Flashback
Last week we went to see Neil Young play at the Marina Civic Center in Panama City Beach. He is on his Gulf coast tour visiting Mobile next, then Pensacola. I hope he gets to enjoy his time here. On our drive to Panama City we enjoyed a wonderful sunset in the rear view mirror. A fall sunset on the Gulf of Mexico is hard to beat; shimmering yellows and pinks that are sometimes almost gaudy. I wondered if he might have seen it too.
So we get to the civic center and settle in to our seats. The venue is relatively small but we hadn't gotten our tickets as soon as they went on sale and so we were tucked into a back corner, under the balcony section. I felt a tiny bit claustrophobic and because of the incessant risk assessment that goes on in my head at all times, I found myself picturing the necessary jump over the side wall of the entry ramp if a fire broke out. Anyhow, we could see the stage fine and it looked great. A simple set design. I appreciate an nice simple set design with interesting lighting that enhances the music instead of fighting it.
The crowd was very attentive as the wonderful Allen Toussaint played piano, entertaining everyone with colorful stories and music and words that defined his era as definitively as Neil Young's defined his. After Mr. Toussaint's performance, as the show crew set-up for Neil Young, the lights came up and I looked around at the folks sitting in our row and around us. There was a generational sampling but the crowd was clearly and naturally weighted toward the "older folks", and in some cases downright "elderly". Yikes. As a matter of fact, I could have sworn that my long dead Uncle Joe was sitting next to me on my right. It was an odd feeling. I kept looking at him. He seemed to old to be at a rock concert. I chuckled realizing that he could have as easily been looking at me like I was his old Aunt Agnes. It's very funny that the way my face looks doesn't match how I young I feel. Well maybe funny isn't the right word.
There was the usual girl who swayed in the aisle and the obligatory couple of guys who yelled out songs that Neil should sing, Alabama being one of them. You just wonder, do they really think he is going to sing a particular song just cause some joker is bellowing at him? Has it ever worked? They were behaving as if they hadn't aged since the 1970's. I guess they still feel young too.
The concert was good and the audience grateful he came to our often forgotten part of Florida. I never have liked the raw guitar sounds that Young goes off into now and then but I enjoyed hearing some of his new music especially "You Never Call". The best part of the evening to me was his encore with "Old Man". The whole audience, me too, sang with him. It was very sweet. This old lady's will always love that song.
So we get to the civic center and settle in to our seats. The venue is relatively small but we hadn't gotten our tickets as soon as they went on sale and so we were tucked into a back corner, under the balcony section. I felt a tiny bit claustrophobic and because of the incessant risk assessment that goes on in my head at all times, I found myself picturing the necessary jump over the side wall of the entry ramp if a fire broke out. Anyhow, we could see the stage fine and it looked great. A simple set design. I appreciate an nice simple set design with interesting lighting that enhances the music instead of fighting it.
The crowd was very attentive as the wonderful Allen Toussaint played piano, entertaining everyone with colorful stories and music and words that defined his era as definitively as Neil Young's defined his. After Mr. Toussaint's performance, as the show crew set-up for Neil Young, the lights came up and I looked around at the folks sitting in our row and around us. There was a generational sampling but the crowd was clearly and naturally weighted toward the "older folks", and in some cases downright "elderly". Yikes. As a matter of fact, I could have sworn that my long dead Uncle Joe was sitting next to me on my right. It was an odd feeling. I kept looking at him. He seemed to old to be at a rock concert. I chuckled realizing that he could have as easily been looking at me like I was his old Aunt Agnes. It's very funny that the way my face looks doesn't match how I young I feel. Well maybe funny isn't the right word.
There was the usual girl who swayed in the aisle and the obligatory couple of guys who yelled out songs that Neil should sing, Alabama being one of them. You just wonder, do they really think he is going to sing a particular song just cause some joker is bellowing at him? Has it ever worked? They were behaving as if they hadn't aged since the 1970's. I guess they still feel young too.
The concert was good and the audience grateful he came to our often forgotten part of Florida. I never have liked the raw guitar sounds that Young goes off into now and then but I enjoyed hearing some of his new music especially "You Never Call". The best part of the evening to me was his encore with "Old Man". The whole audience, me too, sang with him. It was very sweet. This old lady's will always love that song.
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