Neil Young’s Incredible Carnegie Hall Shows: 10 Must-See Videos
Neil Young fans are still reeling from last week's incredible four-night stand at Carnegie Hall. For reasons that remain unclear, Young devoted the vast majority of his solo acoustic set to his earliest work, with a special emphasis on Harvest, After the Gold Rush and tunes from Buffalo Springfield. Many of the songs had been unplayed for years, and the performances were breathtaking. The ushers at Carnegie Hall were more vigilant than usual about cameras and were quick to shine a flashlight on anybody filming, but fans still managed to flood YouTube with videos. Here are 10 must-see highlights. By Andy Greene
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“Southern Man”
There's always one guy at a Neil Young concert screaming for "Southern Man," but until last week he hadn't played it since Farm Aid in 2005.
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“The Needle of Death” (Bert Jansch)
Young has repeatedly called Bert Jansch the "Jimi Hendrix of the acoustic guitar." He freely admits to lifting the chords to "Ambulance Blues" from Jansch's 1965 classic "The Needle of Death," which he played every night at Carnegie Hall.
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“On the Way Home”
This 1968 Buffalo Springfield song is one of Young's first truly great tunes, but the label insisted that Richie Furay sing it on the album because he had a more mainstream singing voice.
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“Ohio”
Days after the Kent State massacre in May 1970, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young entered the studio and recorded this furious response. It was on the radio that same month. It's somehow even more chilling when Young sings it by himself.
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“Flying on the Ground Is Wrong”
This is another Buffalo Springfield song that Richie Furay originally sang. Young revived it on his 1999 solo acoustic tour and has played it only a handful of times since then.
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“Goin’ Back”
This standout track from 1978's Comes a Time was somehow only played once live until Young's 1999 solo acoustic tour. It's rarely sounded as magnificent as it did at Carnegie Hall.
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“Mellow My Mind”
Only one song from Tonight's the Night made the Carnegie Hall run, but it was a real gem. As he did on his 2007 theater tour, Young performed a heartfelt rendition of "Mellow My Mind" on the banjo.
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“Harvest”
The title track to Harvest was an extreme rarity until Young's 2007 tour, when he played it most every night. The lyrics were inspired by the tumultuous childhood of Young's onetime girlfriend Carrie Snodgress.
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“Mr. Soul”
Young has played Buffalo Springfield's "Mr. Soul" many times over the past five decades, but at Carnegie Hall he switched things up by doing it on the pump organ, completely transforming the rocker into something new.
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“Long May You Run”
The first three nights at Carnegie Hall ended, appropriately enough, with "Long May You Run." The 1976 Stills/Young Band song was written about Neil Young's car, but it's taken on a whole new significance in recent years, and he's played it at everything from the final Conan O'Brien Tonight Show to the closing ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.