Hecklergigs: Neil Young, Hammersmith Apollo, 5/3

Way back in 1979 at 33 years of age, Neil Young famously sang that it was better to burn out than to fade away. It was advice taken rather too literally by Kurt Cobain, quoting the lyric from Hey Hey, My My on his suicide note before taking a shotgun to his head, but it seems Young himself decided long ago that burning out simply wasn’t an option.

That’s not to say that he’s faded away - far from it for his fans. The now 62-year-old Young is back in Britain for the first time in five years tonight and there’s real anticipation in the air at the Hammersmith Apollo. Of course, this is a pretty hardcore crowd - the leather waistcoats and beards on display highly reminiscent of Steve Coogan’s Saxondale - but with six further sold out dates, there’s every reason to be excited.

The show is billed as a 50/ 50 split between a semi- acoustic solo hour from Young then a full electric set with his band, and after wife Pegi (great way to keep your other half happy while on tour by the way) finishes her support slot, a hush settles over the capacity crowd.

Neil Young shuffles on stage, picking his way through a bric-a-brac filled set that includes a painter in one corner, churning out fairly naff interpretations of the tunes. While the point of this isn’t quite clear, it’s not about to distract anyone from Neil’s banter - mainly because he doesn’t have any - but we aren’t here to chat, and after a look around, Young selects one of many guitars and gets going.

We start with From Hank To Hendrix from 1992’s Harvest Moon album, and it’s a fitting way to begin. As he sings "Here I am with this old guitar, doin’ what I do" on this busy set of Americana relics, it seems like Young is putting it all into context.  

He even breaks his silence to regale the audience with tales ranging from his piano-playing granny to a 1976 interview with Jesus in Hammersmith and a trip to the Isle of Wight to watch the aforementioned Hendrix and Joni Mitchell.

This isn’t a nostalgia-fest, though (he even jokes that a round of applause for mentioning Mitchell is ‘cheap’), and alongside tracks from latest album Chrome Dreams II are boxfresh renditions of Harvest and Old Man, bringing the first hour to a close amid rapturous applause.

After 25 minutes he’s back, moving from softly-cracked acoustics to deep rock with ease. By the time we get to Hey Hey, My My, Young’s feedback drenched wig-out solos have everyone convinced that we are somehow watching the 33-year-old version playing the song. Young powers his way through to an encore of Cinnamon Girl and Like A Hurricane and the proof that he hasn’t faded is evident. The only question left is how long someone can continue to blaze, but 62 not out seems pretty good.

[story by Tom Atkinson]