The first date of the Neil Young & the Chrome Hearts 2025 U.S. tour took place last night at the PNC Music Pavilion in Charlotte, North Carolina after their European tour that was well chronicled in the NYA Archives. I had sworn to myself that I would jump on any Neil Young European tour but could not pull it off this year for a variety of reasons, so fortunately when the U.S. tour was announced to occur during the middle of a busy upcoming work schedule for me, I made arrangements to be in Charlotte for the start of the second leg of the world tour. The infamous Reverend Billy dressed in his white suit opened the show with a high energy pro-Earth soul sermon, then after a relatively short break, Neil and band hit the stage at a somewhat surprisingly early 8:30 PM. An acoustic “Ambulance Blues” was followed by “ Cowgirl in the Sand” and we were off to the races. I was in the pit about five bodies from the left of the stage and could not have been happier surrounded by an enthusiastic joyful crowd. The concert was nothing short of amazing. The break after the European tour did the band well as Neil was in great voice, the sound was impeccable and the song selection was off the charts. There are too many highlights to list them all; “Southern Man” “Love and Only Love”, “F!#*in Up”, “Harvest Moon”, “Old Man”, “ Like a Hurricane”, “Rockin’ in the Free World” and a couple of tunes off of “Greendale”, complete with megaphone, just the tip of the iceberg. The two hour show was absolutely incredible and I look forward to the Jones Beach Theatre stop in a couple of weeks, and the final show of the tour proper in Los Angeles in September (Young and the band wil perform at Farm Aid in Minneapolis following the L.A. gig.
it has been a bit of a hit and miss concert season for me this summer with the Newport Folk Festival being a highlight, however missing the Outlaw Festival with Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan and Wilco in my backyard of Jones Beach being a disappointing miss. I am at the airport heading home and when I land I am off to see Mumford & Sons at Forest Hills Stadium tonight, then David Lee Roth at the Paramount in Huntington tomorrow before working the U.S.Tennis Open for close to a month with no days off.

One of These Days

Rock on!

GQ