Neil Young and the Pretenders

August 26th, 2000

Pine Knob Music Theatre

Clarkston, MI

On Saturday night I had the pleasure of seeing Neil Young out at Pine Knob which is a nice outdoor venue. It was a crazy day and night all around and the show was fantastic from start to finish. Ali and I left Ypsialnti in the afternoon to go to our friend Angel's house for cocktails and appetizers before the show. Angel's boyfriend, Erec scored us 10th row VIP seats through his work so I was very excited. We got to Erec and Angel's place and drank a fair amount of vodka in a short time whil eating Artichokes and bruschetta that Erec made. After awhile we piled in Angel's car and headed out to Pine Knob. We also had VIP parking so we parked right near the entrance and headed for the VIP bar. We spent awhile there and then it started to rain a bit so we went to find our seats which were very close and afforded a great view of the stage. When we sat down an acoustic duo of called Tegan and Sarah were just finishing their set. Soon the Pretenders took the stage and broke into an unexpected version of Neil Young's "The Loner". It was a tight well played version and was a nice nod to Neil. Chrissie Hynde was in very good voice and danced and strutted around the stage in true rock and roll style. The highlight of the show for me was a great version of "My City Was Gone", one of my favorite Pretender's tunes. Near the end of the show Chrissie stopped and talked about how privledged she felt to be opening for Neil Young. Then she got down and kissed the satge where Neil would be playing in just a few minutes. When she stood up the band broke onto a nice version of Neil's "The Needle and the Damage Done".

During the break we returned to the VIP bar and then just as the lights went down we took our seats. Neil came out with band and he was dressed in a black Route 66 shirt and white, baggy shorts. They started right into a great version of "Motorcycle Mama". The two backup singers were Peggi Young (Neil's wife) and Astrid Young (Neil's sister) and they sounded really good. They both took a lead vocal during verses of the first song. On drums was none other than the great Jim Keltner who has played with just about everybody, including the Rolling Stones, John Lennon, the Traveling Wilburys, and Elvis Costello. On keyboards was longtime Neil cohort Spooner Oldman who played understated but lovely music all night. On the slide and steel guitars was Ben Keith who has also been playing with Neil forever and can be found on lots of Neil's most famous albums. Finally on Bass was Donald "Duck" Dunn who is a boyhood hero of mine because of his role in the Blues Brothers movie and band. Later I learned about Booker T. and the MGs and all the great music he made with them. I had the pleasure of seeing Booker T. and MGs back up Neil during a short tour in 1993 and then I saw the MGs at a small club in Chicago in 1994 but it is always great to see Duck Dunn. It was especially great to see him this time beacause he was looking and sounding great. Duck recently had a problem with with throat cancer, but he appears to be doing well now and his demeanor and playing showed that.

Early in the show Neil stuck to playing electric and ran through a string of great songs like "Everybody Knows this is Nowhere", "Powderfinger" and "Unknown Legend". Soon he switched over to his acoustic guitar and picked out songs like "Daddy Went Walking" and "From Hank to Hendrix". He went back into electric mode for great vesions of rare tunes like "Winterlong" and "Walk On". Neil's lead guitar work was very cool. He sounds like nobody else. Technically he is probably not a great player, but he sure puts his heart and soul into his solos. Another highlight was the song, "Words". Duck Dunn sounded like he was playing a six foot rubber band that reverberated through the whole theatre as it intertwined with Neil electric leads. Somewhere in there was an absolutely beautiful "Harvest Moon" also. After a nice "World on a String" with great backing vocals, Neil moved over to piano and delivered a chilling version of "Tonight's the Night" that was probably the highlight of the whole evening. It was slightly rearranged, but totally cool with Neil pounding away his barrelhouse piano and Duck playing the main riff on bass. That ended the main set, but the crowd was going crazy and soon the band reappeared and started into a soorching version of "All Along the Watchtower". Neil manages to capture the the spirt of this song perfectly with his arrangement and guitar playing. It was a great tribute to both Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix. I thought that might be the end of the show since they were reaching the curfew, but they went right into a "Cowgirl in the Sand" that lasted about 15 minutes and had lots of crazy playing by Ben, Duck and Neil. Soon it was over and Neil left the stage. The house lights went up, but the crowd was happy and tired. It had been a really well played show with a very cool setlist and I was happy too.