Website dedicated to Neil Young and his music
Neil Young in Toronto (September 2003)
So... Here I am, back in Montreal, sitting in front of my PC and wondering how to put in words those 3 days. Impossible, but I’ll try my best! These words come from a changed man! I’m trying to avoid the exaggerations but it’s hard. I’m not trying to monkey Bob Young here but the tale will come from the beginning ‘till the end. Just as I lived it, so that you can better understand how I felt during those moments.
We’re in the morning of Sept. 4th. I’m still hesitating. My last Neil show was such a huge disappointment that I’m almost ready to drop it... just not go... What’s more all my friends are doing something else and nobody can come with me. I sold one of the two tickets I had to somebody else and I’m supposed to go there alone. I was hoping that I could go to see the Greendale movie but the person who was supposed to get the ticket couldn’t do it because the line-up was too big. The Bridge School Benefit with Astrid Young and Tom Wilson which I had the tickets for also has been postponed... So there’s not much left and I’m really not sure if I wanna make a 6 hour trip. Still, I’m packing up my stuff and at about 11AM I’m on the road. I was supposed to get going at 9AM but I just wasn’t into it... So here I am on the road. Just on the frontier of Ontario a cop stops me for speeding. I was only going 128 km/h just like everybody else but he must have disliked my Québec license plate. I went by car to save some money and here you go... 135 bucks outta my pocket just like that. The jerk put the wrong last name on the ticket (the dumbass can’t do even that right) so maybe I’ll be able to get out of it. There’s lotsa traffic on the highways in Toronto (I’m getting there at 4PM... What do you expect?) so I only have the time to drop my stuff at my parent’s friends’ house in Mississauga (about 30 kms away from the ACC), grab a cup of coffee and I’m back on the road. an hour and a half later I’m back in Toronto but it’s 6PM. The show is starting at 7PM so no time to go to the rustfest... too bad... Another surprise, you can’t park in the streets in Toronto. Parking costs 20 bucks... What can I do? Protest? Great! Next time I’m taking the train, that’s for sure. I’m taking a walk just to kill some time, I stop by a convenience store and I buy the Guitar Player with Neil’s interview in it. Gonna have something to read before the show. I know I’m annoying you with all that crap... That’s only because I was annoyed myself... You gotta go through all that with me... Just like in “The Vanishing”.
I sit down at my seat after two paranoid security nazis check my ticket to see if I’m REALLY sitting there. Yeah I know! I’m wearing a Neil Young shirt and I’m sitting in the 8th row. Can you believe that?! I start reading the article while sipping on my jumbo beer when the guy I sold the second ticket to arrives. We exchange a few words then I say “Last time I came I was sitting back there and I was surrounded by a buncha assholes so it really wasn’t a great experience” He says “Well right now you’re gonna have just one sitting next to you”. OK! That’s better... I’m starting to like the guy. He’s an Anglophone from Québec, I didn’t know such a race existed, which I tell him. He’s a musician (of course) and it’s the first time he sees a Neil Young show. He asks me if I’m one of those obsessed dudes called Rusties. I tell him sort of... So he’s an asshole and I’m obsessed. Cool! Then come two other guys, Simon and a French Rustie Philippe. We talk a little bit and then it’s time to calm down... Emmylou has arrived. On time!!! I don’t really like her stuff. A little bit too country for me but her rendition of Wrecking Ball is great.
An hour or so later Neil arrives. Incredible I can see his face! Last time I didn’t know which was Neil and which was Billy... OK, now I’m exaggerating but only a little bit. This time I know the music and I know what it’s about. For the first time I see that monstrous thing that he’s singing into. For the first time... I’m seeing Neil live. Like I said in June. This was the first time I saw him live. The other time was nothing! I totally understand people who don’t want to go to show if they’re not sitting in the front rows. It’s almost not worth it. Especially not a 100 bucks! I’m not gonna tell you in details how I felt during the show. It was too incredible to describe I was so into it! I was in a trance! By the way, thanks to Brian for the illicit substance. I wasn’t stone because there wasn’t enough of it but I was really feeling goooood! It was just perfect! It’s not like I needed it or anything but it sure helped me relax, just let myself go and let the music penetrate me! I loved every little bit of it! Greendale HAS to be heard live. Otherwise it makes much less sense. Especially the studio version. When Be the Rain arrived I was ready to take off.
