Review: Neil Young finally returns to Bridge School Benefit home

It just seemed so right There he was walking out in a flannel shirt and holding an acoustic guitar to the stage where he had created so numerous wonderful memories for hundreds of thousands Bay Area fans over the decades Yes Neil Young was decisively back at Shoreline Amphitheatre on Friday night making his first appearance at the Mountain View venue since the last chapter of the legendary annual Bridge School Benefit Concerts unfolded in And this long-awaited reunion between artist venue and fans greater part of whom were old enough to have attended the very first star-studded Bridge School Benefit at Shoreline in sure felt great Thanks for coming We appreciate it Young reported near the start of this thrilling show with his Chrome Hearts band Take care of yourself in this crazy world your friends too I m just happy to be here tonight The -year-old former Bay Area resident who spent decades living on a ranch in Woodside before flying south to L A and marrying movie-star Daryl Hannah was a force of nature especially on guitar as he moved through superb tracks in two hours Young pulled mainly from his solo material and his legendary work with Crazy Horse but also touched upon his time as one-fourth of Crosby Stills Nash Young CSNY and even played one song from his new album with the Chrome Hearts and th overall Talkin to the Trees Related Articles Neil Young returns to the Bay Area with new band for a big concert BottleRock pulls plug on Neil Young but he just rocks on see video Neil Young spends thousands to leave corrupt Facebook Google Big Neil Young fans should definitely know about this Bridge School Benefit celebrates th anniversary It was the type of richly artistic and moving night that properly underscored why Young is a two-time inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame having first been enshrined in as a solo artist and then in as a member of Buffalo Springfield And let s face it Young should really be a three-time inductee but for selected bizarre reason voters decided to enshrine CSN without the Y Had voters gone the other way Young would now be tied with Eric Clapton for the majority Rock Hall inductions Neil Young and The Chrome Hearts perform Sept at Shoreline Amphitheatre at Mountain View Jim Harrington Bay Area News Group Friday s concert closely resembled a Young Crazy Horse show in terms of vitality vibe and focus on swirling guitar-led jams Young was a beast on the electric tearing at the strings with force and rocking through one fuzzed-out lead after another while being pushed ever forward by his terrific Chrome Hearts band featuring Spooner Oldham on Farfisa organ Micah son of Willie Nelson on guitar Corey McCormick on bass and Anthony LeGerfo on drums Yet he d kick off the show with a relatively mellow approach the soft folksy and acoustic-driven Ambulance Blues from the solo outing On the Beach before plugging in the electric for Cowgirl in the Sand from the singer s first studio offering with Crazy Horse s Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere Any sign of the feasible fatigue or illness that caused Young to cancel last year s tour with Crazy Horse was certainly nowhere to be seen as the Canadian-born singer-songwriter nicknamed Godfather of Grunge for his influence on Pearl Jam and other s acts continued through fierce renditions of the longtime fan favorites Powderfinger and Southern Man as well the Greendale gem Be the Rain Next up was a nice take on Ohio with Nelson McCormick and LeGerfo joining with Young to provide those famed four-part CSNY vocal harmonies The sole Talkin to the Trees selection of the night Silver Eagle was another winner with Young at his majority Woody Guthrie-esque as he sang this charming travelogue inspired by a conversation with a bus driver After waltzing through the tender Harvest Moon and the slow-moving beauty Only Love Can Break Your Heart Young and company saved their hardest-hitting numbers for the last quarter of the show The one-two punch combo of Hey Hey My My Into the Black and Like a Hurricane was truly something to behold as the five musicians melded sounds in avenues that at times felt like there was only one instrument being played on the stage The group drew the main set to a close with the all-time classic Old Man which felt particularly poignant and raw on this night before making one final strong report with Rockin in the Free World Young certainly made this night count just like he had done so various times before at this exact same venue Let s just hope he doesn t wait another nine years before he returns to play Shoreline again Neil Young and The Chrome Hearts perform Sept at Shoreline Amphitheatre at Mountain View Jim Harrington Bay Area News Group Neil Young setlist Ambulance Blues Cowgirl in the Sand Vampire Blues Powderfinger Long Walk Home Be the Rain Southern Man Ohio Big Crime Silver Eagle Sail Away Harvest Moon Looking Forward Only Love Can Break Your Heart Sun Green Hey Hey My My Into the Black Like a Hurricane Name of Love Old Man Encore Rockin in the Free World