Come Together Play Neil Youngs Harvest – Civic Theatre, 12 May 2023: Review

Neil Young’s Harvest and much more gets the definitive performance from a superb Come Together ensemble. The stellar line-up of local musicians has presented the old curmudgeon in his glory days of gold, along with his heart of course.

Harvest (1972) followed the stone masterpiece of After the Gold Rush (1970). While it’s a lesser work in the glare of that supernova, the lyrics continued the mastery displayed in that prior work on at least half the songs of a ten-song set.

Young got a bit over-indulgent with the London Symphony Orchestra on two songs. That sound is represented as backing tracks.

A Man Needs a Maid was a great one anyway, and Matthias Jordan (Pluto) does it justice, singing lead behind his keyboards.

There’s a World was awful in 1972, and even Adam Hattaway (The Haunters) can’t rescue it on his one uncertain vocal performance of the night.   

The original album also drafted in Crosby, Ronstadt and Nash. They help to elevate the original Heart of Gold. Jon Toogood (Shihad) steps out and hits this one over the boundary, with the chorus vocals adding some extraordinary power. 

He’s full of vim and vigour as he rocks out on Alabama. The band transform this into Americana Tom Petty flying down a highway. 

They have kept the original versions intact whilst giving them a remastering makeover.

Dianne Swann (The Bads) takes a walk down the Country Rock path with Harvest. The Laurel Canyon influence is to the fore.

She contrasts that with her lead vocal on Words. A downbeat and ponderous rocker which builds to epic proportions with the high whining guitar sound of Layla (Derek and the Dominos).

A similar treatment for Are You Ready for the Country? Hattaway is on form here and shakes it like the Real Wild Child. 

Slippin’ and a slidin’/ Playin’ Dominos leftin’ and a rightin’/ Ain’t a crime you know. That’s Delaney and Bonnie and the Dominos.

The top vocalist for the evening would probably go to James Milne (Lawrence Arabia) in a very close call.

His solo voice with piano or acoustic guitar is stunning. Needle and the Damage Done is one of Young’s finest songs. With everybody off the stage, this version lifts the heartbreak and tragedy to some transcendence.

Milne does a similar thing to See the Sky About to Rain. Then reaches back early in Young’s career for a classic Buffalo Springfield song, Expecting to Fly. White Soul with a little jazz flourish. 

Some remnants of Neil’s time at Motown, when he played in a band with Rick James.

The band pile back on, change the weather completely and come down heavy with Cowgirl in the Sand. The meshed barrage sound of four electric guitars and one acoustic, where melodies arise like lightning flashes.

Coming back for the second set is more like a second concert. 80 minutes of the heavy, Hendrix-inspired pyrotechnics of Young’s guitar style dominate. 

Dangerbird comes from a rough and rowdy beast of an album, Zuma (1975). This is Bret Adam’s (The Bads) showpiece. A tasty guitar intro leads into waves of sound which seem to have origins in the Hendrix version of All Along the Watchtower. The high keening guitar could also be from Layla, you know.

Hattaway has his best moments on the one-two punch that follows.

Ohio is as visceral and melodic as the time it reflects. The early Seventies in America. Found her dead on the ground/ Soldiers are cutting us down. The first mass shooting in a learning institution was from the government.

Down by the River is a murder ballad. It’s raw and it rocks.

To contrast all this, Milne comes in solo and does an achingly beautiful rendition of After the Goldrush. The plaintive harmonica of Hattaway frames it perfectly.

Swann follows with Harvest Moon and Neil the Folkie wrote this in a classic American songbook style. The pedal steel of Jol Mulholland adds some essential western cowboy Sons of Pioneers colour.

Mulholland is given a cheer, as the bandleader and coordinator for this and all the Come Together shows. His sliding steel is wonderful tonight, as is the banjo on a few songs. I can hear the Flying Burrito Brothers echoing in the background.

Classic guitar-dominated songs are hauled out with newly tuned motors. 

Powderfinger has some sly Randy Newman styled humour. Southern Man is pure guitar attack with Toogood and Milne tearing it up. 

Well, I hope Neil Young will remember said his southern admirers Lynyrd Skynyrd. 

Hurricane. Judging from the audience here and all the rockin’ grandma’s trying to dance in the aisles, they will remember Barry Jenkins and Radio With Pictures, when he played concert footage of this song repeatedly. The band on stage would be too young. But they nail it.

Hey Hey, My My. From Young’s Rust Never Sleeps album of 1979. A bit of a grunge anthem where he warbled out his admiration for Johnny Rotten. The singers give him a sly little dig about that.

Well, I hope Neil Young will remember. John Lydon commented recently. I never thought I would live to see the day that the Left would become the cry-babies bending over for Control, and the Right would stand up and give the finger. 

Hey, hey, my, my and goodbye Rogan and Spotify said Neil.

The Come Together Band take Neil Young’s Harvest and give it a magnificent revamped and remastered presentation. A musical genius, with all his idiosyncrasies.

Rev Orange Peel