Although only a tribute show, the power of Neil Young's catalogue still resonates in 2025, with the sold-out sign out front of Brisbane's The Triffid last Friday for the opening night of the Celebrating Neil Young Australian tour.
A concert featuring three accomplished artists in their own right – Australian singer-songwriter Shane Nicholson, The Tea Party's Jeff Martin and Tumbleweed's Richie Lewis – alongside a six-piece backing band (who were most excellent in their own right) delivered an evening soaked in gleamy nostalgia, crowd sing-alongs and the power of unity that only live music can convey.
As I rocked up to the venue (22 August) unfashionably early just after 7.30pm (there would be no support acts, with the first of two sets commencing at 8.15pm) I was confronted by a queuing line stretching 100-150m (something I'd never experienced at The Triffid). Joining the back of the line, it moved quickly (relatively) and before long, I was inside the hazy interior of The Triffid's hangar.
Usually I'm one of the older patrons at most gigs I attend, but tonight I was bringing the mean age down (quite a bit!) with the crowd a mix of silver-haired foxes and spritely dames embodying the rainbow colours of the 1960s. The energy in the room remained lively, with plenty of spirited conversations and the odd war story of seeing a young Young back in the day.
I've had my own Neil Young live experience when I saw the great man twice the same week in 2009: Big Day Out on a Sunday night, followed by a Brisbane Entertainment Centre concert midweek (I recall walking behind Tex Perkins into the carpark after the BEC gig).
They remain cherished highlights; especially the BDO performance where Young performed a main-stage show to about 300-400 diehards... the rest of the festival cramming into the Boiler Room (I'm told the crowd reached 100m outside the tent poles) to see The Prodigy at their peak.
Image © Clea-marie Thorne
I knew tonight's performance would only be a tribute to Young's catalogue, but the level of musicianship by all players onstage, their obvious love/ passion for Young's material and the enthusiastic (if somewhat boisterous) crowd reactions made this a thoroughly enjoyable experience.
With the three main singers each taking turns to stroll onstage for two, three songs apiece before passing the microphone to the next, the format moved smoothly with the first set comprising Young's lesser known hits as well as a deep dive or two into his back catalogue.
The backing band was led by guitarist Paul McDonald – who shredded like a king throughout the night while also adding plenty of character to his riffage – and country-Americana musician Stefanie Duzel (who has shared stages with Russell Morris, Tex Perkins, Tim Rogers) who brought a feminine energy to the group, slaying lead vocals on a number of songs to boot, her acoustic guitar adding the right level of twangy tones.
Situated in the background, but no less significant were rhythm guitarist Mark Tobin, bassist Stefano Cosentino, drummer Gareth Richards and organ-keys-harmonica player Bradley Christmas, who each brought their own charm to the performance while maintaining a steady, tight rhythm, the music sounding as close to the originals as any all-star cover band could muster.
Image © Clea-marie Thorne
Kicking off with 'Hey Hey, My My', Richie Lewis took lead vocals for the first three songs, walking onstage looking like a composite of Bill Murray and Hunter S. Thompson – an outdoorsman-raconteur-cum-catfish-fisherman. With a searing rhythm, and tight, compact drumming you instantly knew this wasn't some ragtag assembly of musicians at your local RSL.
Next up was 'Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere', the title track of Young's 1969 album that would feature twice more later in the evening ('Cinnamon Girl') and 'Down By The River'. Richie shared that 'Everybody Knows' was originally written for Lynyrd Skynyrd, but they never got around to playing and recording it. Tonight's rendition was sensational: Americana blues-country soaked in beer philosophy.
With the Vulture St road sign perched behind the main bar, it was appropriate that 'Powderfinger' would feature in tonight's set list, the obvious local link picked up early, the swaying bodies of the crowd revealing it was going down a treat. Richie pulled out the acoustic guitar for the slacker rock-AM radio number before Paul McDonald shredded like a divine entity. Searing.
Then it was the turn of Shane Nicholson to wander onstage, the relaxed nature of the players infectious, the crowd allowing them to tinker and tune their equipment before 'Down By The River' produced the first wall of noise, Shane's gravelly voice the perfect antidote before he engaged with Paul for a brilliant display of meaty riffage (my notes read: 'Where's my rock.' Maybe I was conjuring the spirit of Neil performing with The Band at their farewell gig; IYKYK).
