Russell Leadbetter's verdict: 4 stars
It is, indeed, better to burn out than to fade away. Neil Young's first show in Glasgow with Crazy Horse since 2001 was an exhilarating event, old and much-loved songs from his formidable back catalogue being thrown into the mix alongside newer songs. Predictable it wasn't.
The fourth song in, Walk Like A Giant, from his latest album, Psychedelic Pill, was a pulverising, 20-minute long affair. The last 10 minutes were a sheer cacophony of noise, Young fluttering his fingers against the strings of his Gibson guitar; it sounded like a submarine coming apart at the seams under the waves. It was a trifle self-indulgent, but a gripping sight, nonetheless.
The contrast with the songs that followed could not have been greater - a gentle, mid-tempo new offering, Hole in the Sky (the Woodstock festival logo on the screen behind the band); then Young's solo acoustic-guitar-and-harmonica of Heart of Gold, the audience singing along, their camera phones like fireflies in the darkness.
Young then did an expressive reading of Bob Dylan's Blowin' in the Wind, which in turn was followed by another poignant new song, Singer Without A Song (to underline the point, a lone woman clutching a guitar case wandered distractedly around the stage).
Young, more often than not clustered in front of Ralph Molina's drum kit with guitarist Frank 'Poncho' Sampedro and bassist Billy Talbot - four defiantly against the world - also delivered barnstorming versions of Powderfinger, Ramada Inn, Cinnamon Girl, Mr Soul and a particularly thunderous Hey, Hey, My, My.
Young is 67 but shows little inclination to age gracefully.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article