NEIL YOUNG 03 - Broken Arrow Tour

Plus, Bernie Williams at the Bottom Line! 'California Sober' with Canadian 222s!

In 1996, I was invited to join Neil Young & Crazy Horse on their first cross-Canadian tour in fourteen years. We were first on the bill, followed by a popular Canadian band called Moist.

Vancouver ticket stub.

FLAT LAND

It’s early in the tour. I’m somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Midwestern Canada. The thrill of seeing the blue Canadian Rockies is in the rearview. Now it’s all flat.

In Regina, a local told me it’s so flat that you can watch it all day when your dog runs away. Then to see it the next day, just stand on a chair. So if you live in Regina, your dog will want to run away? And another thing, why not just go and get your dog? Just watch it walking away all day? Doesn’t seem right.

Anyway… all that to say, it was flat.

FLAT MONITOR MIX

I’m in the back lounge with a board tape and stomach pains. The recording of tonight’s show drowns out the engine noise of our 45-foot Prevost tour bus. I can’t believe how great it sounds. The performance bears no resemblance to the show I played a couple of hours ago. That was a nightmare. I couldn’t hear a thing.

Despite being on the tour for a while, we still have not had a sound check. The sound on stage is a muffled mess. Despite the horrible stage sound, The Sinners rise to the challenge and deliver a solid set.

FLAT CAREER TRAJECTORY

The previous year my career was continually climbing. My debut, Necktie Second, enjoyed quite a run. Dumb and Dumber! A radio hit! MTV play! Pink Pop! Letterman! The Bridge School! The Petty Tour!

The label worked me like a dog in those days. Show days consisted of radio visits—as many as three a day—phone interviews, meet and greets, and in-stores. In stark contrast, on the Broken Arrow tour, the requests were few and far between. While this made touring less exhausting, it was a sign that my sophomore effort, Find a Door, was fizzling out just four months after its release. I even heard rumors of the demise of my label. “You’re on American? I thought they went under?” Not exactly reassuring.

“SOMETHING TO NUMB THE BLUES”

The stomach pains I mentioned earlier came courtesy of the 222s I’d been popping. 222’s are pain relievers with Codeine. I’m not sure if they still are, but they were available over the counter in Canada then. I was a couple of months away from celebrating one year without a drink. I identified as sober, though at that moment, I guess I was technically some variation of what they call “California Sober.”

The Codeine binge did not last long. Just long enough to enjoy some lovely side effects like bloating and constipation. Elaine Summers and I wrote about this in the opening lines of a cautionary drug tale called “Half-Life Blues.”¹

I’d been looking out for something to numb the blues
That’s when I learn about Canadian two two twos

FLAT WATER

When I think of this tour, one thing that comes to mind is how I was learning to cope with life on the road without alcohol. I could not pop the top off of an ice-cold Beck’s to take the edge off when I heard we were not getting a soundcheck again. Other than my brief love affair with 222s, I managed to stay on the wagon throughout the tour.

It’s been over 27 years since I had a drop of alcohol, not counting that time in Denmark when there was liquor at the bottom of my ice cream treat. That’s another story for another time. Spoiler alert… I hurled.

BERNIE HITS A HOMER!

On the tour’s opening night in Vancouver, BC, I got word of an odd request. New York Yankee Bernie Williams wants to sit in with The Sinners and me when we play the famous Greenwich Village club, The Bottom Line. The concert was part of WNEW’s New Music Concert Show series.

I entered our dressing room and game three of the World Series was playing on a T.V. in the corner. I asked, “Which one is Bernie Williams?” In his next at-bat, Bernie hit a home run!

Fast forward to the Bottom Line gig. It was a total zoo. Bernie was a breakout star of the 1996 World Series. While researching to confirm I have my facts right, I found a headline that ran in the L.A. Times the day after his homer:

“Williams Is Simply Yankees’ Man of Hour”

Word getting out that he’d be playing guitar in a club downtown caused an intense buzz and media frenzy. We set up a proper press conference during soundcheck. We posed first for a slew of T.V. cameras. Then they were cleared out to make room for a ton of still photographers. Here is a shot of Bernie and I being filmed.

With Bernie Williams at Bottom Line press conference, 1996.

WHERE’S NEIL?

Good question. Other than on stage, I saw Neil three, maybe four times during the entire run. His long-time guitar tech, Larry Cragg, sat in for him at soundcheck. And Larry sounded a lot like Neil!

One night I got to spend a little time with my elusive headliner. Neil and crew arranged to view a boxing match in a conference room at their hotel and were kind enough to invite us.

Throughout the tour, I enjoyed meeting the Crazy Horse guys. Ralph Molina was mellow and cool. Billy Talbot was super friendly. I did not get the chance to get to know Frank Sampedro.

THE CROWD WENT WILD!

I loved watching Neil and Crazy Horse. Their set included some of my favorite songs. “Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black),” “Helpless,” Cinnamon Girl,” and “Like a Hurricane” we’re all epic live. I enjoyed going out into the audience, especially during the extended jams. The audiences were feral. Rabid. Especially in those cities that had not seen a Neil show in fourteen years.

THANK YOU! GOODNIGHT!

We did eventually get a sound check. We never had enough time to really dial things in, so my prevailing memory of this tour is one of terrible stage sound. Even still the Broken Arrow tour ranks high on the list of those I’ve had the good fortune of being a part of. I mean c’mon! We’re talkin’ Neil! And the Horse!

Peace & Love Songs,

Pete

1. I’m almost certain “Half-Life Blues” will make it onto my next proper album of new material. That record is underway but on hold. Currently, I’m focusing on the Blend Rarities project I mentioned in this post HERE.