Neil Young: From the Country to the City to See the Country

My first real concert was Neil Young, in the summer break after my freshman year of university. I had seen other bands before, but no one particularly famous, and no one in a real concert venue, like Exhibition Stadium. I was living back home with my parents for the summer, which meant that I had to drive about 3 hours to the show. Four of us were going... Craig, Brad, my brother Richard, and me. Brad was already in Toronto doing a cattle show, so I borrowed my parent's car, loaded Craig and Richard, and headed to Toronto.


The ride was uneventful until we got to Lakeshore. We immediately got stuck in traffic, and inched along to Bathurst, where the car overheated and we had to pull over. Fortunately for three hayseeds, we could see a gas station a couple hundred yards ahead with a service bay, so we pushed the disabled car to the station, and a mechanic looked at it immediately. That kind of thing never happens, right?

As it turned out, the thermostat was broken, so we could either wait for the part (a few days), or have the guy remove the thermostat and replace it when we got home. I believe the bill for that hack job was $35. Again, good fortune. And then things turned sour.

We ditched the car in a parking garage on Queens Quay and walked to Ontario Place where we would meet Brad. We met him at the gates and headed to the cafeteria there for food and beer. I had a burger and a quart bottle of Blue, and fell ill almost immediately after the burger was done. Yup, I had a nasty case of food poisoning. To the toilet a few times, barfing in bushes, the whole bit. I even told the guys to leave me back and I would head for the car to sleep. They convinced me to go anyway, and somehow I found the strength to go.

Neil started as the night fell, and as the show went on, I felt progressively better. Now Neil had for several years before been screwing around with genres, and this time he went straight from New Wave to Country. He was unrelenting in his commitment to the country sound, and had a full Nashville band backing him up. Now at that time, country was not my thing, but there was enough of the hits to keep me going. When he played Down By the River, the show headed for the stars. Incredible.

1. Country Home
2. Comes a Time
3. Looking for a Love
4. Heart of Gold
5. This Old House
6. Bound for Glory
7. Southern Pacific
8. Sugar Mountain
9. Helpless
10. Nothing is Perfect
11. California Sunset
12. Down by the River
13. Old Man
14. Powderfinger
15. Get Back to the Country
16. Grey Riders



My stomach had settled by the time the show ended, and we spent the entire ride back home in silence. We pulled down that gravel road to home at 3am.