Opening act on the night was Villagers, who set up in the cramped space between stage front and Neil Young's mammoth set-up of amps, pianos organs and various noise making devices. They seemed comfortable in front of such a massive crowd, Conor O'Brien howling and crooning a passion that was soon to be echoed by ol' Shakey himself.



Young and his band pulled no punches, opening up with the crushing Hey Hey, My My. Rock and roll will never die indeed. I envied those who were standing up front getting the full force of Neil's sonic maelstrom, especially from the gigantic Baldwin Exterminator amp (an 8ft tall monstrosity).



The band showed themselves to be multitalented, with all but the drums and bass player shifting around to various instruments and vocal duties.



The 2hour set was made mostly of older material, with just one nod to his more recent work. The highlights for me were Rockin' In The Free World (he must have played it for about 20 minutes), the beautiful and slightly bizarre Neil and organ solo Mother Earth and his raucous cover of the Beatles A Day In The Life, which ended in him tearing the strings off his guitar and making the most unholy noises you've ever heard in your life.



Having been to Bob Dylan earlier in the year I was a little apprehensive about the gig, but Neil was as passionate and firey as he has ever been. Think about THAT Bob.