The second part was also much much better than the first time. First he
played 2 more songs and he played Down By The River, Cinnamon Girl, Fuckin’
Up and Prisoners of Rock And Roll! All of which I looove! The first time the
only song he played that I really liked was Like A Hurricane. I’m not that
crazy about Powderfinger and Hey Hey, My My... Yeah they’re classics but...
When he started playing Cinnamon Girl I called myself with my cell phone and
recorded about 15 seconds of it. First thing I did when I came back was to
listen to it. The quality is of course atrocious but who gives a damn! There
was a guy just on the left of me who was so into it! He was dancing all the
time and giving everybody fives! When Prisoners of Rock And Roll started I
thought the guy was going to die with excitement!!! An old hippie having
some good time... Is there something nicer to see in this world? hee hee.
Now the dark sides... Well, what would
be a tcheb’s review without the dark sides, huh? First the security Nazis! They
were fuckin’ MAD! Anybody who made one step ahead was instantly sent back! the
Nazi in my section almost picked a fight with two guys. There was a girl who was
coming back every 5 minutes just to piss the guy off I suppose. She was stubborn
as hell! But all she wanted to do is dance and nobody complained. The Nazi
didn’t wanna listen to her. He was just yelling like hell! What a jerk! I’ve
never seen something like that. I was at a Lou Reed concert in New Hampshire a
few months ago. During the encores everybody approached the stage and no
security guy said a word! Anyways... They a bunch of fuckin’ mad Nazis... that’s
all...
Second, all the best rows remained unoccupied during most of the show. Maybe 2 songs before the end a buncha business looking guys with a few Britney Spears came and sit down. “Hey I’ve got a few VIP tickets for some rocker this evening. Let’s go eat after the meeting and then we’ll see what it’s all about. But no hurry! We wouldn’t wanna miss a good meal would we?” They weren’t annoying at all end they even looked like they were having some good time but still. It’s unacceptable!
All in all, the show was one of the greatest live experiences I ever had. I think only the Tom Waits show could compete with that. I had such a great time! All my worries blew away on the first note of Falling From Above and it just kept getting better. I think cutting the speaking was a good idea. It suited the acoustic shows but not the electric. Anyways, everybody knows by now what it’s about.
So the show is finished. We get together with Simon, Brian, Philippe and Shawn and we start looking for the car. When we finally find it, two beautiful girls stop us and ask us for help. That’s the droll moment of the evening. Their car is dead and they need a boost. Not only did they get their boost but also quite a show! Imagine 5 guys fighting for who’s gonna connect the wires! Everybody wanted to do something, when all it takes is to connect two goddamn wires! But hey! We had to make it look as if it was rocket science! Hee hee... Anyways, their car started and we were all so proud of ourselves that our torsos couldn’t fit in our shirts anymore! When we got into my car I said to the other guys: “Hey! The girls were at the show, maybe we should invite them to the Rustfest!” Brian replies almost yelling: (I have to specify that we were still pretty close to their car and that the windows were open) “Or maybe we should ask them to suck our cocks!” Without any other word we got outta the parking as fast as possible.
When we get to the Bedford Academy there are only about 5 or 6 people. We sit down, listen to Pat’s and Jim’s endless praise to Neil’s talent, drink a few beers, chat a little bit and so on and so forth. At about 1 or 2AM we’re all ready to go. Another rusted day is coming! Now it’s time to go to bed.
