Back from an excellent show in Amsterdam! I got my first Cowgirl!

Pegi opened with a nice set. She commented on having a nice boat ride over
the canals the night before. No surprises on the setlist, I actually enjoyed
it this time around :)

Neil's show started off weird. The press photographers lined up all in front
of Neil, on the left and the right. They were taking a lot of pictures and
walking around, and also pushing each other. Finally they started talking to
each other and there was another drunk guy in the crowd yelling. Neil was
distracted and clearly fucking up the song a bit, and at the end he just
stopped it! Then he went: (this is a not an accurate quote) "Shut up,
asshole, all the clicking and then you guys start talking to each other.
These people paid a lot of money to be here." (he got up, waving the
photographers away!), and said: "I usually finish the first song. I will not
play another song until all of you have left." (woohoo!) The crowd went
wild! Then he said: "Well, that felt good!" (crowd laughing).

Then he played an angry Ambulance Blues, that got more mellow during the
song. The first surprise came with Don't Let It Bring You Down, which was
excellent. Then he took another guitar and fiddled around, playing a weird
intro, just playing a solo. Then, bam!, into Cowgirl In The Sand. I was
going nuts!

That was the last song.

The second set was cool. Just awesome. Neil was having a good time, and
really warmed up during Spirit Road. He mentioned Danny Whitten again. Then
he told the story of his mother on the 'ridge' (not hill or mountain) and
the wind and trenchcoat blowing. "This is where I want to be.." The Believer
is growing on me after this remark.

A surprise with the encores! He did The Loner, which was a cool slow
version. Then a funny, weird, very fast Cortez. Neil started it off too fast
himself, Ralph joining in. When Neil got to the first verse, he was
struggling to fit them into the fast rhythm. He had to get the feel, and
repeating the opening "he came dancing across the water" a few times to fit
it into there. Then he clearly realized it was way too fast, but instead of
slowing it down, he just went along for the ride. He fitted the lyrics in
there somehow, and starting rocking out on the solos. This was very very
cool version.

They were preparing to do The Sultan, they were moving the gong around
behind Ralph (even filming it!), but eventually we saw the sultan-guy wasn't
wearing his suit, so apparently they decided to skip it.

This was Matias's first Neil Young show! He was in the back, but could see
pretty good. He enjoyed the show immensely but will post his on review
later, no doubt!

Maybe we'll get lucky on the next show.. tomorrow!

Going to sleep now, I have to work tomorrow..
--
Roel - rdvdijk@...
"Obviously Doing Well"