Neil Young, Glastonbury Festival, review: A reverent display of classic rock

To no one’s great surprise, there were no explosions, fireworks, articulated platforms, interactive screens, confetti or special effects at Neil Young’s Glastonbury headline set. Nor, to give credit to the 79-year-old rocker, were there any of the pre-recorded backing tracks and fake vocals so ubiquitous in modern live productions. There was just an old man and his accomplished four-piece band The Chrome Hearts alternately making a heck of a grungy distorted racket, or playing acoustic campfire ballads with sweet, shaky harmonies.

His first song, Sugar Mountain, contained a lovely, wheezy harmonica solo and tender vocals. His second song, Be The Rain, went on for 10 minutes raging about the environment and contained a wildly distorting guitar solo that no one in the band seemed to have any idea where it was headed, including Young who was playing it. The stocky old star in the raggy check shirt and trucker cap switched between these two poles all night, and didn’t seem to give much of a damn what anyone made of it. He looked like he was enjoying himself, in any case.

There were no pre-recorded backing tracks that are so common in modern live productions - PA

This is what all rock festivals used to be like, before modern day screens and blockbuster productions, and it was kind of refreshing: five men (it was usually men back in the day) who’ve barely dressed for the occasion stirring up an electric storm of distorted guitar stomps, revelling in their ability to conjure wild solos on the spot.

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“Rock and roll will never die,” Young wailed during a long, feedbacky version of Hey Hey, My My, but the evidence was very much against him. This is like a last gasp of a fading art form, played to a receptive crowd but not a massive one. The youngsters had dispersed around the festival to see new generation pop heroes.

Charli XCX drew large crowds at the Other Stage - Invision

Charli XCX drew a bigger crowd than Young at the overpacked Other Stage, breakout US rap singer Doechi was killing it on the West Holts stage and they were turning people away from camp disco pop entertainers the Scissor Sisters at the Woodsies marquee. Young entertained the faithful but when he was tuning his guitar between songs you could have heard a pin drop.

In a rare production moment they summoned a keyboard that descended from overhead to play Like A Hurricane, and acted like they had just broken the fourth wall in an act of outrageous showcraft. It was kind of silly but who cares when you are listening to a band of supreme musicians find their way through one of the all time great rock songs as if they are discovering it for the first time. The staging may have been plain, but the playing was fantastic.

Harvest Moon was gorgeous. The Needle and the Damage Done was moving. Rockin In The Free World was an absolute blast. It was a genuinely great Neil Young set, filled with classic songs, played and sung with passion and panache. And lots of distortion. Give me that over Charli XCX miming or the 1975 posturing on stage every time.

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