Neil Young & Crazy Horse: Utilita Arena

Following the positive reviews that greeted the recent expansive double-album Psychedelic Pill, Neil Young & Crazy Horse can now confirm details of a UK tour which will take place in June 2013 arriving in Newcastle at the Metro Radio Arena on Monday 10^th June 2013. The tour represents Youngs first dates here since the summer of 2009 which included triumphant headline sets at Glastonbury, the Isle of Wight festival and Hard Rock Calling, as well as his first UK dates with Crazy Horse (Frank Poncho Sampedro, Billy Talbot and Ralph Molina) since 2001. Neil Young & Crazy Horse recently completed a North American tour and are next scheduled to tour Australia and New Zealand next March. Psychedelic Pill opens with Driftin Back, a gripping, 27-minute epic which starts with an acoustic intro (the only section of the album which was recorded in Kamuela, Hawaii) before it pokes down pathways that have been hinted at before, but never fully explored. Jesus, the Maharishi and Picasso make appearances in the song, Young noting how the images and messages associated with them are invariably corrupted or misconstrued. And, he fears, his own message and art have been corrupted and diminished by the very technology that has made it more accessible. Two other songs on the album touch in similarly expansive musical territory, the elegiac ode Ramada Inn and the spirited prayer of Walk Like A Giant. Other highlights include Born in Ontario which offers further detail and new perspectives to the explicitly autobiographical thread that winds back to Helpless; Twisted Road is a joyous thank-you note to some of the others who inspired (and continue to inspire) him, with Bob Dylan (Like Hank Williams chewin bubble gum / Askin me How does it feel) at the fore; and the title track is phased, swirling stomp in which he honours the rock n roll spirit at its most pure.