Neil Young - Friday Night (not an album)

This will be a short post, but just wanted to let y'all know I saw Neil Young Friday night (and Wilco!!!!) and that it was, contrary to my deepest fears and past history with Neil, amazing! One of the best shows I have seen, possibly ever. While my friend Dave in Ottawa told me it was just ok, i was pretty blown away by the whole concert. He opened strong, and played a shit-ton of classics, including "My, My, Hey, Hey" "Cortez the Killer," "Everyone Knows this is nowhere" and my personal favorite "Powderfinger." He pulled out the acoustic, played Needle and the Damage Done and a few others, and generally just rocked my socks.

So what is the point of this post, other than a re-cap of the tunes Neil played? Well good sirs, and lady sirs, the point is this: what responsibility does an artist have to his audience? This could be a continuing idea related to my concept album month. Because here is the thing about Neil: the last time I saw him, I was actually too shit faced to remember anything and slept through most of the concert, but my friends who were all coherent, and equally large Neil fans said it blew chunks. It was when he was touring in support of Greendale, (which is a concept album) so he just played that, start to finish, with a couple classics for encore (apparently two to be exact). While I would have been tremendously disappointed by this show, a part of me respects it, as it is the logical conclusion of creating a high art, "concept" album. Playing a series of related, narrative songs in a random unstructured manner doesn't really make any sense. While one or two songs from a concept album will stand alone ( see Neutral Milk Hotel "Holland, 1945" for example) the artist him (or her) self created the album with a specific theme, or idea in mind. So if they are touring behind that album, than it seems only logical that that is what they will play.

So why do people get so much more bothered with this type of concert, the concept concert, as opposed to the concept album? Especially with an artist like Neil, who has under his belt more great songs in three albums than most artists get in three decades, the idea of not performing any of the "hits" or the fan favorites is down right suicidal. And I think I know who to blame. Once again, our culprit here is the nineteen fucking sixties. But more specifically, the artists from the first wave of "huge" rock and roll acts from the sixties that have continued to tour, and even more specifically The Rolling Stones. I love the Stones. I paid $350 to see them, so that makes me an honorary baby boomer douchebag for being willing to shill out that kind of cash to see a couple of great-grandfathers play songs that have been widely available since 1968. But man was it a great fucking show. Me and the friends I went with loved every minute of it. We didn't drink all that much, it was a concert that was more about the show than the whole getting off your ass drunk and "feeling the music." They played most of my favorite mainstream Stones songs (being a super fan, I prefer the rest Beggars Banquet to Sympathy for the Devil, but still loved hearing them dust that one off). But when I had to take a piss, when did I run out to release my essence? During one of their new songs. They were promoting whatever their last album was, and when I song I knew was from it started, I ran down to the washroom of Landsdowne park, peed and made it back for Tumbling Dice.

So what does this say about an artist and their audience? Because the Dinosaurs are still touring, and have been since the '60's, everybody assumes, and takes for granted they will be playing all of their hits, the odd new song (if they are promoting a record) and maybe a few homage covers. That's the formula, and it has served the world well since 1980 when the bands of the '60's became nostalgia acts. But not everyone conforms to this formula. In the "indie rock" community (a term I loathe, by the way) it is not unusual for a band to play their most recent album in its entirety and then maybe a few older songs, or some variation on the older formula, focusing way more on new music that old. To pull this off, I think you need to have a following who are dedicated to the bands music in its entirety, and not just the hits. Neil Young appeals to such a broad range of people that at a concert the size that he will draw, probably 60% of the people are fans of "Decade" and other greatest hits collections. To play "Greendale" from start to finish in the Air Canada Center required Neil to either believe that 20,000 people all owned and wanted to hear nothing but "Greendale" or it meant that he knew he was going to be alienating a bunch of fans, but that he doesn't make music to keep everybody happy. While this is just speculation on my part, it takes some pretty big balls to sell out a 20,000 seat venue and then intentionally piss off 70% of those people.

Looking back on it, I think if I had of been sober enough to see the concert, I probably would have tried to defend Neil for what he was doing, presenting his most recent artistic vision, as he saw it in it's entirety and is it was meant to be experienced. I respect that position enough, though a little more when your doing it on an album and a little less when you do it to people who spent $100-$400 on a ticket to your show. All things considered, I don't think artists owe their audiences much more than a good show. While many people think that means a greatest hits collection, I would argue that if you really want to enjoy live music, the artist has to believe in what they are doing. The Stones were a phenomenal show, one of the best in terms of production, quality of sound etc.. but in the back of my mind, it was a little hollow seeing Mick, Keith and the Boys play "Jumping Jack Flash" for probably the 103,372 time. Seeing an artist truly embody their art is why people should go to a concert. On Friday, Neil did that for me, he rocked and rolled, made loud, abrasive noise, and soft, subtle sounds. He played songs I love, and songs I don't really care for. But ultimately, he played for himself, and that I can respect. That, and seeing "Powderfinger" live. Goddamn that is a good song.

So I guess this wont be a short post. What do you think of concerts, dear readers? I have tried to spark debate before, but you guys just wont budge. Of all the readers I know personally, I know you have been disappointed by a concert, hell I've been at a few of them with you. So what does an artist owe his or her audience? What are your thoughts on the matter?