Review: Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts at PNC Music Pavilion
Can a “past his prime” music legend get better with time?
While audiences roll the dice with certain other elder statesmen of rock, 79-year-old Neil Young continues to deliver exceptional performances and his Aug. 8 stop at Charlotte’s PNC Music Pavilion with his newest band, the Chrome Hearts, improbably raised that bar even higher.
But first, attendees had to endure some unexpected (and largely unwanted) Righteous Gemstones-like shenanigans. With no opening act listed, the alleged 7:30 p.m. start time suggested an appropriately early evening for the primarily Boomer crowd. Instead, we were asked to sit through the eco-activist gospel antics of Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir. Despite wielding important messages, talented backing vocalists and a backing band to match, the fact that this wasn’t Walton Goggins in Baby Billy Freeman get-up but something meant to be taken seriously was, well, tough to take seriously.
This Bible Bonkers/Teenjus nonsense out of the way, the actual show could finally begin. As if atoning for the poor support selection, Young (on acoustic guitar) and his four-piece backing group got off to a subdued yet powerful start with “Ambulance Blues,” whose final verse (particularly the last line) drew supporting cheers from the anti-MAGA crowd:
I never knew a man could tell so many lies
He had a different story for every set of eyes
How can he remember who he's talking to?
'Cause I know it ain't me, and hope it isn't you
Agreeable as this opening selection was, the night soon kicked into a higher gear as Young went electric for “Cowgirl in the Sand,” cranking out killer extended guitar solos and — just as impressively — moving around like a man half his age. Though the admittedly older Bob Dylan and Chrome Hearts godfather Willie Nelson remain largely static throughout their sets, the sight of Young bouncing in close proximity to bassist Corey McCormick (Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real) and Micah “Son of Willie” Nelson as they, drummer Anthony LoGerfo (Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real), and legendary Muscle Shoals keyboardist Spooner Oldham provided a rich, supportive bed of sound for Young to do what he pleased with turned back the clock and suggested that more thrills in this vein awaited.
Eschewing tracks from their June 2025 album Talkin to the Trees, the ensemble pinged around Young’s discography, bringing the same level of reverence to hits like “Southern Man” and “When You Dance” as they did to such deeper cuts as “New Mama,” “Looking Forward,” and the superb, harmonica-featuring “Daddy Went Walkin’.” Unlike the fun but largely static Crazy Horse performance April 2024 in Atlanta, the Chrome Hearts brought significant energy to the stage that the iconic singer/songwriter was happy to build on.
Flexing his versatility, Young returned to acoustic guitar for the lovely mid-set Harvest Moon combo of “One of These Days” and the title track, the latter of which tried its damndest to match the ethereal studio version. And he also kept things interesting with some unconventional stage props, namely an amusing megaphone set-up straight out of Pee-wee’s Playhouse that, when activated by a connected mic, oscillated as the frontman "shouted" pointed lyrics on “Be the Rain” and “Sun Green.”
However, it wasn’t the lone unusual sight that evening. Following a passionate, set-ending take on "Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black),” the band returned for an encore and a mysterious chandelier-like object that hung above the stage was lowered, revealing its true form as a wood cabinet with a bird painted on the outside and, of all things, a keyboard hiding inside. As the instrument remained supported by the very wires that kept it aloft for the previous 90-plus minutes, Nelson moved with it while the group jammed out on “Like a Hurricane,” making one wonder if this swinging device required pendulum action to function.
Perhaps casting a counter spell to this bizarre contraption, Young moved to a church organ next to LoGerfo’s drum kit for the meditative “Name of Love,” then truly got right with the spiritual realm on acoustic guitar to perform one of the all-time great songs, “Old Man.” Another full-band exodus followed, but anyone with a single functioning brain cell knew that, in the year 2025, there was approximately a 0% chance that one of the most prominent liberal voices of our time would depart without playing “Rockin' in the Free World.”
Those odds naturally held true and a thoroughly cathartic experience was had, culminating in Young leading a chant of “Take America back!” It was the way to end the night — and yet, the lights stayed down long enough to send minds racing with possibilities of what might await in a third encore. Alas, hopes for a solo acoustic rendition of “Heart of Gold” or a full-band lullaby of “Don’t Let It Bring You Down” went unrealized, but with all the dream fulfillment that brought us to that point, disappointment never came close to entering the equation.
Start time: 8:35 p.m.
(Photo by Micah Rogers)
