One of the many benefits of having lived in San Francisco all of my life has been the various opportunities to see Neil Young play a variety of intimate venues in addition to the larger amphitheatre and arena shows. Whether crooning an acoustic melody on the guitar or piano or thrashing wildly and spitting out distorted feedback-drenched leads on his black Gibson, Neil's music has always been a source of much enjoyment for me. With his often scraggly hair and bushy sideburns, Neil could easily be mistaken for a crazed homeless person, and at times, he thrashes about the stage as if a rabid dog-- which often makes even the stiffest member of an audience want to thrash around a bit too. But there is also a softer side to his music that makes one want to sit still and listen closely. I have always looked forward to the solo acoustic tours with the same eagerness as the decidely more raunchy sets with Crazyhorse.

Neil has released an impressive collection of records and cd's over the years-- many of which are essential to any collector of good music (and I recommend purchasing nearly all of them)-- but like all of the artists featured in the pages of The Music Archive-- Neil is best experienced playing his music live. Fortunately for many fans, live recordings from nearly every period of Neil's career circulate amongst the many trading circles on the Internet. Contained in these pages are what I feel are some of the essential performances that any collector of Neil Young's music should have.

I feel it is important to add the disclaimer that these choices are purely my personal opinion, and I am sure that there are some out there in the tape-trading world-- with larger collections of Neil (though The Music Archive Vaults certainly has a sizeable collection)-- that feel I have left out many great shows. I have never cared much for the European and US 1987 tours with Crazyhorse, so I have not included any suggestions from that period in this list (never much liked the albums Landing on Water or Life either). What I have chosen to suggest can be found by following the links below.

I also feel it is equally important to add that I do not support or encourage the selling of these recordings and in no way are these pages meant to be considered as an encouragement for the proliferation of bootlegs.