Review: Neil Young solo - 5/23/99 - Orpheum Theater - Mpls, MN

Neil Young - Orpheum Theater - Minneapolis, Minnesota - 5/23/99

Setlist
1. Tell Me Why
2. Looking Forward
3. Going Back [superb]
4. Out of Control (upright piano)
5. Cortez the Killer
6. Dreamin' Man [3rd time this tour. Possible lyrics flub]
7. Don't Let it Bring You Down
8. Philadelphia (grand piano)
9. Old King (guitjo) [Elvis is back from the dead!!!! First time in first
set. Longest intro yet: rambled for about 20 minutes - talked about every
dog he's ever owned...No, just kidding. Actually no intro, no commentary at
all. Nuthin' but music. Hmmm...]
10. Love is a Rose (guitjo) [rare back-to-back guitjo pairing]
11. Daddy Went Walkin' [radically different, totally cool, extended blues
intro. For a minute or so, several of us thought we were gonna get "Florida"
or something. Nonetheless, a particularly good version with an all new, I
think, intro]
[intermission]
12. Distant Camera
13. Razor Love [gorgeous version - highlight of the night for me]
14. Southern Pacific (guitjo)
15. Old Man
16. Long May You Run (pump organ)
17. Harvest Moon
18. Sugar Mountain [first main set performance of the tour. Typical intro,
but fairly reworked middle parts. A welcome change from another
paint-by-numbers version]
19. Slowpoke
20. After the Gold Rush (upright / organ combo version)
[encore]
21. Good to See You
22. From Hank to Hendrix [4th time this tour; first since 3/20 Oakland]
No second encore for the first time since early in the tour (not counting
Akron where he played 24 songs with one encore).

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little disappointed with the setlist last
night. There were a few wrinkles (love that new "Daddy"), but no bombshells.
He's only debuted one song in the 5 shows of this leg. I saw 38 different
songs in 3 nights in Chicago; these two shows in Mpls added only 2 more to
the list. Still, an excellent performance. He just seems to be getting
better as the tour progresses. It's dawned on me that the new songs are
pretty important to him and that they are sorta the backbone of the setlist.
As long as he keeps playing at the level he has been lately, I wouldn't
hesitate for an instant to see him, even if he played "Old Man" "HOG" and
"Sugar Mountain" every night. He did open the "book" last night to check the
words after "Dreaming Man." Too bad he didn't keep turning the pages looking
for some never-heard chestnut.

Neil wasn't quite as talkative as he was Sat. night, but again seemed to be
in excellent spirits. He became smitten with a young lad in the front row -
he referred to him as "young Skywalker," sang "Daddy" right to him,
dedicated SM to him and specifically played it early "before he falls
asleep," and tossed him a harp on his way to the upright for ATGR. That's
one lucky little dude!

Crowd was considerably better behaved than Saturday.

This was my fifth and, most likely, final solo show this year. I'm
definitely feeling the inevitable emotional letdown a day later. Like my
wife said last night after the show, "well, now it's back to our boring
lives!" It was great to hang with everyone in Chicago and Mpls - can't wait
to do it again.

Review: Neil Young solo - 5/22/99 - Orpheum Theater - Mpls, MN

Neil Young - Orpheum Theater - Minneapolis, Minnesota - 5/22/99

Setlist
1. Look Out For My Love
2. Looking Forward
3. War of Man
4. Out of Control (upright piano)
5. Albuquerque ("hank" guitar)
6. World on a String ("hank" guitar)
7. Pocahontas (12 string)
8. Philadelphia (grand piano)
9. Homegrown (guitjo) (long, rambling intro)
10. Daddy Went Walkin'
[intermission]
11. Distant Camera
12. Ambulance Blues
13. Southern Pacific (guitjo)
14. Old Man
15. Mother Earth (pump organ)
16. Harvest Moon
17. The Needle and the Damage Done
18. Slowpoke
19. After the Gold Rush (upright / organ combo version)
[encore]
20. Good to See You
21. Railroad Town (changed guitars and said "here's an extra one"
immediately after a loud request for "The Loner." For a few brief seconds I
thought we were gonna get a tour debut.)
22. Heart of Gold (extended version - coulda sworn he repeated a bunch of
verses - seemed to go on forever!)
[encore]
23. One of These Days


Wonderful show! Neil was in top form, fairly talkative and, once again,
seemed enamored with an old theater. Commented a few times on the venue and appeared to be in excellent spirits. This was a much more intimate setting
than the 3 shows I saw in Chicago at the Rosemont - the Orpheum is a very
ornate, cozy ol' theater. Crowd was fairly well behaved, but there were
several loud outbursts during the show. Pretty sure we "lost" a piano song
tonight. After "Philadelphia" he definitely hesitated at the piano and later
on in the 2nd set he made an unscheduled trip towards the Steinway and
almost sat down before resuming the regularly scheduled programming. Coulda
been "Flying on the Ground" or "Horseshoe Man" or ??? Not that we'll ever
know...

Set list was definitely lacking in big surprises, but there's always
tomorrow night. Very similar to the first Detroit show 3 nights ago. No
jaded whining from this cowboy, though, cuz the performances were superb.
"War of Man," "Southern Pacific" and "Railroad Town" were all killer
versions, as good as anything I've heard or experienced this tour.
"Albequerque / "World on a String" - it's always great to hear a "Tonight's
the Night" 1-2 punch. "Pocahantas" was the best version I've heard in a long
time, at least since Chicago :) - and that was one for the ages. I've
pretty much warmed to all of the "new" songs, with "Out of Control" and
"Slowpoke" leading the pack as the tour progresses. Which brings us to
"Ambulance Blues." Absolutely devastating rendition - a cool, weird, wacky
tour de force that continues to amaze well into its third decade of life.
Man oh man, what an amazing song. Crowd got pretty worked up during the
hits. "Homegrown" had a very loud response and we were blessed with another
singalong version ala Chicago. My non-Rustie friend Dean, who accompanied me to the concert, had only heard of this song and he was singing along with
everyone else by the end of the song. Pretty cool.

Meet-and-greet went fine. Seemed to go by in a flash. Neil was cool, if not
a bit dazed, and Elliott seemed nice. Chuck King will have a great story to
tell about his now infamous Somerset HORDE photo which seems to be taking on a life of its own!