neil young live on the way home tell me why

You’d expect him to play ‘Only Love Can Break Your Heart’ or ‘Southern Man’, but no, he opts for two-thirds new material. Listening to it in 2022, its impressive how Young picked so much new music. Its an exceptional set that is almost too much to take as its banger, after banger, after banger. The rest of the set is culled from ‘After The Gold Rush,’ ‘Harvest’, ‘Time Fades Away’, ‘On the Beach’, ‘Last Time Around’ and ‘Four Way Street’. Not only is it chocked full of bangers and future classics, but what was going through the audience members minds when Young played them ‘See The Sky About To Rain’ for the first time. Did ‘Needle And The Damage Done’ stick in their heads as much as ‘Ohio’ or ‘I Am A Child’? I guess we’ll never know, but this is one of the joys of listening to ‘Dorothy Chandler Pavilion 1971’. I’d love to know what the audience thought about these songs when they walked out. ‘Sugar Mountain’ wouldn’t get an official release until 1977. 10 songs of a 15-song setlist would be release over the next three years over four or five different albums. As I’m doing now, but its hard to remember that at the time of this gig only a third of the songs had been released. We’ve heard the majority of these songs countless times and their importance has been reinforced by critics. ‘Heart Of Gold.’ After that he plays ‘A Man Needs A Maid.’ Looking at the set list its easy to see the quality.

Without missing a beat Young replies: “You don’t got to do that. Neil Young plays a stripped back version of ‘Cowgirl In The Sand’ before proving his comedic chops at the finish by saying “I’ve written a lot of new songs. The audience are into them, but at the time of the gig they weren’t released. Then he plays ‘Old Man’ and ‘Journey Through The Past’.

Neil Young opens the ‘Dorothy Chandler Pavilion 1971’ set with ‘On The Way Home’ from the last Buffalo Springfield album, then ‘Tell Me Why’ from 1970s ‘After The Gold Rush’.

Neil young live on the way home tell me why