THE MOST ANTICIPATED TOUR OF THE DECADE
The rumours have been rife for almost a decade as to when Neil Young would next grace an Australian stage. In fact, they basically started the moment he departed our shores fresh from a sell out tour in early 1989.
And back in 1997 the buzz reached sizzling point when Neil's manager Elliott Roberts told Australia's Paul Cashmere from Undercover that a tour was pending, adding;"If we toured down there with anyone else, Michael (Gudinski) would kick my ass!"
So it is with great pleasure that Michael Gudinski and The Frontier Touring Company inform Australia that an ass kicking was unnecessary and Neil Young and Crazy Horse are bringing their Greendale Tour to Australia this November.
Notably this tour will only be the second time that Crazy Horse has accompanied Neil Young to Australia – the previous time being in 1985 with International Harvesters.
The Greendale Tour has taken the United States and Europe by storm, eradicating any initial skepticism and consistently winning over audiences show after show. As Neil put it in an interview with Rolling Stone Magazine in August,"I found that audiences are challenged and they leave satisfied. But for me, the real success of it is that after doing this for forty years,I can stand there today,do ten new songs and live to talk about it."
And even when Neil isn't talking about it,the media and public are.Noise (UK) wrote "for years, Young has rarely said a word on stage. Yet, tonight he comes over like an old friend, discussing his childhood, his creative process and his latest creation, the town of Greendale."
Dotmusic added "while the 'classics' are worth the admission fee alone,the 'Greendale' material makes a mockery of the money spinning hits carnivals doing the rounds,"and Kansas City Star declared �the music on 'Greendale' is signature Young: hard country-rock, jangly country-folk and some abrasive fusions of rock and Delta blues."
Finally the Norwich Bulletin summed up "not just a great rock show,'Greendale ' was a dramatic story with compelling social import and complex, loveable characters. A real triumph for Young,I'd also call it one of the most unique and surprising pop performances in my recent memory."
So what is Greendale? Well ,in the words of Neil Young when he opens the show,"this is a story about a little town called Greendale and a family that lives there." In reality it is the musical novel based on Neil Young and Crazy Horse's newly released album Greendale, the first time Neil has performed an entire album of new material live since he toured his 1975 album Tonight's The Night .
With a cast of around thirty people, a set much along the lines of a stage show or musical, and narrative explanations by Neil, the Greendale s how is Neil Young like you've never seen him. As Dotmusic wrote "the ten new tracks come interspersed with lengthy, sometimes humourous,always droll,monologues on the fictitious town's inhabitants.By the end, Grandpa Earl and Grandma Edith Greene, Jed, Sun and police office Carmichael feel part of your own family."
Yet lovers of Neil's hits won't go away disappointed as the second half of the Greendale show is a smorgasbord of past material. As the Kansas City Star put it "what a feast it was: a nine-song, 70-minute encore from Young and Crazy Horse, who prove every time they play that fashions, fads and imitators will come and go forever, but genuine, unpretentious rock 'n' roll will never die."
Tickets to see Neil Young and Crazy Horse will go on sale nationally on Thursday 16 th October 2003. There will definitely only be one show for each city so buy your tickets early to ensure that you don't miss out.W ho knows how long it could be before you have the opportunity to see Neil Young and Crazy Horse again � in reality it could be more than a decade!
TICKETS ON SALE
THURSDAY 16 OCTOBER 2003
