After all these years, Neil Young is still a big draw. A very big draw. There is a serious air of expectation hanging over BST Hyde Park. Despite the heat, everyone is drawing closer to get a good view of this legend. Though Neil regularly visits these shores, it is still something special to see him in the live environment, and there are many here of all ages, young and old, waiting in anticipation, whether for the first time or not.
Neil Young And The Chrome Hearts
BST Hyde Park – 11 July 2025
Words: Adrian Stonley
After all these years, Neil Young is still a big draw. A very big draw. There is a serious air of expectation hanging over BST Hyde Park. Despite the heat, everyone is drawing closer to get a good view of this legend. Though Neil regularly visits these shores, it is still something special to see him in the live environment, and there are many here of all ages, young and old, waiting in anticipation, whether for the first time or not.
The start of the show is relatively inauspicious. Neil, with acoustic guitar and mouth organ, ambles onto the stage to one of his lesser-known numbers, Ambulance Blues. This is Neil at his most honest, the man alone. Yet the heaving, sweary mass are eating from his hand from the first chord. It is simple, yet beatific.
Cowgirl In The Sand sees the rest of the Chrome Hearts band kick in, and perhaps even a grin from Neil as they plug in the electric guitars and rip into the Crazy Horse song. There are plenty of heavy chords, feedback and his honest but at times almost frenzied guitar attack. How he gets some of the tortured sounds out of his instrument is only his business, but to quote Neil Diamond, it’s a beautiful noise.
There is no great ado about a Neil Young show. It’s just him and the band doing what they do best. There is no need for great stage designs, pyro or lasers. This is the great man and his music, and that’s all he needs to do his talking. The set is a history lesson in his own remarkable musical ability.
There is something for everyone from his career. Solo material, Crazy Horse tunes, even a Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young song thrown in for good measure. When You Dance, I Can Really Love has the crowd moving in accordance with the tune. It is impossible not to dance, and with Cinammon Girl following, you are starting to recognise that something special is unfolding before your eyes.
Southern Man has a clearly pointed edge tonight, and though a song that has not always endeared him to certain elements of the Southern US states, it is one that is embraced in a loud singalong tonight.
The Needle And Damage Done is his ode to the destructive nature of drugs, and heroin in particular, which took so many friends and bandmates. This is always a solemn song, and the meaning is not lost on those singing back the lyrics.
With the sun setting, we get Harvest Moon. Again, Neil and his acoustic guitar, the song stripped back to its base, yet audacious and beautiful all the same. Emotion runs over and there are numerous couples glancing meaningful looks at each other throughout,
Yet from emotion we go to spine tingling as Neil sits down at a piano and for the first time in a while the familiar strain of After The Gold Rush is played. This song is as relevant now as it was when it was written fifty or so years ago, and Neil recognises this in updating the lyrics to reflect the 21st century instead of the 1970s.
From one extreme to the other after the beauty of Gold Rush, we get the feedback-driven guitar fest of Hey Hey, My My, which again has everyone on their feet, punching the air to the line of “Rock ‘n’ Roll Will Never Die.” The set ends with a soft Old Man, perhaps a gentle recognition that none of us are getting any younger.
He returns for a two-song encore, firstly Throw Your Hatred Down, before the pile driver that is Rockin’ In The Free World. This, unfortunately, falls foul of the powers that be, who stick to a very rigid curfew, and the moment the clock hits ten-thirty, the power is cut with the band in full flow.
However, that did not appear to dampen anyone’s spirits. We had over two hours of top-quality showmanship and songwriting. My only beef, no Like A Hurricane, but I guess we will have to go see him again, and next time we’ll get it. What a hardship.
