KNEEL: IT’S MR. YOUNG

Neil Young rocked Dublin on June 29th with a blast of a show at Malahide Castle. The sunny, rainless weather was absolutely perfect for an outdoor concert and the 21,000 or so fans lapped up every minute of it.

Neil Young’s concerts really depend on what mood you get him in. Not up for it and he will plough through the set with hardly a blink in the audiences’ direction. He was certainly feeling groovy for this one with sarcastic jibes and slapstick manoeuvres to accompany a plethora of cracking live tracks.

Wearing a paint stained shirt and looking as rugged as ever, Mr Young played like a hurricane on this occasion.

Jumping straight into Love and Only Love from Ragged Glory, Neil chewed up his guitar for ten minutes and proceeded to spit it back out at the mesmerised audience. With an incredible oeuvre to pick from, Mr. Young changed the mood back and forth throughout the gig, switching from electric to acoustic and stopping for a quick organ grind too.

While the electric stuff, including My My, Hey Hey, Spirit Road and Powderfinger was top-notch, the mellower parts of the show were on another level altogether. Acoustic versions of Old Man, The Needle and the Damage Done and Unknown Legend were simply spine-tingling. Sitting behind the organ for Mother Earth, Neil reminded us of just how musically gifted he actually is.

With wife Peggy on backing vocals to lend support, Neil was in his element. Minus any strong Irish winds he swayed the crowd with his awesome talent alone.

Finishing the main part of the concert with an astonishing version of No Hidden Path, Neil was persuaded by the chanting spectators to perform one more song in an extremely short encore. A brilliant, roaring, up-tempo version of The Beatles’ A Day in the Life ended the proceedings for the night. Then this well known legend popped off stage and let the crowd disperse to hum and sing his tunes on the way home.