Neil Young payed Vienna a visit today and I couldn’t resist.

It was situated in the Vienna International Center which is a large conference hall. I got my seat at the edge of the 33rd row which in hindsight wasn’t that bad.

The supporting band was Peggie Young, Neil’s wife. She played some slow Country love songs. Nothing to get exited about but better than most supporting bands. After her an announcer asked the audience to turn off all cell phones as they would interfere with the sound system. I thought it to be a cheap shot, but I was wrong. More about that later on.

The stage got prepared: There were around half a dozen guitars, one banjo and two piano standing on it. Quite enough for a band. Then Neil entered the stage, wearing a white suite. He sat down directly in the middle of all instruments, took a guitar and his harmonica and played a slow tune. After the first few songs there was a theme detectable: Neil would stand up, walk around confused like an old grandpa and select an instrument and just start playing a tune he’d like. Also he reacted to the audience, after an ‘take the banjo’ he really played it. Cool! After the third song I couldn’t stay at my seat as I got some people placed next to me that were to chatty. So i got up and walked down the isle and stopped around the 13th row, leaning at the wall. Much more pleasure.

The end came after 70 minutes. Way to short for me, but I thought that Neil isn’t the youngest anymore so it was okay for me. I walked a bit disappointed down to the T-shirt stands and chatted with a security lady. She finally told me that this was just a break and the show will go on soon. I took my place at the 13th row and watched Neil reappear.

He was dressed in a black suite, covered with paint, every bit the rebellious. The instruments had disappeared but a band manifested: four rather old guys, everyone reminded me of kinda of  my grandparents. Neil’s instrument was a black E-Guitar. And he knows how to use it. What followed where 110 minutes of pure rock. The cherry pies were the long (10-15minutes) soli.. unbelievable. I’d never thought that I would jump to cinnamon girl, but there was no way in hell that I wouldn’t. Did I already mention that I went forward till i was in the second row, directly in front of Neil, two arm’s lengths away? I never seen anyone so absorbed and happy while playing guitar. Standing quite at the front I was also able to observe the instruments and amps. It seems like he got all his old hardware. There were amps from 1978 and one black guitar looked like from around 1985. All of his instruments were good taken care of, but you could see the bare wood through the polish, a sign of frequent use. The old hardware in combination with Neil Young and the band: perfect.

Another nice idea where the paintings. A guy put up a painting after each song began, on them was the title of the song and a picture illustration about the lyrics. I think the same artist was responsible for the paint drops on Neil’s black suite.

There was also a moment of fear: the ground literally was shaken when ‘Rocking in the free world’ was played. Too many people were jumping. That’s the way the song needs to be played, it even beats Pearl Jam’s interpretation.

So in short: Best Convert Ever! Also a new thought entered my head: I want to get old.

I want to live,
I want to give
I’ve been a miner
for a heart of gold.

Neil Young - Heart of Gold