Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts are three shows into their Love Earth world tour, and they’ve already settled into a solid setlist that mixes classics (“Cinnamon Girl,” “Like a Hurricane,” “The Needle and the Damage Done”) with oddball deep cuts (“Sun Green,” “Looking Forward,” “Name of Love”), and doesn’t vary much from night to night.
But every show so far has opened with a different solo acoustic song — “Sugar Mountain” in Sweden, “Heart of Gold” in Norway, “Comes a Time” in Denmark” — and wrapped up with a unique encore. Sweden closed out with “Rockin’ in the Free World,” Norway got “Cortez the Killer,” and Denmark saw a double shot of “Down by the River” and “Rockin’ in the Free World.”
A fan perched near the stage captured “Cortez the Killer” in Norway, and it is simply majestic. Young doesn’t sing a note for nearly five minutes as the intro of the song slowly swells. The performance stretches out for a stunning 14 minutes. That’s a good three minutes longer than the renditions that opened up every show of Young’s 2024 tour with Crazy Horse. (The record, however, was set at a Rotterdam show back in 2001 when the song went on for 22 minutes.)
In Norway, Young included the lost verse of “Cortez the Killer” that nobody heard until last year. The verse had been rumored for decades, but wasn’t confirmed until Young did a Zoom with paid members of the Neil Young Archives, and said he recently stumbled upon his original lyrics. They were unveiled to the public on the opening night of the Crazy Horse tour in April 2024.
“I floated on the water,” Young sang. “I ate that ocean wave/Two weeks after the slaughter/I was living in a cave/They came too late to get me/But there’s no one here to set me free/From this rocky grave/To that snowed-out ocean wave.”
“Down by the River” in Denmark topped out at a relatively brief nine minutes, as opposed to the 24-minute one from Dresden, Germany, in 2014, and was also filmed by a fan. Check out the footage right here along with “Rockin’ in the Free World.”
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After the show in Sweden, Young wrote up a travel log on his website. “We are now on the highway to Bergen,” he wrote, “a winding beauty, passing giant rock formations and verdant trees and growth, incredible waterways with rapids opening onto large lakes. Old buildings in wonderful condition on the banks. Snow capped mountain peaks above. Tunnels up to 26 kilometers in length, carved through rock. Natural rock for 26 kilometers! I am in awe of the beautify and power of these projects. These Norwegians are an awesome building people.”
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The tour continues June 26 at Malahide Castle in Dublin, Ireland. And on June 28, it hits the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury in England. A North American leg begins Aug. 8 at PNC Music Pavilion Charlotte, North Carolina. It wraps up September at Farm Aid in Minneapolis Minnesota.
At some point, Young will likely play at least one song from his brand new album, Talkin’ to the Trees. But at this point, he hasn’t done anything written since 2003.
