Back in the good old days when I was a young buck exploring the wonderful world ahead of me, I would muster up renewed courage by listening quite often to 10CC.
What a pleasure it was indeed to finally see them live after all these years, playing their best numbers and rocking the place out.
The concert was at the concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and we (Thea, Nelleke, Maarten and I) enjoyed our fantastic seats in the first row balcony right above them.
Well, I used to be a folk singer
Keeping managers alive,
When you saw me on a corner
And told me I was jive.
So I unlocked your mind, you know
To see what I could see.
If you guarantee the postage,
I'll mail you back the key.
Well I woke up in the morning
With an arrow through my nose
There was an Indian in the corner
Tryin' on my clothes.
- Neil Young
Don't let it bring you down
It's only castles burning,
Find someone who's turning
And you will come around.
-- Neil Young, Don't Let It Bring You Down
For the third time I had the great pleasure to attend a Neil Young concert, this time at the Ziggodome in Amsterdam with Maarten who has become a big fan and knows many of the songs.
Mostly older numbers from the good old days, a nice mixture of acoustic and harder stuff: Mansion on the Hill, Old Man, Human Highway, Throw Your Hatred Down, Heart of Gold, Cortez the Killer, Fuckin' Up, Rockin' in the Free World and Hey Hey, My My.
Forty years ago I remember coming home with his latest album "Rust Never Sleeps" and listening to it endlessly over and over again until the melodies and lyrics became part of me. Hard to believe that my biggest hero is now seventy-three years old and still going strong. Rock out Neil!
I finally got to see Aurora sing in person and she was absolutely fantastic.
She sang most of the numbers from her new album, and although when I first listened to it I had my doubts, now after hearing it again and again and now with her on stage it all just blew me away.
I might have been one of the oldest people in the crowd, I would say that the average age was between twenty-five and thirty, in my heart at least I felt young and very energetic.
A lonely man I know myself to be
It's not as bad
As some things I have seen
The picture painted here
Is not a dream
The only reality
Is the way it seems
-- Neil Young
I come down
from the misty mountain
I got lost
on the human highway
Take my head
refreshing fountain
Take my eyes
from what they've seen.
Take my head
and change my mind
How could people
get so unkind.
-- Neil Young
I'd like to take a walk
But not around the block
I really got some news
I met a man from Mars.
He picked up all my guitars
And played me traveling songs.
-- Neil Young
My tears are always frozen
I can see the air I breathe
Got my fingers painting pictures
On the glass in front of me
Lay me by the frozen river
Where the boats have passed me by
All I need is to remember
How it was to feel alive
-- Aurora
Planet Claire has pink air
All the trees are red
No one ever dies there
No one has a head
– The B-52's
Remember this album? I must have listened to it at least a million times as a freshman. Love it still.
Now it's a long dark road. Yes, a long dark road. And you know I loved you. Yes, you know I loved you ...
I don't know what we're afraid of
But I know, I don't mind
Oh no, I don't mind
If I fall in love to the sound of birds
Short movie - Laura marling
Also highly recommended: When Brave Bird Saved
Remember these guys? Planet Claire, Rock Lobster, Private Idaho, 6060-842, Dance This Mess Around, Lava ...
Driving around town and the countryside in my little red Datsun racing car I would crank up their music and feel great singing along. I don't want to go to the devil.
All in all fantastic numbers.
I was honored to witness their very first performance on Saturday Night Live way back on 26 January 1980, and have been hooked ever since.
Here are some More videos for your late night entertainment.
Punish them all for they speak too much
Hate the world for what it did to us
Will I ever see heaven again?
I saw the movie and I read the book
But when it happened to me
I sure was glad I had what it took
To get away.
– Sedan Delivery, Neil Young
I could be happy the rest of my life with a cinnamon girl.
My future-famous son makes the front cover of the electronic dance music magazine.
"Look at Mother Nature on the run in the 21st century..."
Old man lying
by the side of the road
With the lorries rolling by,
Blue moon sinking
from the weight of the load
And the buildings scrape the sky,
Cold wind ripping
down the alley at dawn
And the morning paper flies,
Dead man lying
by the side of the road
With the daylight in his eyes.
Don't let it bring you down
It's only castles burning,
Find someone who's turning
And you will come around.
Blind man running
through the light
of the night
With an answer in his hand,
Come on down
to the river of sight
And you can really understand,
Red lights flashing
through the window
in the rain,
Can you hear the sirens moan?
