Warning: if you are
not a fan of loud guitars, this movie is not for you. If you are a fan of Neil Young, Neil Young Trunk Show is a
must-have. Directed by Jonathan Demme [Philadelphia, Silence of the Lambs], Neil Young Trunk Show is the second of
three Neil Young concert films [Heart of
Gold and Journeys being the other
two]. This film saw an extremely limited
run on movie theaters and film festivals, and was shown on TV. It hasn’t gotten any kind of DVD or Blu-Ray release
[WTF Neil?]. Filmed over two dates at
the Tower Theatre in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, this is what Demme had to choose
from to include in the movie:
Dec 9, 2007
From Hank to Hendrix / Ambulance Blues / Sad Movies / A Man
Needs a Maid / Mexico / No One Seems To Know / Harvest / Journey Through the
Past / After the Gold Rush / Mellow My Mind / Love Art Blues / Campaigner /
Cowgirl in the Sand / The Loner / Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere / Dirty Old
Man / Spirit Road / Bad Fog of Loneliness / Winterlong / Oh, Lonesome Me / The
Believer / No Hidden Path / Cinnamon Girl / Like a Hurricane
Dec 10, 2007
From Hank to Hendrix / Ambulance Blues / Kansas / A Man
Needs a Maid / Try / No One Seems To Know / Harvest / Journey Through the Past
/ Mellow My Mind / Love Art Blues / Cowgirl in the Sand / After the Gold Rush /
The Loner / Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere / Dirty Old Man / Spirit Road / Bad
Fog of Loneliness / Winterlong / Oh, Lonesome Me / The Believer / No Hidden
Path / Cinnamon Girl / Like a Hurricane / The Sultan
This is what made the cut for the film:
1.
Sad Movies [unreleased]
2.
Harvest [Harvest]
3.
Cinnamon Girl [Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere]
4.
Oh, Lonesome Me [After the Gold Rush]
5.
Kansas [unreleased]
6.
Mexico [unreleased]
7.
Spirit Road [Chrome
Dreams II]
8.
Hidden Road [Chrome
Dreams II]
9.
Ambulance Blues [Whoa! Something from On the Beach!]
10. Mellow
My Mind [banjo - Tonight’s the Night]
11. The
Believer [Prairie Wind]
12. Like
a Hurricane [American Stars ‘N’ Bars]
13. Cowgirl
in the Sand [acoustic - Everybody Knows
This Is Nowhere]
14. The
Sultan [instrumental from first group, The Squires, found in Archives, Volume 1, 1963-72]
Demme alternates NY as the aging acoustic hippie [who now
wears a suit jacket instead of a denim shirt] and the godfather of grunge. The setlists from the show do this, but not
every other song as the film depicts. I
suspect Demme does this because the cuts of No
Hidden Path and Like a Hurricane
take up almost a half hour by themselves.
That’s ok when you see him live, but it is a little tedious to put up
with when watching this in a theatre or in your house. The band that accompanied NY on the tour to
promote Chrome Dreams II [see below]
was described by NY as giving him a variety of sounds to choose from, unlike a
solo acoustic show or a show with Crazy Horse.
Ben Keith [RIP] played a variety of instruments that wouldn’t quite fit
into the Crazy Horse scheme. NY said
some of the songs would work great with the Horse, but not all of them. So what we get is a more eclectic Neil rather
than all acoustic or all feedback-driven guitars.
Song selection: NY plays some rarities that are so rare I had
never heard them until I saw this movie [Sad
Movies, Kansas, Mexico] – and I thought I knew them all
[guess again, Tony…]. The presence of
Ambulance Blues was a big surprise. The
Sultan was one of the first songs NY ever wrote. He reached ay back into the Archives
[literally] for that one. It was neat to
hear live.
The Band:
Ben Keith [The Stray Gators] – guitars/organs/pedal steel
guitars
Rick Rosas - bass
Ralph Molina [Crazy Horse] – drums/vocals
Pegi Young – vocals/vibes
Anthony ‘Sweet Pea’ Crawford [The International Harvesters] –
vocals/piano/bells
Eric Johnson as “the painter”
Cary Kemp as “The Sultan” – gong on “The Sultan”
I have no idea why there is a “painter” on-stage. If NY had included The Painter [from Prairie Wind]
in his set I might get why this character was there. But without the song I’m forced to ask the
question: WTF?
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