I wish to lodge a complaint.....about a Mr Neil Young.
He was headlining at Glastonbury on Friday, and we watched the footage that evening. Now, all due respect to the guy for some good songs over the years. But by the time he'd finished his overblown set, I was shouting at the telly.
I think there should be some rule that you get kicked out of the Musician's Union if the ending to the song takes longer than the song itself. Let me try and describe the ending of 'Rocking in the Free World' to you....
Chorus...
Another chorus, that's nice, big sing-along...
Crashing drum roll, huge power chords.....bam....baaaaam......baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaam....
Oh, he's singing the chorus again....
Here we go, he's wrapping it up now.....more drums.....bit of a guitar solo.....crash.....bang.....wallop.....throw yourself around a bit.....aaaaaand.......
he's singing the fucking chorus again......
more slamming about (yawning now).......
.........oh, he's dismembering a perfectly good and quite possibly priceless vintage Les Paul so he can slam the loose strings against the pick-ups (can anybody explain that to me, please?)...
...more solos, even bassist looking bored now....
..big drums, lots of feedback...
....and finally he finishes.
What the hell was all that about then?!?
Honestly, I think some rock stars really do begin to believe the bullshit about their legendary status, and think they can get away with anything on stage. But that, I'm afraid to say, was unremitting crap. Pete Buck of REM once said something like, if you can't say what you want to say in less than four minutes, it's not worth saying. And solos? Keep them short and to the point, please - too much, and it's like watching someone masturbate in public.
So, Mr Young, if you want to know how it's done, leave your dad-rock at home, and take a leaf out of last night's glorious headliners, and the best band of the past twenty years. Bar none. THIS is how you end a set.....
(Edit) now this is where you should be seeing a Youtube video of Blur finishing last night's set with The Universal, but I suspect the BBC is stripping the footage off as rapidly as people are trying to put it up. So I'll have to make do with a performance from Reading 03 instead. The 09 highlights are available on Glastonbury highlights site and the 33 minutes of Blur is out of this world. (End of Edit)
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In other news, on the domestic front, chaos was caused by a small puppy. You remember those pics I posted of our living room? Now it's not the biggest in the world, but we like it, and we've got it just the way we want it - probably the only room in this house I can actually say that about. So imagine the uproar that ensued when Merlin charged in. Covered. In. Shit.
Fortunately I was there to head him off as he tried to leap onto the sofa, so I took the full crap impact myself. Cue instant extraction of puppy from danger zone to garden, where he experienced the full force of the garden hose for the first time before I turned it on myself. He had poo in his ear, for God's sake! How can any sane animal think that is a good look?
Good job he's adorable.
He was headlining at Glastonbury on Friday, and we watched the footage that evening. Now, all due respect to the guy for some good songs over the years. But by the time he'd finished his overblown set, I was shouting at the telly.
I think there should be some rule that you get kicked out of the Musician's Union if the ending to the song takes longer than the song itself. Let me try and describe the ending of 'Rocking in the Free World' to you....
Chorus...
Another chorus, that's nice, big sing-along...
Crashing drum roll, huge power chords.....bam....baaaaam......baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaam....
Oh, he's singing the chorus again....
Here we go, he's wrapping it up now.....more drums.....bit of a guitar solo.....crash.....bang.....wallop.....throw yourself around a bit.....aaaaaand.......
he's singing the fucking chorus again......
more slamming about (yawning now).......
.........oh, he's dismembering a perfectly good and quite possibly priceless vintage Les Paul so he can slam the loose strings against the pick-ups (can anybody explain that to me, please?)...
...more solos, even bassist looking bored now....
..big drums, lots of feedback...
....and finally he finishes.
What the hell was all that about then?!?
Honestly, I think some rock stars really do begin to believe the bullshit about their legendary status, and think they can get away with anything on stage. But that, I'm afraid to say, was unremitting crap. Pete Buck of REM once said something like, if you can't say what you want to say in less than four minutes, it's not worth saying. And solos? Keep them short and to the point, please - too much, and it's like watching someone masturbate in public.
So, Mr Young, if you want to know how it's done, leave your dad-rock at home, and take a leaf out of last night's glorious headliners, and the best band of the past twenty years. Bar none. THIS is how you end a set.....
(Edit) now this is where you should be seeing a Youtube video of Blur finishing last night's set with The Universal, but I suspect the BBC is stripping the footage off as rapidly as people are trying to put it up. So I'll have to make do with a performance from Reading 03 instead. The 09 highlights are available on Glastonbury highlights site and the 33 minutes of Blur is out of this world. (End of Edit)
---------------------------------------------------------
In other news, on the domestic front, chaos was caused by a small puppy. You remember those pics I posted of our living room? Now it's not the biggest in the world, but we like it, and we've got it just the way we want it - probably the only room in this house I can actually say that about. So imagine the uproar that ensued when Merlin charged in. Covered. In. Shit.
Fortunately I was there to head him off as he tried to leap onto the sofa, so I took the full crap impact myself. Cue instant extraction of puppy from danger zone to garden, where he experienced the full force of the garden hose for the first time before I turned it on myself. He had poo in his ear, for God's sake! How can any sane animal think that is a good look?
Good job he's adorable.
I've seen a few loser sets from otherwise extremely talented legends in my time as well. I'm not sure which one are worse - the sets that they "phone in" or the ones where they suddenly become "legends in their own mind." Well, here's hoping he comes back with a good one the next time. At least it sounds like you had some other really great music to enjoy!
All the best...