This was supposed to be my first movie of this year but I had technical problems. I can’t not mention Mark Kermode on this review, I’m afraid (so it’s a good thing I didn’t make a resolution to mention him less, I guess, lol), ‘cos this was one of the first movies I heard him review on his podcast towards the end of 2006, and he’s mentioned it many times since (not to mention interviewing Young early last year on The Culture Show). This was the movie that “converted” him to a Young fan having pretty much despised him previously.

I was never so passionate about my basic apathy towards him and his work – when I was starting to really get back into music a few years ago, I tried listening to most of his stuff and I later listened to “Prairie Wind” (the album that forms most of this concert) and “Living With War” but didn’t get a lot out of them. For me, it was his most recent album, “Chrome Dreams II” – which I thought was by leaps and bounds the best album of last year – that finally made me “get” Neil Young. I don’t know, maybe it’s just ‘cos Kermode told me to like him, lol. But anyway, what I’m saying is, I came to this show already primed to love it.

I wasn’t quite “moved to tears” as Kermode has repeatedly said he was; but I can see where it touched him, I think. This was a very philosophical album, with lines like, “this old guitar ain’t mine to keep, it’s mine to play for a while,” and “when god made me, did he just make me in his image, or every living thing?” and the whole matter and God thing is clearly big on Kermode’s mind. Then there’s the whole age thing that pervades the whole concert, and I’ll admit even got me; though I have to say, I was pleased by the anecdote about writing “Old Man” (”... look at my life, Twenty four and there’s so much more, Live alone in a paradise …”).

One thing I was worried about in watching this was the sound sync problems I’d heard about. Things like that can really make me hate a movie. I don’t know if they fixed this when it went to DVD, but I barely noticed any such problems. If there are any, it’s down to the fact that they shot over 2 nights and obviously picked the better shots at times, sync be damned. It really didn’t bug me at all, and those who are whining oughta pick up a copy of The Phantom of the Opera.

In the end, it’s a filmed concert of Neil Young – you kind of know what you’re gonna get, especially if you’ve fleetingly touched on his music at some point; and I wouldn’t expect it to have the “conversion” effect on many people other than Kermode. It has a really nice “pre-concert” sequence with a few mini-interviews and even a cute little POV shot of someone handing in their ticket at the door. It really would’ve made a good start to a new year, it’s a shame … but there are plenty more years to follow that plan, and I’ll probably relax to this on many late nights / early mornings to come.