Neil Young treats fans to quirky concert

Mark Brown, Rocky Mountain News

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Leave it to Neil Young. Here he has a new album, Chrome Dreams II, that's one of his strong-est in years. So he comes out onstage and opens the show with rarities, obscure tunes and even unreleased songs taken from scrapped projects back in the mid-'70s.

With a few exceptions, Monday night's show was for the hard- cores - those fans who cheer at the first notes of the unreleased 1974-era Love Art Blues. And those were the bulk of the 5,000 or so people who showed up.

Young gave a warm unplugged performance, rewarding the crowd every few songs with a chestnut such as After the Gold Rush and Heart of Gold. Overall, however, it was Young examining piece of his own musical past in ways that seemed new even for him, pulling heartfelt renditions of songs familiar (a stripped- down A Man Needs a Maid) and not so much (the rarely played Ambulance Blues, coupled with a super-rare unreleased Sad Movies). In the acoustic set, the most recent song was From Hank to Hendrix from 1992's Harvest Moon album.

The unusual didn't stop there. After an intermission, Young played one of the more eclectic electric sets he has done, mixing in familiar hard rockers such as Cinnamon Girl with other interesting picks from his career. Winterlong in particular was a revelation, an overlooked gem in Young's vast catalogue that sounded spectacular.

And the new stuff finally got trotted out. While skipping the epic Ordinary People from the new album, Young nonetheless found a reason to jam out in a version of the new No Hidden Path filled with guitar solos and stretched to extraordinary length. Classics such as Everybody Knows This is Nowhere and The Loner had the crowd cheering for more.

Just as interesting was the stage presentation, a jumble of random marquee letters and an easel on the side where a painter brought out canvases of landscapes emblazoned with the next song Young would perform. It made for an interesting visual presentation if a somewhat choppy flow of songs.

The crowd was reverential throughout the acoustic set, staying seated and quiet except for the occasional dummy who somehow believes letting out a huge yelp during the quietest part of the song enhanced the experience for everyone. Those manners turned to confusion during the electric set, where half the audience stood and the other half cursed them for it.

Young plays his last Denver show tonight; at press time tickets were still available.

Neil Young

• When, where: Monday night, Wells Fargo Theatre

• Grade: A-

• Of note: Tickets remain for tonight's performance.