Neil Young - "Bobfest"

Way back in October 1992, a day or two before I went to Korea for a year, I saw a broadcast that celebrated Bob Dylan's 30 years as a recording artist. Everybody was invited, and everybody came. By far my favorite performance of the entire show was Neil Young's two-song set. To put this in context, he was the next act on-stage after Sinead O'Connor got booed off the Madison Square Garden stage. She ripped up a poster of the Pope on Saturday Night Live not too long before this show, and the folks in New York were still pretty bent about the whole Sinead thing. They let her know in no uncertain terms what they thought about her.

The first song NY played was Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues. As always, very ragged and very Neil. Before he went into the next song, he introduced it by saying "this song's for you Bob - thanks for having Bobfest." With that, he and Booker T. & the MGs kicked off All Along the Watchtower. Only Neil Young could make the MGs sound like Crazy Horse. As usual, compared to most of the acts on the bill, Neil blew the roof off MSG. If you ever wonder what Stephen Stills meant by describing Neil's playing as the "spear in the back dance," you'll see plenty of evidence here. As one can surmise, I can never get too much Neil. Eric Clapton soon followed with a fiery rendition of Don't Think Twice, It's All Right, but it wasn't nearly as intense as Neil's performance.