Impeach The President / For What It's Worth / Chicago / Ohio / What Are Their Names / Rockin' In The Free World // Woodstock
I went to a CSNY concert and an antiwar demonstration broke out. Neil reconvened CSNY to promote Living with War, whose message I appreciate but whose music I am not a fan of, for reasons I will get into in the end-of-list material. The tour made headlines for its relentless antiwar theme, both in Neil's new material and CSN's old stuff, and for Let's Impeach the President prompting boos and walkouts at shows in red states. That did not happen here, as we were in northern Virginia, which might as well be New Jersey politically. But I would have liked to see Neil do more than three older songs. The standout for me was the acoustic guitar battle between Stills and Neil on Stills' Treetop Flyer, a song about drug running that he wrote and first performed in the mid-70s but didn't release until 1991.
2006-09-30, Tweeter Center at The Waterfront, Camden, New Jersey, USA
Farm Aid 2006
w/ The Prairie Wind Band
Field Of Opportunity / Homegrown / After The Garden / Four Strong Winds / Harvest Moon / Human Highway
My first and only Farm Aid, I knew I had to go when it came to my state because I might never get the opportunity again. I wouldn't have expected half the set's songs to come from Comes A Time, but so it was. The performance got stronger as the set went on. There were also fine sets from Willie Nelson, Gov't Mule and Los Lonely Boys. And at no point would I have ever bet I'd see Jerry Lee Lewis live, but on this day I did.
2007-12-09, Tower Theater, Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, USA
w/ Ben Keith, Rick Rosas, Ralph Molina, Anthony Crawford and Pegi Young
From Hank To Hendrix / Ambulance Blues / Sad Movies / A Man Needs A Maid / Mexico / No One Seems To Know / Harvest / Journey Through The Past / After The Gold Rush / Mellow My Mind / Love/Art Blues / Campaigner / Cowgirl In The Sand // The Loner / Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere / Dirty Old Man / Spirit Road / Bad Fog Of Loneliness / Winterlong / Oh, Lonesome Me / The Believer / No Hidden Path // Cinnamon Girl / Like A Hurricane
This was quite the experience. It was the first of a two-night stand and both nights were filmed by Jonathan Demme for Neil Young Trunk Show, which was shown at a film festival in Canada but has been otherwise hard to find. I should get around to looking again. My wife and I bought snacks and drinks and then had to wait outside the seating area until we finished them, because no food or drink was allowed inside until the electric set. We missed the opening set of Neil's wife Pegi (no big deal) but were able to catch all of Neil's show. The acoustic set included four then-unreleased songs he had written in the '70s. Mexico, which I had never heard before, is one of the Homegrown songs and finally got its official release this year. On this tour, Neil for the first time unveiled it and another Homegrown song, Try (which was played the next night). I knew the other three from bootlegs; Sad Movies (which dates from 1976) remains unreleased, while No One Seems to Know (which also first surfaced in 1976) and Love/Art Blues (which was written with the Homegrown batch and played on the 1974 CSNY tour but did not make the cut for Homegrown) appeared on archival releases issued between then and now. This was my first Cowgirl in the Sand, which was acoustic (again, the electric gift would come later) and included Neil playing part of the solo using the mic stand for fretting. It was also my first The Loner, which started the electric set with the appropriate burst of energy. The electric set, with a band drawn from various outfits Neil had used in the past, included four songs from the then-current Chrome Dreams II, the highlight of which was the heavenly blowout of No Hidden Path, which must have lasted at least 20 minutes. The triumphant encore capped off an incredible night.
2008-12-16, Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, USA
Neil Young & His Electric Band
Love And Only Love / Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black) / Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere / Powderfinger / Spirit Road / Cortez The Killer / Cinnamon Girl / Oh, Lonesome Me / Mother Earth (Natural Anthem) / The Needle And The Damage Done / Light A Candle / Cough Up The Bucks / Fuel Line / Hit The Road / Get Around / Unknown Legend / Heart Of Gold / Old Man / Get Back To The Country / Off The Road / When Worlds Collide / Just Singing A Song / Cowgirl In The Sand / Rockin' In The Free World // Get Behind The Wheel / A Day In The Life
I came to this show even though it was the day after I got back from my honeymoon. My wife is a saint. Why did I feel the need to do this? Because not only was it a Neil show, but Wilco, one of my other favorite bands, was opening. They were great. Neil's set was on point ... and then he hit us with a bunch of songs from an album that hadn't come out yet (Fork in the Road). Most were about cars, and most had this churning kind of sound that came off as a more turgid approach to the Crazy Horse vibe. The ballad Light a Candle made a nice impression, though. This show is notable for the still-to date-only appearance of Get Around, a song recorded for Fork in the Road but left off the record, despite its lyrics appearing in the CD jacket. Another ballad, it's better than most of what did make it. The best part of the second half of the show was my first electric Cowgirl in the Sand, which the band tore through with vigor. A Day in the Life was an interesting choice for a Beatles cover since Neil has no interest in making Sgt Pepper kind of records, but it was a thing he was doing at the time.
I did not see Neil again until 2015 because my income was inconsistent during the Great Recession and Neil mostly played small venues with very expensive ticket prices during this time.
2015-07-16, Susquehanna Bank Center, Camden, New Jersey, USA
w/ Promise Of The Real
After The Gold Rush / Heart Of Gold / Long May You Run / Old Man / Mother Earth (Natural Anthem) / Hold Back The Tears / Out On The Weekend / Unknown Legend / Peace Of Mind / From Hank To Hendrix / Harvest Moon / Wolf Moon / Words / Flying On The Ground Is Wrong / Walk On / Bad Fog Of Loneliness / A Rock Star Bucks A Coffee Shop / People Want To Hear About Love / A New Day For Love / Down By The River / Workin' Man / Big Box / Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere / Monsanto Years / If I Don't Know / Love And Only Love // Cortez The Killer / Cinnamon Girl
Just like my first Neil show, my most recent one is one of the best concerts I have ever seen. While I have problems with The Monsanto Years and the other albums Neil has employed them for, Promise of the Real is in terms of versatility the best backing band that Neil has ever had. They are the only one that can execute all of his styles at a high level. This very long show (the longest of this tour or close to it) had a mix of favorites and surprises for the acoustic portion, a Buffalo Springfield rarity and some vintage 1972-74 stuff for the middle portion, and the best impression of Crazy Horse you could ever hope for at the end, even if most of it came with the inane lyrics of The Monsanto Years material. This Down by the River was long and glorious and every bit as good as the transcendent version I witnessed in 2000. The Cortez/Cinnamon Girl encore was <chef's kiss>. I never thought a 69-year-old would ever be able to put on a show like this, and I'm so glad I was wrong.
Since then, Neil has played only three shows within a reasonable distance from me, one of which was a festival (I don't do those) and two of which were very expensive small-venue gigs. Hopefully he'll have it in him to hit the road again once the pandemic is over.
(how they would do it today!)
, the Catalyst Club show from after Ragged Glory came out but before the Weld tour 
and Archives Vol. 2 1973-82 
