Website dedicated to Neil Young and his music
Neil Young in New York City (March 2004)
So here I am, sitting in front of my computer three days after coming back from New York City. I was so loaded with work because of this short getaway that I almost didn’t sleep for three days. But let me say right from the beginning, it was so worth it!
Where do we start
now. After a horrible night in the bus that I won’t describe in details (of
course I couldn’t sleep and there was an electrical problem with the hooter
making it go once in a while each time waking up the whole bus) we headed
directly to meet our dearest Rusties in the Travel Inn. While going up to the
room we met Paulette and then Joann still in her pajamas and with the cutest of
the morning voices I ever heard. Then the Germans came from the next room after
a knock on the wall. I wasn’t expecting anybody but Joann and there they were!
Seven people plus Stephanie and me in the same room. It was almost like a
Rustfest already! After Joann had enough time to put her clothes on (the same
nasty ones as the day before as she insisted on specifying several times) we
headed to the wonderful Tom’s Restaurant where Suzanne Vega wrote her Tom’s
Diner tune. By the way I was so pissed off because she’s doing a show this
weekend in New York City. Couldn’t she have done it a week earlier? Man catching
Neil and Suzanne on the same trip would be like a fantasy to me! Anyways, the
diner was really great. Great food, great mood and everything… Thanks to
Charley’s mom for the breakfast by the way! Greatly appreciated! And thanks
Paulette for the thrills I get every time I listen to On Broadway now (those who
were there will understand.)
Then we split with the other Rusties and Stephanie
and me headed to do a little sightseeing. We went through Central Park to the 5th
avenue and then to the Guggenheim. I hate modern art but still there were a few
nice sculptures and paintings I really liked. Then we continued on the 5th
avenue and headed straight to the Edison Hotel. What a great place! For $160
plus taxes you get a place on the corner of Broadway and 47th street,
right next to the Virgin Megastore (Bonzo’s paradise!). We rested for about an
hour and then went straight to the Sunshine Cinema to get tickets for the movie.
Of course it was sold out but we didn’t let go that easy. We went to get some
delicious polish food on 1st avenue (at Neptun, a place I strongly
recommend to anybody who wants to eat some delicious polish cuisine at a very
cheap price) and then back to the theatre. There wasn’t anybody selling tickets
but Joann was keeping one ticket for me. There was also another guy with
his girlfriend waiting for a ticket. Finally a guy came with an extra ticket,
gave it to him and our girlfriends went to see Les Invasions Barbares. That’s
right, she went to see a Quebecer movie in New York City. It’s almost like an
American going to a McDonnald’s in Africa, totally absurd. Still, I didn’t want
to leave her alone and she really wanted to see the movie so in the end
everything was for the best.
Again, I found all the highway crew inside and
listened to Neil introduce the movie in the shortest sentence ever : “I hope you
have as much fun watching the movie as we had doing it, no I hope you have twice
as much fun!” I liked the movie as much as I liked it the first time in Toronto
and still I think that the Wayne Newton part is the greatest and the Grandpas
death the most screwed up. At the shows I always hold my breath at that moment. In
the movie, the emotion just isn’t there, plus sorry but Ben Keith isn’t half the
Grandpa that Larry is! After the movie Joann showed us her pictures signed by
Neil and Eric. With Ralphie’s sticks it will be a nice souvenir from the tour,
won’t it? Anyways, after the movie we went to the Empire State Building and that
was it for the day.
On Saturday we were both so exhausted that we didn’t do half of the stuff we wanted to do. With every minute, I was beginning to look more and more like the guys in Dawn of The Dead. All we did was to have a breakfast on Times Square that wasn’t half as good as at Tom’s but cost four times as much. Then a short shopping in the Virgin Megastore and a little trip to Brooklyn. What a beautiful place it is! We wanted to go walk around Soho and Little Italy but we took the wrong Subway line and then it was too late. Crap! Back to the hotel, then to HMV to get the Greendale DVD-A and then to the Rustfest! Finally!
