This week in 1976 (11/14/76 to be exact) was my first Neil Young & Crazy Horse concert. I have never written my own review of the show until now. So here goes…
The Dane County Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Madison, Wisconsin, was the scene for this show. It seats about 10,000 people and it looked to be sold out to me. For an older arena it had decent acoustics. Neil came out to a very enthusiastic reception. I could tell by the response he got before he picked up his acoustic guitar, the crowd was electric. I was expecting him to start out with Tell Me Why or maybe On The Way Home. To my surprise it was The Old Laughing Lady/Guilty Train. Hey–it’s Neil–so expect the unexpected! There were 9 songs that made up the acoustic portion of the concert. Highlights for me were Journey Through The Past (first heard on the Time Fades Away tour), a song called Pocahontas (which was unreleased at the time), A Man Needs A Maid, and Sugar Mountain. Before he started A Man Needs A Maid, he remarked that he started his Time Fades Away tour in Madison, Wisconsin. And Sugar Mountain was possibly the best version of it that I’ve ever seen. And with the end of that song Neil, announced, “I’ll be back with my friends Crazy Horse”.
After a short intermission, the band strolled onto the stage. The “new” guy Frank (Poncho) Sampedro strapped on his guitar and the next thing everyone knew, Neil was launching into a monstrous version of Cowgirl In The Sand. It was as good as…or better…than the recorded version. Next up was the first of 3 songs from Zuma — Don’t Cry No Tears, Danger Bird, and Pardon My Heart. I was really impressed with the harmonies that Crazy Horse provided. Then we got another unreleased song called Bite The Bullet. The song wasn’t recorded until 1977, so I was surprised at how loud the audience cheered for that one.
Then the 2nd of 3 songs from the LP Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere…Down By The River…was unleashed and it was a powerful version. The Horse was rockin’! It was a great 10 minutes before it ended. After that, Neil said, “Here’s another new one” and the future classic Lotta Love was played. That seemed to calm things down for a few minutes.
At that point the audience had no idea…myself included…what was about to come next. As feedback started to build and all of sudden the beginnings of a new song — Like A Hurricane –started blasting out of the speakers. I can’t explain the rush that came over us all as that incredible guitar solo (which none of us had ever heard before) was blowing us away!
The concert could have ended there and nobody would have complained. But Neil & The Horse played for another half hour or so after that. They wrapped up the set with the final song from the EKTIN LP, Cinnamon Girl. As they exited the stage to a roaring crowd, I thought what could they possibly do for an encore?
Cortez The Killer was the answer! Talk about getting your mind blown!! And if that wasn’t enough, they cranked out a fantastic Drive Back to close out the night. Crazy Horse definitely lived up to their reputation and Poncho was an excellent choice to take over the spot left open after Danny Whitten’s unfortunate passing.
I left the concert in a daze. There was a cloud of smoke when the house lights came up. And it wasn’t from Neil using a smoke machine…if you know what I mean. Anyway, I had a 3-hour-plus drive back home and it was around 11 pm in a town I don’t know that well, so it was likely going to be 2:30 or 3 am by the time I got back to where I was living at the time. But it was well worth it!
If you want to get a sample of that tour, check out the NYA Timeline Concert for November 6, 1976, from Balch Fieldhouse, Boulder, Colorado. It requires a Rust Level membership in NYA though. Otherwise, if you check out Odeon Budokan (Disc 10 from the Archives Vol. 2 box set) or Songs For Judy, you’ll get a taste of the 1976 tour.
Tim O’Halloran with the Pono music player he won in a contest from Ponomusic in 2016.
Tim’s ticket stub from November 14, 1976.