The energy was further heightened by the bluesy swamp rock of 'Ohio', the song's lyrics providing an edginess especially considering the CSNY song was written in the aftermath of the fatal shootings by the National Guard on the campus of Kent University in 1970. With the current state of American politics, it seems little has been learnt in the intervening 55 years.
Image © Clea-marie Thorne
Shane would stick around for 'Comes A Time' (the first sighting of the harmonica drawing whoops and yee-haas from the crowd), the gospel of country music soaked up by crowd who joined in for the vocal ride.
Stefanie would handle lead vocals for the next two songs, the title track of 'After The Gold Rush' and it's sister song 'Only Love Can Break Your Heart', her earthy, angelic vocals only joined by her acoustic and piano (from Bradley Christmas) and a harmonica solo by Shane (who looked a little lost without a guitar or microphone to hold!).
Image © Clea-marie Thorne
When Jeff sauntered onstage, wearing a grey scarf, black jacket, fedora hat, the rockstar energy certainly shifted to the front-centre of the stage, Martin's presence an intoxicating force as he regaled us with a pre-song monologue to 'Needle And The Damage Done'.
It went something a little like this: "This music life can be glamorous, hedonistic with reckless dangers for those with a predilection for the vices. I'm no saint, but have an intense fear of needles. . . not part of my vice catalogue. But I've known too many people who have chased the dragon. . . this next song is dedicated to all the people who chased and lost to the dragon." The emotional toll was evident in his voice, folks.
What followed was a beautiful, haunting, moody, electric-chill-inducing rendition. The pain channelled through his fingers to his guitar strings. Eerily magic, looping out his guitar line at the end as his hands grasped the microphone stand, he looked like a neo-noir detective meets Indiana Jones-type adventurer.
Image © Clea-marie Thorne
He then told us that although Canada will always be home, he's a proud permanent resident of Australia, and promises to get his citizenship so he can sing 'Waltzing Matilda'.
His speech was broken up by a heckle from the back of the crowd, someone yelling "I thought you were American!" Audible gasps from the crowd ensured, as Martin took a moment to compose himself before delivering a stinging rebuttal: "You'll take that back!"
To whoops and cheers, Martin continued sharing ahead of 'Helpless', that from where he's from, Ontario, on any given weekend as young folks congregated for lakeside parties if this track wasn't being played on your boombox, it'd be getting blasted on the boombox across the lake (a number of Canadians in the crowd confirmed the story), the first strains of 'Helpless' evoking a number of gasps.
That concluded the first set, with Jeff promising they'd return shortly to "rock the f...en house!". The ensuring 30-minute break was the only letdown of the evening, time seemingly coming to a standstill, the din of 800 voices converging to drown out all thoughts.
Finally, the band were back, again fronted by Richie although poor feedback with the vocal mix quality somewhat ruined 'Urban Legend', Lewis' vocals drowned out by the (impressive) instrumentation.
The majority of the crowd didn't seem to mind, with the following song 'Old Man' generating a huge crowd sing-along, that melody etched into our minds, the vocal issues dissipating as well.
Image © Clea-marie Thorne
He then humorously shared that while practicing 'F... It Up' with his kids, he had to substitute one word for 'muck' and apologised in advance if he did muck it up, eliciting LOLs from the audience. He didn't f... it up, btw!
Bathed in purple, blue stage lights, Shane returned for the slow, bluesy, alt country swagger rock of 'Tonight's The Night', the first proper rock-out moment of the evening as Nicholson and Paul traded riff barbs – it was shred-licious.
The psychedelic feels arrived with the space rock, prog art rock stylings of 'Cortez The Killer, Shane and Paul again nailing the riffage as dank-red stage lights shrouded them in eerie shadows. A moment that transcended time; one of those rare occasions to get lost in the music, eyes closed, in a room of several hundred people. Glorious.
Image © Clea-marie Thorne
It led into another electrified banger 'Like A Hurricane' and I'll admit, by this stage my Neil Young cup of appreciation was spilling over, and although 'Heart Of Gold' and 'Harvest Moon' followed with Jeff at the vocal helm, I couldn't stick around for the 'Rockin' In The Free World' encore.
That said, this was a brilliant evening of musicianship, highlighting the extraordinary songwriting skills of Neil Young, bringing to life a catalogue of songs that has soundtrack the last half century plus.
Whether you're a Neil Young fan or simply appreciate amazing instrumentation, the upcoming Adelaide and Melbourne shows next month are worthy of your attention.
More photos from the concert.
