Neil Young Journeys Through the Past at Idaho Tour Kick-Off

Last night, Rock Daily thought we hit the jackpot when Bruce Springsteen played "Meeting Across the River" and "Jungleland" at Madison Square Garden, but little did we know that in Boise, Idaho, Neil Young was kicking off his tour with one of the craziest setlists of his entire career. Playing no less than four songs from various unreleased mid-Seventies albums, Young also dug out super rarities "Ambulance Blues," "Campaigner," "Bad Fog of Loneliness" and "A Man Needs a Maid," which he hadn't touched in thirty-one years. Only four songs from his forthcoming Chrome Dreams II were performed. What inspired the nostalgia-adverse Young to reach so far back? Might he be going through his mid-Seventies tapes in preparation for Archives Volume 2 — even though Volume 1 has yet to see the light of day? With this guy you never know. The complete setlist is below.

The first part of the show was performed solo acoustic, the second with a small band containing pedal steel guitarist Ben Keith, bassist Rick Rosas, Crazy Horse drummer Ralph Molina with Anthony Crawford and Young's wife Pegi on background vocals.

10-18-2007, Velma V. Morrison Center For The Performing Arts, Boise, Idaho:
"From Hank To Hendrix"
"Ambulance Blues"
"Sad Movies"
"A Man Needs A Maid"
"No One Seems To Know"
"Harvest"
"Campaigner"
"Journey Through The Past"
"Mellow My Mind"
"Love Art Blues"
"Love Is A Rose"
"Heart Of Gold"
---
"The Loner"
"Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere"
"Dirty Old Man"
"Spirit Road"
"Bad Fog Of Loneliness"
"Winterlong"
"Oh, Lonesome Me"
"The Believer"
"No Hidden Path"
---
"Cinnamon Girl"
"Tonight's The Night"

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Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

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