The next morning, I’m heading for the Festival box office to get a ticket for the movie. From what I understood from the website, individual tickets can be either purchased on sept. 3rd or the day of the screening 1 hour before the first screening which would be 3PM. At about 1PM I’m at the box office at College Park. I do a 45 minutes line-up (it’s already open, I wonder why) only to learn that I could’ve gotten the ticket the day before. Now I have to go to the theatre where it’s playing and do the line-up there. The movie isn’t sold-out yet but it’s already almost 2PM. I go to the Uptown as fast as I can, try to find a place to park my car (another 15 bucks outta my pocket) and start looking for the line-up. When I finally find it, it’s already about a 100 meters long. I find Patricia (I’m sorry was that your name???) with her mother (I’m sorry was she your mother??? My memory fails me sometimes...) so I join them in the line-up. about 2 hours later when I have absolutely no nails left to bite I finally get to the box office and, thank you god, I get the ticket. I really didn’t believe I would make it!
OK it’s 3:30 and the movie is at 9:30! 6 hours to kill. First I call Stephanie (my girlfriend) to share my excitement with her and I start looking for some place to eat. At exactly 6PM I finally find a place. Other than fast foods and a-million-dollar-a-piece-of-bread places there doesn’t seem to be lotsa restaurants in down-town Toronto. If there are they’re pretty well hidden ‘cause I thought I would just collapse with a note stuck to my forehead “drag me to the Uptown to see Greendale”
While wandering about the streets of Toronto I stopped at HMV’s and Sam’s (of course) and found a very hard to find Crazy Horse album “At Crooked Lake” and The Rocket’s album (the origin of Crazy Horse) from 1968! The first one is really great! The second is OK. It’s fun to hear what it was that turned Neil on.
At 8 PM I’m in the line to see Greendale. At 9PM I’m inside and sit down with Shawn and some girl from New York working in movie marketing. When the reserved places start to fill I realize I’m sitting 2 seats away from Bob Young - he looks exactly like Neil only fatter, I think that’s what Neil would look like if he hadn’t had polio - and maybe 5 from Poncho and Billy!
That reminds me. During most of the show I was stuck on Billy. He kept turning his back to us! Did you see his face? The guy looks like a tramp! His long curly hair fall on his face, his mouth looks as if he was permanently licking a horse’s ass, his back is always hung backwards... He’s just the coolest bass player I’ve ever seen! (BTW, Emmylou’s bass player was pretty cool too). I thought Poncho was the coolest but I realize I was wrong! Poncho is the battery, Billy is the soul and Ralph is the glue! They’re all indispensable to Crazy Horse but you all know that!
Then Neil comes, looking as usual like a bum, with a jumbo coke and popcorn. The guy presenting the movie (obviously a Neil Young fan) invites him to say a few words. Everybody starts laughing at him, so he just raises his popcorn and says: “What! We’re in a movie theatre!” And he goes back to his seat.
The movie starts! And I finally understand where the soundtrack-loop on the website comes from...
I was very nicely surprised ‘cause the movie was pretty damn good! The super-8 granular-textured images were really beautiful to look at! Some special effects were there to make us smile (Japanese Sci-Fi influence on Neil is hard to miss). The devil is the best! Still I don’t understand why he didn’t take the same cast as in the stage show! Ben Keith is a much less convincing Granpa than Larry. Russ Tamblyn was much better as the Captain than as some hard to notice TV crew guy... Sara White is magnificent as is Pegi! The movie really had a very positive effect on me on the whole. It’s much more structured and coherent than his other obscure masterpieces. The hardcores will also notice the presence of most of Neil’s family. The funniest moment though was Mr. Las Vegas! The sneak previews were too small so I didn’t even notice that it was Neil playing Wayne Newton. He’s so good in this role of a has-been star! The best shot on himself he ever took! This proves that despite all the praise critics are throwing at him he is still capable of laughing at himself and take it all lightly! Some might find it ludicrous but it’s definitely the movie’s strong point in my opinion! As for the story you already know what it’s about and the movie doesn’t add that much to it if you’ve seen the stage show (which actually features some excerpts from the movie). It just adds some funny subtleties. Definitely worth watching!
After the movie, the Q&A! Neil comes down still chewing his popcorn and
after maybe 2 seconds, when nobody raised hands, he goes “I’m outta here”.
The girl stops him laughing. Some guy asks the usual question: “Have you
recorded the songs linearly or randomly”. Neil answers as usual linearly and
gives a brief explanation that we’ve all heard and read thousands of times.