Ray did a great job organizing it! I almost burst in laughs
when I saw the picture of Neil welcoming us at the entrance! He had a box full
of boots he was giving out to people. When did he ever have the time to do all
that? Uwe made these great lanyards for everybody and we even had an LCD screen
to watch Hamilton. We were almost looking like Neil’s crew. A friend of mine is
a huge Bowie fan and he’s amazed at all the stuff Rusties do! I had great fun
talking to Andreas about Zappa and Beefheart, a very instructive conversation.
Definitively Germany is the place where people have the most exquisite taste and
elaborate knowledge in music. The stomachs filled with a great piece of Steak
and some Irish Ale, we finally headed to the Radio City Music Hall for the main
attraction of our trip.
First let me say that I was totally amazed by the hall!
What a beautiful place! It’s so much better seeing Neil in such a theatre than
in a damn stadium! The acoustics were splendid and the beautiful architecture
makes the whole experience so much more intense! Neil comes and starts
delivering his goods. I was totally amazed by the Greendale set this time. It was so
much better than the other times. All the songs were much more accomplished and
he was so loose singing them. In Toronto I had the feeling he wasn’t too sure
about what he was doing. This time he had it so figured out that he let himself
do a lot of wanderings in all directions with his voice, guitar and everything.
Maybe some won’t understand what I’m talking about. It was so subtle that it’s
very hard to describe but he definitely improved the tunes a lot from last year.
Especially Leave The Driving. For the first time I was totally blown away by
that song. It wasn’t a bit like the other times!
What’s more he added a great
deal to the story between the tunes. He was saying much more stuff than the
other times. About that I must also add that I was amazed by the New York-ish
audience. It’s incomparable to Toronto. I don’t know what it is and I especially
don’t mean to say that people in Toronto are assholes or anything because half
of the people were from other places anyways. I couldn’t believe it but except a
few yellers the people were so attentive to his story! In Toronto everybody, and
I mean everybody, was yelling all the time! So when I heard people complaining
about the very few assholes that were in the place I felt like laughing out loud!
People! you don’t realize what it was in Toronto! I was so sad when he stopped
talking near the end of the Greendale set. It felt like he was tired of forcing
it and just wanted to end it as fast as possible. The last few songs where
completely botched in my opinion. Right behind me there was a guy who was
completely unaware of all the concept and he was like : “Man it’s almost like a
stage play!” Well yeah dude! That’s what it was! He was laughing all the time
and he really had a great time I think. See Bob? There are casual fans who are
not assholes! When they started showing bits from the Rust Never Sleeps he was
like “Hey! That’s old stuff!”
And there it was! The second set. First another quite
unexciting Hey Hey, My My and All Along The Watchtower duo (I don’t know… I
never liked that particular Dylan tune.) All the time I was literally praying to
God to get Danger Bird. It would’ve been such a disappointment if he didn’t play
it. Then he did Powderfinger (again) and a totally amazing Rockin’ In The Free
World! Just to hear that, the whole trip was worth it! At the end of the song he
was just screaming the lyrics out and punching his guitar like a fucking madman.
An almost religious experience it was! Then he goes away and comes back with...
Yes, Bonzo’s most dear wish was granted. I heard Dangerbird live!!! And I still
can’t believe how insanely amazing this tune is! Ever since I heard it on Year
Of The Horse I was dreaming every night about hearing it live. It finally
happened! He could’ve done anything after that, my trip reached the culminating
point right at that moment. I was wishing he would play Farmer John too, but I
think he did it only once during that tour. Instead we got a very cool Drive
Back and then Neil told us something about Rolling Another Number for the Road
to Amherst and the end it was. To sum up, it was definitely my greatest Neil
show ever (I only saw him twice last year in Toronto though.) Leave The Driving,
Rockin’ In The Free World and of course Dangerbird alone were worth the price of
the ticket. Hell no, Dangerbird alone was worth the price!
After the show, we headed back to Applebee’s hoping to find some Rusties. We waited for an hour or so then sadly went back to out hotel. I was so disappointed at the fact that I didn’t get to say bye to some of the most amazing people I have ever met! Thanks guys and gals for making this whole experience so great. I’ll be looking forward to the next show! Someday soon I hope! And who knows what Neil will have in store for us this time?
