NEIL YOUNG 01 - Warm Up Shows

"How would you like to fly to San Fransisco and open for Neil Young and Booker T and the MGs at the Warfield Theater tonight?"

Thirty years ago this week, I opened for five of my musical heroes: Neil Young, Booker T. Jones, Duck Dunn, Steve Cropper and Jim Keltner.

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A QUESTION WITH AN EASY ANSWER

On the morning of June 10, 1993, the phone rang. On the other end of the line, my manager Kelly Curtis dryly asked, “How would you like to fly to San Fransisco and open for Neil Young and Booker T and the MGs at the Warfield Theater tonight?”

He explained that they were playing an unannounced warm-up show to gear up for their big tour. It turns out that Kelly had passed my demo cassette along to Neil’s legendary manager Elliot Roberts. (This was the same demo Mike McCready financed and played on that ultimately led to my signing with Brendan O’Brien at Rick Rubin’s American Recordings label. Check out a song and the story of that demo HERE.) Elliot apparently liked what he heard enough to offer me this coveted opening slot. Or maybe he just wanted to do Kelly a favor. Either way, I’ll take it.

Next, I called Elaine Summers. She had just arrived at work. I parroted what Kelly asked me, “How would you like to fly to San Fransisco and open for Neil Young and Booker T and the MGs at the Warfield Theater tonight?” She asked her bosses for the day off and they obliged. (Thanks, Sally and Steve!) She rushed home and we hurriedly packed our bags and headed to the airport.

AN ABORTED LANDING

The flight was rough—especially the landing. As we approached, I saw whitecaps on the water caused by the fierce winds that relentlessly jostled our vessel about. As we finalized our approach, the wings teeter tottered up and down, coming terrifyingly close to hitting the runway. We hovered above the runway without touching down for long enough that I worried no runway would be left.

Suddenly, the pilot gunned it. We were back in the air. After circling around, we came back down for another try. This time the pilot brought her in for a successful landing. I breathed a massive sigh of relief while the color returned to my knuckles.

“I HAVE A LIMO, RIDE IN THE BACK”

We were whisked from the airport straight to the venue in a stretch limousine. It was my first time in a limo, and as much as I find stretches kind of gross, I must admit it was a thrill at the time. Here we are on our way to the Warfield.

A page from our scrapbook.

CHECK ONE TWO!

I was blown away by how awesome the monitors sounded. They were loud. And clear. I could hear every detail of my guitar and voice. I was used to playing crummy rock clubs with less-than-stellar stage sound, so it was a real treat to be able to hear so well.

During our soundcheck, we played “Hardest Thing to Do” from Necktie Second. Jim Keltner—whom you may remember from my posts about The Thorns—sat down behind the kit and laid a few backbeats perfectly into place. His feel was impeccable. He dragged the stick across the head to create an eighth-note decrescendo effect. It sounded kind of like a snare drum with echo. Each hit a little quieter than the one before. I had recently been playing this very song in rehearsal with drummer Gregg Williams and we talked about doing “that Keltner snare thing.” Later, I got up the nerve to approach Jim to share this coincidence with him. I did so with great enthusiasm. He got the total fanboy treatment. Jim could not have been nicer.

We had a special guest in the audience during our soundcheck. Totally attentive and right up front was David Briggs, the legendary record producer responsible for many of Neil’s classic albums, including Everybody Knows This is Nowhere and After the Goldrush. David was super sweet. Instantly likable.

After I landed my record deal, Briggs threw his hat in the ring to produce my debut. As it happened, my A&R person was also a producer, so Brendan O’Brien got the gig. I wonder how Necktie Second would have turned out with David Briggs at the helm.

SHOWTIME!

I have no memory of the set itself. I played a ton of shows around that time, and after a while, they all begin to blur together. 1993 was an excellent year for me on the gigging front. Thanks to the support of local promoters Showman and Monqui, I opened shows for Johnny Cash, BB King, Warren Zevon and Rickie Lee Jones to name a few. Like most shows at the time, I would have started solo acoustic and then brought Elaine out to guest on harmony vocals. Here we are onstage, sporting some nice vintage flannels.

Onstage at The Warfield, 1993.

“WELL, HELLO, MR. SOUL”

Our seats were in the front row of the balcony. The Warfield has a capacity of around 2,200, so it’s intimate enough that the balcony feels like it is right on top of the stage. My hair flew back like in that old Maxell ad when the band kicked into their set opener, Buffalo Springfield’s classic, “Mr. Soul.” The song never sounded better.

A few songs into the set Elaine and I made our way backstage to grab a beer. On our way back to our seats, we stood in the wings to watch from the side of the stage for a while. As luck would have it, Neil moved over to piano for a stunning rendition of “Helpless.” The piano was set up on stage left, so we were so close to him that we could hear his monitor mix. The picture above was taken from where we were standing, so you can see how close to his piano we were. “Helpless” is one of my all-time favorite Neil songs. I got chill bumps.

EXTRA SOCKS AND UNDERWEAR

I learned a valuable lesson on this trip. Always pack extra socks and underwear because you never know when Neil Young will ask you to stay in town for a couple more days to play another warm-up show. Fortunately, a day off between the shows gave us time to go clothes shopping.

The second show was held at Concord Pavillion, an outdoor amphitheater with a capacity of 12,500. Again, I do not recall the show itself other than being nervous about playing for such a huge crowd. The fact that cameras projected my image onto huge screens made it all the more nerve-wracking. My butterflies and I made it through the set in one piece.

My name in lights!

WE MEET AGAIN

A few months later, when the tour came through Portland—my hometown at the time—I was tacked onto a great bill. Neil had tapped his pals in Pearl Jam to open this leg of the tour. And if that wasn’t enough, Blind Melon also joined the lineup. According to my local music rag, “Local boy makes good Pete Droge turned in a fine acoustic set to start things off.” So I guess the set went well enough.

THE AFTER-SHOW

This was Pearl Jam’s last night on the tour, so Neil’s camp threw an after-show party at the local rock club, La Luna. The party was a blast. Elaine and I bonded with Eddie Vedder. With the three of us in a huddle, he implored us to stay together. (Well, Ed, we stayed together alright. We celebrated 30 years in January.)

Mushroom tea was on the menu. I did not consider a dark rock club the ideal set and setting for a psychedelic journey, so I did not partake.

The stage was set up with backline equipment. I jumped at the chance to have an impromptu jam with Ann and Nancy Wilson.

“MORE BARN!”

This would not be the last of my encounters with Neil. I would twice be invited to perform at his Bridge School Benefit concert. And The Sinners and I would cross Canada with Neil and Crazy Horse as openers on their Broken Arrow Tour. More on all that in parts two and three. Stay tuned!

Peace & Love Songs,

Pete