Somebody says welcome back! and Neil
just
raises his popcorn! (he didn’t
have no beer) Somebody asks what he thinks of Clear Channel. Almost shocked
Neil says “I don’t know how this is related to the movie but I can say
whatever the hell I want about Clear Channel!” Of course everybody laughs
and the guy must be saying to himself “Crap he didn’t get my question”.
Then, I think, I ask my question: “What do you think about public’s reaction to the Greendale project and all the controversy around it?” Neil doesn’t seem to understand what I’m talking about so I add “not only the movie but also the music and the whole project”. Neil answers incredulous “There’s controversy?” Of course everybody starts laughing their asses off! He adds “I’m proud to be controversial if that’s what you mean!” The girl holding the microphone turns to me expecting to push my question further but what she doesn’t know is that I got more than I bargained for. Not only did Neil answer my question (the answer being “I don’t give a damn about what the public thinks about it”) but I got Neil talking too me! That was ecstatic! I know I’m a fuckin’ groupie! Still, if you’re reading all that crap I’m writing you’re just as far in it as I am!
Some other questions were asked like “This is kinda a silly question (well, yeah!) but what's your all-time favourite album and why and what’s your favourite movie and why?” Everybody laughs again but surprisingly enough Neil takes the question seriously. Meanwhile someone yells something like “Yeah! Neil!” and Neil just smiles. He answers that his favourite album is some Jimmy Reed’s album but he can’t remember which one it is. He says “he has his back to the camera on the cover”. The movie part is much more tricky for him. He thinks quite a while then says. There’s this movie with Nicole Kidman... what was the title of this movie” he asks his producer “what was its title already? Oh yeah! Moulin Rouge!” He says he loved this movie because it’s so unreal or something like that... That’s for the musical he says. He adds “as for the movies I really don’t know... that’s too hard... but my favourite recent performance would be Johnny Depp in the role of Captain Sparrow.” Then somebody asks which way of performing Greendale he likes the most. He says that he felt very uncomfortable in the chair watching the movie ‘cause he couldn’t control it. He also tells his producer that he spotted an error in the movie. I don’t remember which one it was. He adds that when he’s onstage he’s in total control of everything that’s going on and that while sitting there in the theatre he felt very powerless. He also attracted applauds when he said that he used to come to the Uptown when he was a kid and that it’s really a shame that it’s being demolished soon. I don’t remember the other questions, sorry...
That was it for the movie. I got out
pretty fast and went to sleep. Some beautiful black haired woman in the Young
family section smiled at me when I was going out but I don’t know who she was.
Maybe she felt sorry for Neil ridiculing me in front of everybody with his
stupid answer. As if he didn’t know what I was talking about...
Outside I called Stephanie again and, again, shared my excitement. She couldn’t believe that he was there at the movie and that I got to ask him a question! She’s really the perfect girlfriend! I mean most gals would tell themselves what a maniac! But she’s totally in it with me and she’s so happy when stuff like that happen!
The next morning I get up, have a little chat with my host and I’m off to Montreal. But then I think of those beautiful posters that were hanging on the walls all around the Uptown... I go back!
An hour later I’m at the Uptown asking the girl at the entrance if by any chance they wouldn’t have any extra posters for the Greendale movie. She says no (of course!). I start walking around the theatre looking at the posters. I can see that some people tried to tear them off ‘cause there are some corners that are shredded. Impossible to do. Anyways the posters would be completely wasted because of that glue. Then I see a Vietnamese restaurant right in front the Uptown that has the poster scotched to the window. I go there, make them believe that I’m working for the TIFF and that I’m collecting those Greendale posters ‘cause the movie was yesterday and we don’t need them anymore. The girl says “Ah OK! You want me to tear it off?”. “Nooooo” I answer “don’t give yourself any trouble! I can do that for you!”. “OK! Thank you”, she says! I don’t know if she heard me laughing my head off outside but who the hell cares! I got this beautiful 24X36 poster of Greendale (just to give you an idea of proportions those black squares are CD cases).
I can go back to Montreal listening to the Crazy Horse CDs I just got yesterday!
