25 years ago today - EPIC

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I just realized that it was 25 years ago tonight that I saw what would be my first of the infamous Neil Young & Crazy Horse stealth shows at the tiny bar Old Princeton Landing near Half Moon Bay.

I know I and others have talked about this run of shows often, but it really was the most amazing thing I've ever seen or got to be a part of in rock 'n roll.

They had already played four shows in March of 1996 and I couldn't get a ticket to any of those, but was lucky enough to score one for the first night of the next two, on April 9th. The 3-set show was so amazing I did something I have very rarely ever done before or since, I went back the next night without a ticket, hoping for a miracle, which would be a miracle indeed, since only 100 people got in each night.

I was very lucky that some friends I worked with at Shoreline had been hired to work security for the OPL shows, and when one of them introduced me to the guy running tickets for the shows, Bob Lacey, Bob immediately said that if I was friends with those guys I was in. 

I was so super-stoked that I asked him if there was anything I could do to help, and his face lit up, and the next thing I know I'm helping him run the doors, putting on wristbands and helping with the guest list.

After that I worked with Bob for the remainder of the shows, nine total at OPL over the next couple of months, with two at the larger but still very small club the Catalyst in Santa Cruz in between. I'd be finished halfway through the first set and would be able to go in and enjoy the rest of the show, each one getting longer as the band got more into it.

It really was something very special.

The shows were all recorded by tapers, but none are readily available. This isn't from April 9th, but it's a good example of how they played at those shows, 17 minutes of real rock 'n roll from one of the best R&R bands of all time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBRX1kM7hWc

(Anyone who might be interesting in reading more about this epic run of shows, this is a great site to check out -  http://www.cardboardanalogue.com/Neil_at_OPL.html)

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Nice Lance. Good stuff.

I had several of my friends get tickets just by driving to Old Princeton Landing at the right moment. Each time I felt it was too much of a long shot and passed. Poor decision making on my part. 

roommates at the time(a bunch of surfers from New Jersey) happened to be downtown when the first Catalyst show's tickets were released. 

They came home glowing after the show and they weren't Neil Young fans going in.

I made sure to get tickets for the second night.

Arrived at show time to a note on the door. 

Show canceled because Neil cut his finger making a baloney sandwich.

Caught the Civic show with Booker T the next time round. First time seeing Steve Cropper live!! The man is a national treasure. 

Seems I remember Neil drove himself to these shows in a 55 Cadillac 

THE BEST. 

Lance, the shows I dream of.

>>>First time seeing Steve Cropper live!! The man is a national treasure. 

 

I saw him in Glasgow, Scotland of all places, in 1990.

https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/11945677.blues-brothers-band-kings-t...

Yea, I live in San Mateo and go Half Moon Bay all the time--and to Barbara's Fish Trap next door to Old Princeton Landing or Lenny's fabulous HMB Brewing Company across the street from OPL for music (not in the COVID era though).  Old Princeton Landing is still a shit kicking place and I close my eyes every time I go in and can hear the Horse.  Last show I saw there was  just before pandemic madness, in their backyard was Chris Robison and The Greenleaf Rustlers.  Great show, maybe 150 folks outdoors on a nice crisp fall night.  Long live OPL.  By the way, Neil just released his Way Down in the Rust Bucket series CD from November 13th,1990, Neil and the Horse at The Catalyst in Santa Cruz.  A must for Horse Heads!

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A little hard to read, but.....

I consider the 3/19 show to be the best non-Dead rock show I ever saw.

Just mind blowing to witness.

 

I have 03-21 / 04-09 / 04-14 / and 05-22 audio recordings. Found on Dimeadozen and Guitars101 several years ago. Not sure if any of them are complete shows.

>>>canceled because Neil cut his finger making a baloney sandwich<<<

Just for clarity, Neil cut his finger before a tour the next year, 1997. The two shows at the Catalyst in May of '96 definitely happened.

That's another story, as the plan was to announce the first show locally just before noon the day of the show, with 500 total wristbands going on sale at noon. Bob Lacey told me to meet him at the venue at 10:00am to get things together and be ready. 

Well, Bob (seen in that first photo I posted, with the sport coat & white shoes) was a really great guy, but he was also a bit irresponsible & a total stoner, and he was nowhere to be seen when I arrived a little before 10:00, but the word about the show had gotten out and there was already a long line on the street.

By 11:00 still no sign of Bob, who had the wristbands, and the line had grown to well over 500 people, and it was getting fatter as people began pushing in and things were getting testy. At that point the venue management & I decided to give out 500 roll tickets, which would allow those folks to buy a wristband.

I had been "working" the line from the moment I'd gotten there and had a pretty good idea of who had actually been in line early and who had cut in, and I held the POWER as myself & a Catalyst bouncer moved down the line giving out the tickets, no mercy shown to those begging for an extra for a friend not there or those trying to convince me that they had been there the whole time.

THAT got testy as well, with close to a thousand people there by the time I got to the end of the 500 tix, but fortunately I was experienced with large unruly crowds and have some decent concert crowd skills (and that bouncer was a BIG DUDE) and he & I were able to be as equitable as possible and got that done, convincing all the rest that absolutely no other tickets would sold.

Bob showed up around 12:30 and got REAMED by the venue management, as they were getting the blame for the lack of organization, but Bob just shrugged and said, "Hey, I'm here now, let's sell these wristbands."

That day & then that evening before the show were completely different than the vibe at OPL, which was so small and out-of-the-way that hardly anyone showed up without tix and there was never an ugly scene outside, where the Catalyst is right in the middle of Santa Cruz and the word was out, and it was intense on the street both that day & the next.

Fortunately, Bob showed up on time the next morning, I gave out the roll tix starting at 9:00am as people showed up, and everything went smoother. I've worked a lot of crazy events in my time, but that first day at the Catalyst remains a memory.

Bob HATED it (because it had to be run like a real show and that wasn't his deal) and while I did enjoy it in an adrenalin rush type way, we were all happy to get back to the friendly confines of Old Princeton Landing a couple of weeks later.

I have good friends to this day that I made working those shows, and occasionally people still stop me and say, "Hey! You worked the line at those Neil shows in '96!"

A side story; in late May of '96 Laguna Seca Daze happened down in Monterey featuring a bunch of jam bands, which all us Shoreline/OPL folks were working, and Neil let us take his fancy tour bus that he was using as his backstage at OPL for the three nights were were there, which was amazing, because it was fucking cold & rainy that whole weekend, and sleeping on the ground would have sucked.

Those shows were long and not much fun to work, and with Jerry having just passed the previous August, with Ratdog one night and Mickey Hart's (bad) band playing the next, those shows seemed to be trying really hard (and failing, at least for me) to be carrying on the GD vibe.

I was really missing Jerry at that time, and that entire OPL experience reminded me of how great rock 'n roll can be and it really helped fill a void for me, right when I needed it.

OK, that's enough. Old dude remembering old times is over.

For now.

I love the "Old dude remembering old times".