Neil Young Leans Hard Into Obscurities — as Promised — in Magical Tour Opener at L.A.’s Ford: Concert Review
variety.comChris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic “What is that?” Neil Young asked toward the end of his solo-tour-opening show Friday night at the Ford amphitheater in the Hollywood hills, referring to a strange, seemingly distant but quite audible sound that occasionally punctuated his songs or commentary. “Are you hearing that all night?” This was not an audio hallucination; the fairly intimate crowd of 1,200 was privy to it, too, and some had been looking up earlier to see if it might be a mighty wind causing a whoosh in the scenically placed palm trees over the stage.
It was not. “It’s One Direction!” someone in the audience finally shouted — not quite getting it right, but on point in alluding to the source of the noise, intermittent crowd roars from a Louis Tomlinson concert at the Hollywood Bowl, just on the other side of the 101. “How do you like my new band?” Young finally quipped, before getting back to business, resigning himself to the stray sound effects.
These occasional faint outbursts weren’t too bothersome, truth be told, and did not go a very long way toward interrupting the magic unfolding inside the Bowl’s much tinier, 103-year-old cousin.
If anything, maybe the fleeting ambient sounds served a small purpose in setting up a not-so-ironic contrast with what was happening here on the other side of the tracks, as it were.
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