White cane lying
in a gutter in the lane,
If you're walking home alone.
Don't let it bring you down
It's only castles burning,
Just find someone who's turning
And you will come around.
Don't let it bring you down
It's only castles burning,
Just find someone who's turning
And you will come around.
-- Neil Young (video)
The new album by Basia Bulat is called Tall Tall Shadow and it has just been released today. I downloaded it and am listening to it right now. The album sounds really great.
To quote: Tall Tall Shadow marks a sonic departure from Basia's earlier work, moving away from her long-time practice of writing songs on the guitar or autoharp and instead primarily using piano and charango. It features ten tracks that run the gamut stylistically from dark, introspective moments to danceable folk stompers, and has been called her "bravest release to date."
Tall tall shadow (official video)
Have a look yourself at Basia's handwritten note.
-- Basia Bulat, Heart of My Own
Tomorrow is a long long time if you're a memory
Trying to find peace of mind
Spirit come back to me,
Give me strength and set me free
Let me hear the magic in my heart.
- Neil Young, Ragged Glory, Love and only Love
I went with Thea to see Neil Young play at the Ziggo Dome, and it was truly an amazing experience. We had great seats and had a nice view of the stage, and although at times the music volume was unbearably loud, I was pretty much rocking out the whole evening. With still so much musical energy emanating from his soul, Neil is getting on in years but his guitar licks remain youthful and electrical. In twelve years I will be as old as him now.
Neil launched off the evening by blowing everyone away with Love and Only Love. After that the most impressive numbers according to me were: Walking Like A Giant (amazingly surrealistic and noisy end), Powder and the Finger, Cinnamon Girl, Hey Hey My My, Fuckin' Up, Heart of Gold, Ramada Inn and Like A Hurricane. I was slightly disappointed that he didn't play my favorite number She's Always Dancing from his latest album Psychedelic Pill, but I will happily forgive him.
Walking with the devil on a Twisted Road,
Listen to The Dead on the radio,
That old time music used to soothe my soul,
If I ever get home I'm gonna let the good times roll,
Let the good times roll (repeat).
-- Twisted Road, Neil Young
I managed to land two tickets to the upcoming Neil Young Concert at the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam on June 5 next year.
The last time Neil Young was in Holland, the tickets were sold out within no time and I missed him as a result.
Fortunately this time around, my music-minded son Maarten found an article about the concert in the morning newspaper and asked me if I knew.
I dropped everything, ran upstairs, fired up the computer and went online. Then before it was too late, I forked out two hundred euros for a couple tickets, but it'll be worth it.
Too bad that I have to wait more than half a year before the concert.
Have a look at this video it's pretty good.
She Likes to Dance. She has the fire,
but it's burning now, from hand to hand, from palm to palm, floating in
the air she tries to hold it there.
-- Neil young, She's Always Dancing
And when she says "it's time for him to do something,
Maybe talk to his old friends who gave it up."
He just pours himself another tall one
Closes his eyes and says "that's enough"
She loves him so ... She does what she needs to
-- Neil Young, Ramada Inn
Hello
I've waited here for you
Everlong
Tonight
I throw myself into
And out of the red, out of her head she sang
Come down
And waste away with me
Down with me
Slow how You wanted it to be I'm over my head, out of her head she sang
And I wonder When I sing along with you
-- Foo Fighters
And love lies bleeding in my hand
Oh, it kills me to think of you with another man
I was playing rock and roll and you were just a fan
But my guitar couldn't hold you, so I split the band
Love lies bleeding in my hands
Funeral For a Friend - Love Lies Bleeding, Elton John
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973)
Being stuck in the middle of a huge traffic jam just south of Amsterdam is no fun, especially when you know that it will take at least another hour before you got back home.
To make things worse, it was pouring down rain, dark and gloomy, and the wind was blowing so hard that my car was bouncing back and forth slightly, like it was drifting on some stormy seas, dancing across the water.
Listening to Neil Young, turning up the volume real hard, hearing him singing the lyrics emotionally out loud, made me feel better.
Before I realized it I was already back home. How did that happen? The album just finished the moment my car entered the driveway and came to a gently stop.
That was when I realized that every single song on the Zuma album is amazing and that perhaps that album is the best collection of songs Neil has ever created.
I'm going to listen to it again this evening, I thought, and write about it. So here I am right now.
He came dancing across the water with his galleons and guns looking for the new world in that palace in the sun...
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