Neil Young Still Showing No Signs Of Age At The United Center

By Staff in Arts & Entertainment on Oct 12, 2012 9:20PM

While Neil Young may look 66 years old with less hair, wrinkled skin and a larger midsection, those are the only signs of his age.

At Thursday night's United Center show, Young's voice and guitar prowess still held the sound and energy of a young rocker hungry to share his music with the world. But it wasn't only Young. The other members Crazy Horse, including guitarist Frank "Poncho" Sampedro who's been performing with the band since 1975, appeared energetic and enthusiastic through out their long and twisting jams.

And the night did indeed belong to Crazy Horse. In fact, the whole show had a vibe of an updated and reimagined version of their seminal 1978 live record Live Rust. Even the backdrop of giant Fender amplifiers was resurrected from the "Rust Never Sleeps" tour.

New material from their upcoming new record "Psychedelic Pill," their first of album of original material since 2003's Greendale, were peppered in between classics like "Powderfinger" and "Cinnamon Girl." Luckily, the majority of new material, such as the 16-minute romp "Walk Like A Giant," still maintains the gritty vibe of classic Young and Crazy Horse. Hazy riffs intertwined as the band sang with urgency, "When I think about how good it feels / I wanna walk like a giant on the land / I wanna walk like a giant on the land."

Fans hoping to hear timeless piano and acoustic ballads, such as "After The Gold Rush," "Don’t Let It Bring You Down" and "Heart Of Gold," might haven been disappointed. But then again, Young has always played by his own rules and has never been a greatest hits machine.

He did take one break mid-show to perform a couple of solo acoustic numbers such as the classic "Needle and the Damage Done" and a new one titled "Twisted Road," which featured a catchy hook featuring a Grateful Dead shout out.

If there was one misstep, it may have been another new one, "Ramada Inn," which while a fine effort of storytelling by Young, just didn't have the dramatic punch of "Walk Like A Giant."

But the show's final few songs, which included a grungified version of Buffalo Springfield's "Mr. Soul" and an absolutely destructive version of "Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)," could not have brought anybody down.

By the evening's end, the lyric "Rock and roll will never die" never felt truer.

By: Richard Giraldi