MANHATTAN …BEACH

Neil at The Bottom Line

THE closest Neil Young got to touring On The Beach was a solo show at New York’s Bottom Line on May 16, 1974. Ry Cooder was playing two shows at the club, and after the second set the audience was asked to remain seated for a special guest. Young sloped on with an acoustic guitar and harmonica to play 11 tracks – four from the as-yet unreleased On The Beach as well as songs that later appeared on Tonight’s The Night, Zuma

and Long May You Run.

The only song the audience would have known was “Helpless”, a choice of tune that maybe gives some indication of the general mood he was striking. Widely bootlegged before getting an official release in 2022 as part of Young’s Official Bootleg Series, it is a wonderfully intimate affair. Glasses clink, chairs scrape, the audience chatters and doors squeak. Young’s performance is perfect for these circumstances – playing the sort of folky venue where he cut his teeth and for which the very personal songs of On The Beach

are ideally suited. The bootlegged album became known as ‘Citizen Kane Jr Blues’ – after the name Young gives to the opening song, a moody number said to be inspired by Patty Hearst that he renamed “Pushed It Over The End” and regularly performed during the CSNY ’74 tour.

Young’s rambling patter and interaction with the audience are terrific – it’s all a far cry from the role he would take when playing stadia with Stephen Stills and co. Before he plays “Motion Pictures” he even introduces the audience to honey slides – “Just eat a little of it, you know, maybe a spoonful or two, you’ll be surprised, it just makes you feel fine...” As well as “Motion Pictures” – still its only live performance – Young plays “Ambulance Blues”, “Revolution Blues” and “On The Beach”, and delivers a freewheeling rendition of “Roll Another Number (For The Road)” from Tonight’s The Night when an audience member asks for a country song. The crowd gamely clap along aware they are in the presence of something special – especially the resourceful person who brought a tape recorder to the show…