Down Under

Neil Young Entertainment Center, Sydney

by Lynden Barber

Loyal to the associations of his name, Neil Young hasn't changed much over the years. Ambling about the stage like he's just clambered down from the hayloft, the old stumblebum doesn't so much exude youthfulness as give the impression of not giving a tinker's about his age. Considering most performers of his generation wear the menopause like a battle scar, that's not bad.

The music's not bad either. Despite countless shifts in direction, music-wise, Young retains a welcome allegiance to what we can call, for the sake of argument, The Roots. Maybe it's not stretching the case too far to call him Ry Cooder's elder, loopy brother, an idiosyncratic evoker of America. Or at least, the countryside of America. Country, capital C. is the apple of Neil's eye again. Having toured with Wayion Jennings, he's assembled an impressively authentic. high-spirited combo dubbed the International Harvesters, regimentation. Minimal Compact augmented by fiddle, violin and (sometimes) banjo.

Doubtless aware that a too strong dose of ethnicity might be stretching sections of the audience too far, Young leavens the loaf with Nostalgia Corner, dipping back as far as the first album and hitting the applause button with solo faves. A popular manoeuvre, though questionable. Songs like "Heart Of Gold" and "After The Goldrush" are still chained to the time that spurned them, while Young's electric rock'n' roll has attained a sense of timelessness.