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Neil Young - Hard Rock Calling - Hyde Park.Saturday 27th June

Posted by Helen D on June 28, 2009 at 7:00pm
This was one of the truly memorable days in my own personal music experience. The sun shone fiercely for most of the afternoon and then dark clouds gathered to give a spectacular backdrop for the lightening and thunderstorms which gave us a heavy shower at one point. None of this dampened our spirits.I want first to mention some of the other bands we saw as I would have bought tickets on the strength of any one of these.It was a fantastic lineup. We were at the main stage from the start with the warm up acts doing their job, but the main attractions started with The Pretenders. Chrissie Hynde was in fine voice.I loved Seasick Steve's music the first time I heard it - true bluegrass perfection. Actually seeing him perform was a privilege. It can only be tough life's experience that produces music that authentic. How he gets the sound he does with guitars that look as if their on the way out I don't know.Ben Harper & Relentless7 are new to me. I listened to a few tracks before we went to see what he sounded like; I have to admit that I was hoping for him to be a bit rubbish so we could take a break and stretch our legs, but we knew we would be staying put. The man has a great voice.FLEET FOXES - What can I say? The band sing such difficult close harmonies live with such perfection that it takes your breath away. You have to go back to the Beach Boys for anything similar, but Fleet Foxes lyrics are meatier, darker and more thought provoking. I loved White Winter Hymnal - Its a wonderfully sweet melody which disguises a pretty dark story. They sang most of their album and also Mykonos from their Sun Giant E.P. which went down well with the crowd. There were also a couple of new songs which I didn't catch the name of; the next album is sounding promising if they are a little sample of it.All this great music was the lead up to the legendary NEIL YOUNG. The man is a music genius. He played a brilliant set1. Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black)2. Mansion On The Hill3. Are You Ready For The Country?4. Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere5. Spirit Road6. Words7. Cinnamon Girl8. F*!#in' Up9. Mother Earth10. The Needle And The Damage Done11. Comes A Time12. Unknown Legend13. Heart Of Gold14. Old Man15. Down By The River16. Get Behind The Wheel17. Rockin' In The Free World---18. A Day In The LifePlenty of old classics. I loved that when Neil asked if there were "any alcoholics out there" there was a great roar of 'yes' and he followed it with Spirit Road. The set was rounded off with Rockin' In The Free World which like all his songs he didn't seem to want to finish playing; neither did the crowd and then....the encore - A Day in the life - an Beatles classic often played in the set. It looked good on the telly coverage of Glastonbury and I was hoping he would play it for us too.In Your Face Glastonbury. He did with a surprise guest. Paul McCartney appeared to accompany the band to the amazement of the crowd. He sang along and at the end joined in Neil Young's ritual tinkling of the xylophone.Macca was doing bows to Neil Young in an 'I am not worthy' style and the two obviously enjoyed the collaboration as did the audience.After all the great music we had seen earlier Neil Young and his band rounded off the evening in style. It will take a while to think like a normal human being again after all that.
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