doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com
**_Neil Young& The Chrome Hearts - Capitol Theater, Port Chester, New York, September 24, 2024_**
Over on Aquarium Drunkard this week, I shared my thoughts on _Second Song_, Neil Young’s latest album. Go read my thoughts, damnit! In short, this is definitely one of Neil’s best this century, with introspective lyrics, gloriously loose arrangements and an elegiac vibe. It’s also a major upgrade in quality from Young’s last album, the mostly dismal _Talking to the Trees_.
_Second Song_ is the second studio effort with the Chrome Hearts, a band that landed in the coveted #9 spot in my recent, totally correct ranking of Neil backing bands for Uncut. This is Neil’s newest band, but they aren’t exactly “new” — keyboardist Spooner Oldham first appeared in the Shakey saga almost 50 years ago, and the rest of the Hearts is made up of various Promise of the Real-ers who have logged plenty of time with Young over the past decade-plus. But the multi-generational thing here makes a positive difference, I think; innocence and experience, energy and wisdom, all feeding into one another.
So! Let’s go back to one of the first Chrome Hearts performances, which took place just about two years ago at the Capitol in Port Chester, NY. If I remember right, these shows came together quickly, so there are definitely some ragged, under-rehearsed moments. That’s OK, most of it is great, whether Neil and co. are barreling through the opening “I’m the Ocean,” playing “Hey Babe” for the very first (and last???) time, or crashing and crescendo-ing on a majestic “Big Time.”
And hey, Neil and the Chrome Hearts are playing their first gigs of 2026 this week, joining Willie Nelson for a pair of shows before Farm Aid. They sound good and it’s a cool setlist, including a nice version of _Second Song_ ’s “Casting Me Away From You.” A debut? Maybe, but Neil wrote it in 1964, he may have jammed it with the Squires way back when …
