Yahoo! Music Review

Gig played on 06/07/08

What better than a day on the farm with Neil Young? Especially at an event free from branding and corporate sponsorship, and with a bill including Laura Marling, The Guillemots, Rufus Wainwright, My Morning Jacket, Supergrass and Primal Scream. It's nirvana for '£50 man' and the grey beards and fold-out seating is out in force. In truth, the support acts are a mish-mash, with only My Morning Jacket at their creative peak (despite "Evil Urges"' critical panning, their deliver a stunning mid-afternoon set) and the majority decidedly past their sell-by date.

Primal Scream are particularly tepid, going through the garage rock motions before finally taking to the skies with "Shoot Speed Kill Light" and "Swastika Eyes". Ripping off PIL and New Order proves much more satisfying than plundering the wardrobes of Johnny Thunders and Mick Jagger. Mercifully, they don't play "Country Girl". It all changes when Young saunters on at sundown. His stage set is an Aladdin's cave of vintage amps, an ancient pump organ, psychedelic piano and a totemic carving of Sitting Bull. As with recent UK gigs, he wears paint-splattered overalls while a resident artist rustles up watercolours. So far, so strange…

But unlike those London dates, the acoustic guitar is left in its case. Young hits the ground in full rock mode and launches into "Love & Only Love" from 1990's "Ragged Glory". It's both exhilarating and depressing. The shock and awe of this man in full flow still assaults the ear like a jackhammer, installing banal lyrical sentiments with a higher wisdom. The 62-year-old campaigner is also a stark reminder of how far today's contenders come up short. A blistering "Hey Hey, My My" makes redundant the boasts by U2, Coldplay, Oasis et al that they are 'the best band in the world'™. Young blows them to smithereens with sheer elemental power.

Not that we should get all deific on his ass. A millionaire and ranch owner since his early 20s, Shakey is hardly the humble yeoman's voice, while his moral compass is perennially spinning from left to right. However, among the original baby boomers, it was Young alone who realised the empty con behind the '60s dream, and the squalid money-raking that followed. The myth of that era is still rammed down our throats. Having lived through and documented the bullsh*t, there's no one better to pop the 'peace & love' bubble, while simultaneously lighting a beacon for better times.

The likes of "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere", "Oh, Lonesome Me", "The Needle & The Damage Done", "Heart Of Gold" and "Old Man" are all rolled out with consummate professionalism, but also risk. Even with decades-old material, Young never plays it safe. He concludes, perversely, with 20 patience-testing minutes of "No Hidden Path" and The Beatles' "Day In The Life", where pure white noise replaces The Fab's orchestral climax. An astonishing display of brute force and human fragility, he departs with shredded strings and blood on his finger nails. Old enough to be your granddad, but still rocking the free world. Ladies and gentleman, Mr Soul has left the smallholding...

by Adam Webb