Neil Young: Cow Palace 1986 (Live) Review
Something intensely STRANGE has happened.
Sugar Mountain is a Neil Young complete live setlist website that is brilliant. Brilliant in the old version of the word meaning “thorough”.
A few years ago, Thom Gibbs managed to find a gig Neil Young played at Cow Palace, Daly City CA on 21 November 1986. The gig appeared to be the greatest gig Neil Young could ever play, mainly for playing an incredible set-list:
Set list:
1. Mr. Soul
2. Cinnamon Girl
3. When You Dance I Can Really Love
4. Down By The River
5. Too Lonely
6. Heart Of Gold
7. After The Gold Rush
8. Inca Queen
9. Drive Back
10. Opera Star
11. Cortez The Killer
—-
12. Sample And Hold
13. Computer Age
14. Violent Side
15. Mideast Vacation
16. Long Walk Home
17. The Needle And The Damage Done
18. When Your Lonely Heart Breaks
19. Around The World
20. Powderfinger
21. Like A Hurricane
22. Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black)
—-
23. Prisoners Of Rock ‘n’ Roll
I took it upon myself to make a Spotify playlist November 2010 of that gig, with limited access to the songs, as was the style of the time. Keened eye readers will not the absence of ~10 tracks that were unavailable back in 2010 on Spotify #truestory.
What’s happened now????
Neil Young has serendipitously decided to release the concert as a live album! Isn’t that fucked up?
Review
And it’s incredible here’s a spotify link. Neil Young at his most FUCK YOU to everyone.
Thom Props
Biggest props to Thom for spotting this diamond in a shiny needle haystack* on Sugar Mountain back in 2010. His nerdiness has been repaid and then some. I like to think Thom sent him a letter, that Neil *finally* got round to reading (like Ringo Starr in Brush With Greatness) and thought ‘hey that’s a neat idea’.
Review Continued
The setlist there are no words for how it must’ve felt being there. The reward to all the Young supporters who stuck by him through Everybody’s Rockin’ and the MASSIVELY UNDERRATED AND IN NEED OF REVISIONISM Trans and Re-ac-tor. It’s like a greatest hits but without too much whining: The Greatest ROCK Hits he alsp plays zero (0) songs from Landing On Water his most recent album cos he knows it was crap. At one point N Young says “when we get to San Francisco maybe we should only play rocking songs no slow songs!” YES! Great idea Neil. Then BANG Drive Back followed by the most Rocking Song Ever Opera Star.
He goes from Cortez The Killer his longest song into Sample and Hold his most AUDACIOUS and BEST.
Discarding said Landing on Water, they play loads from the follow-up 1987 album Life which is incredible. Warming up the crowd with Down By The River then THWACK Too Lonely-“what’s this amazing new song? When can i buy the album?” “Next year mate”-and then keeping everyone happy with Heart of Gold, then After The Goldrush at which point i expect everyone was crying. Well dry those tears, everyone, here comes INCA QUEEN and its whacky* catch-all colonial-chorus!
10/10
*Outmoded
Subnote: He also gets a call from Sam Kinison who Neil tells to shut up because “we’re playing Rock ‘n’ Roll”
