REVIEW: Neil Young and Crazy Horse at Toronto’s Budweiser Stage

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Neil Young and Crazy Horse
Budweiser Stage
Monday night
RATING: ***1/2 (3.5 out of four)

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Down by the lake on Monday night, Canadian folk-rock legend Neil Young wowed his hometown fans.

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And it was during the classic Down by the River that 78-year-old Young — alongside his longtime rock outfit Crazy Horse featuring original rhythm section Billy Talbot on bass and Ralph Molina on drums joined by more recent member Micah Nelson (youngest son of Willie Nelson) on guitar for their Love Earth tour — finally hit his loud, lumbering and loveable stride at Budweiser Stage.

After the gates had been closed temporarily due to fear of a thunder and lightning storm, there was a crowd bottleneck to get into the amphitheatre’s summer season opening show with Young’s set time pushed back 20 minutes to accommodate that delay.

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On the positive side, despite no parking left on the Lakeshore Blvd. side because of construction on the site, it was easy getting into CNE parking — you just have to have the Green P parking app or go to greenp.com to pay.

A rousing opening set by Reverend Billy (and his choir) was followed by a crew of white lab coat-wearing roadies preparing the set dominated by a large white horse on a black back screen and Fender speakers before Young and Crazy Horse casually walked on stage and proceeded to leisurely jam on the show opener, Cortez the Killer, standing close together in a semi-circle in front of Molina’s drum kit.

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It felt like they were rehearsing or testing each other and we got to watch but then it was off to the races by the second song, Cinnamon Girl.

F***in’ Up was the third song to be played which is famous as the title of the 2024 album Young and Crazy Horse recorded at The Rivoli in a secret, surprise set in November 2023, reportedly hosted by Canada Goose CEO Dani Reiss.

Young, wearing a train conductor cap, lost his checkered flannel shirt for the fourth song, Scattered (Let’s Think About Livin’), and for the fifth song, Like A Hurricane, the set of keyboards came down from above so Nelson could play them.

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Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere and The Losing End (When You’re On) were a great one-two punch leading up to Down By The River and the audience seemed to lose their minds on that song and the follow-ups Powderfinger and Love And Only Love.

And just when Young and the Horse had the crowd where they wanted them, Young retreated to equally pleasing solo acoustic versions of Comes A Time, Heart of Gold, and Human Highway before going back to full band for the encore, which began with the crowd-pleaser Hey, Hey, My My (Into The Black) and included Don’t Be Denied (a song that explains Young’s move from Toronto to Winnipeg as a young man).

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“How ya doing out there?” asked Young, on more than one occasion.

And later when he asked the crowd collectively, ” What’s your favourite planet?” and we all shouted back “Earth!” he countered: “It’s great to be back in Canada!”

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Otherwise, you knew it was a Young show due to the lack of Budweiser signage (including no large screens on either side of the stage) and the sale of Cove Cola (which is organic), plus there was a guy on a Steadicam wandering through the audience so I’m thinking this tour is eventually going to be a documentary.

Young and Crazy Horse return for a second Toronto show on July 8 at the same venue.

SET LIST:

Cortez the Killer

Cinnamon Girl

Fuckin’ Up

Scattered (Let’s Think About Livin’)

Like A Hurricane

Vampire Blues

Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere

The Losing End (When You’re On)

Down by the River

Powderfinger

Love and Only Love

Comes a Time (Neil solo acoustic)

Heart of Gold (Neil solo acoustic)

Human Highway (Neil solo acoustic)

ENCORE:

Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)

Don’t Be Denied

Roll Another Number (For the Road)

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