Neil Young & Crazy Horse at the 1996 Pheonix Festival, England.

Friday 19th July 1996 9:20pm

A hush and then an explosive rush of applause as The Godfather of Grunge and the most famous backing band in the world hit the stage to begin what was for me, their best live performance ever. They opened the set with a blistering rendition of ‘Hey, Hey! My, My!’ before blasting into the classic ‘Down by the river.’ The vast audience, now in full sway, were singing along to that ever famous chorus, and enjoying every second of it. As the final chords echoed away they went straight into ‘Powderfinger’, and as with all of the songs that followed that evening, Neil Young and Crazy Horse attacked it with all the fury of a mad dog unleashed.

The first of three songs we were to hear from the ‘Broken Arrow’ album was next, the wonderful ‘Big Time’ (see above for extract). This was followed by ‘Slip Away’. Then, just to make sure he had everyone’s attention, he downed his Gibson, picked up an acoustic guitar and performed ‘The Needle and the Damage Done’. Next was a rare live performance of ‘Sugar Mountain’, this time the crowd sung every single word in unison, it was magic, pure magic. As the doleful sound of Neil’s harmonica echoed out across the fields and as the clouds drew in closer and the darkness of night fell, a sea of people experienced heaven for a few brief moments.

Last in this acoustic set was the ever popular crowd pleaser ‘Heart of Gold’ also absent from his more recent live shows. The crowd begin to wonder what other musical gems he might have up his sleeve, Crazy Horse re-join the stage and Neil announces "It’s good to be here", the crowd, finally addressed by their icon, cheer, "Here’s one I wrote just yesterday" he continues, "It sounds a lot like some of my earlier stuff, but I think it’s really gonna make it...really" they then rip into a thunderous rendition of ‘Cinnamon Girl’. As the final notes fell away they went straight into ‘Fuckin Up’. They then leave the stage.

"You’re great, what can I say" announces Young as the group return to the stage and they proceed to perform a truly electric version of ‘Cortez the Killer’. As the song ends, a girl shouts out "I love you", he smiles. For the last time tonight Neil dons the acoustic guitar and gives us the last of the three songs from ‘Broken Arrow’ - ‘Music Arcade’. Picking up the Gibson once more, an apocalyptic eighteen minute version of ‘Like a Hurricane’ begins. Without a doubt the best song of the evening, he dismantles it’s melodic chords and rebuilds it into a monster lunging out of the amplifiers. Convulsive-fit-inducing strobe lights bounce and flicker as Neil squeezes every last breath of life from the beast he created as it dies away in a blood curdling cry of frenzied feed-back.

Neil then thanks Crazy Horse, and begins the even rarer ‘Sedan Delivery’, reminding the crowd of a certain era they start pogoing to the fast riff pace. The next treat , ‘Dangerbird’, the song that Lou Reed announced as "the best rock song ever recorded". Then as the saying goes "all good things must come to an end", and so it did, not before they played the, now classic, ‘Rockin in the Free World".

My brother, who until he came along with me to see Mr. Young perform with Pearl Jam at last year’s Reading Rock Festival, had assumed that Neil Young was just another ageing Sixties hippy trying to cash-in on a current guitar based rock rival. He was wrong, he was converted that evening. And anyone with doubts as to Neil Young’s ability, would have been not just converted but completely blown away by what they witnessed at the Phoenix 1996 Festival on that Summer’s evening tucked away in the English countryside.

The Sunday Times a week later called it: "The best performance of the weekend". They continued with: "A couple of late nights of relative boredom are a small price to pay for witnessing Neil Young at his best..."

And I’d have to agree. That night will be forever recorded in my memory as the night that one of the finest artists in the world gave one of his greatest performances. He may never again surpass the magical spell he cast upon his audience that evening, but I look forward to him trying.

© 1996 Paul Carless