Neil Young and Crazy Horse played a sold-out show at the Webster Bank Arena on Tuesday night.
Frank Sampedro, Billy Talbot of Crazy Horse and Neil Young. REVIEW
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. – The warning showed up on the website for The Webster Bank Arena early on Tuesday afternoon; …we expect heavy volume reaching (the arena). We recommend arriving early or taking public transportation so you can see every minute of the show.
The occasion was the sold out performance of Neil Young and his band Crazy Horse, featuring guitarist Frank "Pancho" Sampedro, drummer Ralph Molina and bass player Billy Talbot.
Rock legends tend to have an impact on highway exits, parking queues, and concession lines.
It seemed that most heeded the advice as the seats and the general admission floor spaces were filled by the time Young’s lab technicians (roadies in white coats) finished constructing the stage, with a giant microphone as the centerpiece, to the tune of the Beatles’ “A Day In The Life.”
After a rousing rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner,” (during which the band saluted the aforementioned microphone with their backs to the flag), Young lit into a scalding, 14 minute version of “Love and Only Love,” proving why he is revered as the godfather of grunge and progenitor of all noise-heavy rock.
“Powderfinger” sounded almost wistful in the face of that guitar onslaught and both paled in comparison to the rock giant’s “Walk Like a Giant,” an epic guitar jam finished off with a marathon feedback battle between Young and Sampedro.
Sensing the sensory overload, Young plucked an acoustic guitar and blared through his harmonica on a solo acoustic version of “The Needle and the Damage Done,” and remained the lone performer for “Twisted Road.”
He moved to piano for “Singer Without A Song,” as a young woman meandered around the stage with a guitar case, part of the show theatrics that included the opening skit and wind-swept (via a large fan) trash being strewn around the stage.
Having had enough of the ballads (three in a row!), Young delved into “Ramada Inn,” unleashing another furious guitar charge filled with enough angst to fuel yet another generation of disenfranchised souls.
He broke out “the time machine” verbally tracing his rock lineage back through album titles before landing on the 1969 release “Everybody Knows This is Nowhere,” and ripping through its signature song “Cinnamon Girl.”
Young continued to shred guitar strings to the very end, ending up on his back and kicking at air as he rolled through to “My My Hey Hey (Out of the Blue).”
Patti Smith thrashed through an opening set of vintage punk-tinged rock, and ended by dedicating a song to her mother who was born in Bridgeport in 1920.