Well, whatever 'it' is, Neil still has it. It was a stinking hot day (43 degrees) which hadn't cooled much by the time he was on in the Bowl - it had been even worse during My Morning Jacket's rather good but necessarily short opening set, which I arrived partway through - and I was a bit tired, having just arrived back in Melbourne fairly late the previous night (the timing of the end of the o/s trip actually having been dictated by my desire to catch this show), but none of that mattered once he started playing. He and his band sounded great, and my wish for plenty of real guitar action was answered from the outset; both the songs I knew and those that I didn't were great, and there wasn't a single flat spot. The clear highlight was the pulling out of the sprawling "Cortez the Killer", which is saying something given that he also did "The Needle and the Damage Done", as well as killer versions of "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere" and "Words", among others (plus a respectful but reimagined "A Day In The Life" for an encore). Really great.
(w/ David + Justine)
