Neil Young Does His Greendale Show

By now everybody realizes that when Neil Young has a flight of fancy, everyone be damned, he's going to indulge in that flight of fancy. This time around that fancy is Greendale, the album/story/stage show/DVD/movie project that weaves a loose narrative around the Greens, a multi-generational family living in the town of Greendale on the California coast.

I had serious misgivings about this show. The Greendale album is awkward and somewhat poorly realized, even if there's a well-meaning thread running through its narrative. This, coupled with Young doing red carpet peacock-trots for the promotion of the Greendale movie at the Toronto International Film Fest established an uncertain air around the ACC. When the curtains rose on the show to reveal the crude, cartoonish Greendale set, those uncertainties only grew worse.

With Young virtually immobile in front of his mic, and face obscured by a hat, people were left to pay attention as actors mouthed the words to the Greendale songs and danced about, giving colour to the various songs. It was all ham-fisted platitudes and trite smalltown observations, but then somewhere around the third song, the rollicking "Devil's Sidewalk," something happened. The suspension of disbelief kicked in, the characters became more clear and the story of Greendale became far less murky and far more emotional.

Drug-dealing cousin Jed shoots the Officer Carmichael and in the ensuing media frenzy Grandpa Green has a heart attack. While this unfolds, the most compelling character, the Avril-as-militant-environmentalist Sun Green begins to prominently shape the Greendale storyline. As the story deepens, Young's presence shrinks even further. Sure he was at the front of the stage but by the time the Sun Green was making her great statement, Young had become mere window-dressing. As the song "Sun Green" plays, the Sun character straddles a giant bronze statue in the foyer of the Powerco building.

It's a striking image.

Sun hollers through a megaphone "There's corruption on the highest floor" and "Hey Mr. Clean, you're dirty now too."

All the while Young sings — in rather timely form — about unpredictable rolling blackouts. It's at that moment that all the worries about Greendale-the-concept are washed away. The pure, defiant symbolism, the potent messaging and the Neil Young fierceness all shine through. Sure, it's all wrapped in a strange package — a girl with a megaphone dances around in combat fatigues and breakdancers bust moves on a Neil Young stage — but the sentiment is clear. The suits are still evil, the world is still fucked and we've got to fight it.

By the time Young breaks into "Be The Rain" with its massive sunshine-y, dancing and singing routine, you're not thinking "A Neil Young show has just turned into a shitty Fame episode," you're absorbing the words "we got a job to do/we got to/save mother earth" and you're on it.

With that, the Greendale performance ended climactically. Young would end up playing another seven songs to pay the bills and keep the commoners happy — highlights included a sprawling "Down By The River" and the familiar "Cinnamon Girl." But if you left the ACC thinking about anything besides corruption on the highest floors, you missed the point.

Setlist:
Falling From Above
Double E
Devil's Sidewalk
Leave The Driving
Carmichael
Bandit
Grandpa's Interview
Bringin' Down Dinner
Sun Green
Be The Rain

First Encore:
Hey, Hey, My, My (Into The Black)
Sedan Delivery
Down By The River
Powderfinger
Prisoners Of Rock 'N Roll

Second Encore:
Cinnamon Girl
Fuckin' Up