Neil Young 1973-03-17 Seattle Coliseum Seattle, WA

Neil Young & The Stray Gators w. David Crosby:
Harvest/Time Fades Away Tour-Seattle Coliseum-March 17, 1973-
Master Tape-OFFENDING TRACK REMOVED

Master tape>dat>cd-r>Bias Peak Pro 5>XACT>flac

The Stray Gators:
Ben Keith-pedal steel
Tim Drummond-bass
Johnny Barbata-drums
Jack Nitzsche-piano.
(Young replaced drummer Kenny Buttrey with Johnny Barbata halfway through the Harvest/Time Fades Away 1973 Tour after Young kept complaining that Buttrey wasn't playing loud enough.)

This was a controversial tour.
To capitalize on the enormous sales of the "Harvest" album, Young's management booked Young & The Stray Gators on a lengthy three-month tour of America,
playing in large arenas (venues that Neil disparagingly called "barns"), from January 5 to March 31, 1973.
Band members, well aware that "Harvest" was raking in the money, put Young in a sour mood right off the bat by demanding $100,000 each for the tour.
Young got angry, agreed, and then said, "Are ya happy now? Is that gonna make you play better?"

On top of that, not long before the first concert, on November 18, 1972, guitarist Danny Whitten (also in Crazy Horse) overdosed on the same day that Neil kicked him out of the band.
Whitten was "too far gone" to even remember how to play the songs during tour rehearsals.
Young had hoped that being in a band and going on tour would inspire Whitten to clean up his act and rediscover his talent as a musician.
It didn't, and Whitten folded under the pressure. Young wrote "Don't Be Denied" (performed at this Seattle concert) on November 19, the day after Whitten overdosed on alcohol and Valium.

The 1973 tour itself was a wild, unpredictable ride across the country, a Jekyll and Hyde affair.
The demands, pressures, and expectations of the crowds, management, and personalities in the band got to Neil.
Neil drank lots of tequila and was often unpleasant to be around. He yelled at Kenny Buttrey.
Jack Nitzsche yelled at Neil and even took a leak on the carpet of Young's hotel room.
The vibes in the band were frequently tense. The Stray Gators were loaded much of the time on smoke, booze, and coke.
Almost deliberately sabotaging his "Harvest" success, Young often got way "out there," and you never knew which Neil you were going to get on a given night.

Two-thirds of the way through the tour, Young lost his voice. Shows were rescheduled, and to help out, Crosby and Nash were added for the two last weeks of dates.
Their presence overloaded an already "heavy scene." Crosby got coked up and acted like "royalty," making himself a pain to be around.
Loaded in Long Beach, he actually fell off the stage and injured himself. The last night of the tour, March 31 in Oakland, was the scene of a riot after a cop beat up a rowdy fan.
The band fled the stage. Not exactly the high note you'd like to end a tour on.

So should we dismiss all of the Harvest/Time Fades Away 1973 concerts and subsequent "Time Fades Away" album documenting the tour? (Neil calls the album "The worst record I ever made.")
Absolutely not. This is one of my favorite all-time Young tours (along with 1976 & 1978).
I caught the band at a rescheduled show with Crosby & Nash in Phoenix (several songs from this show are on the "Time Fades Away" album) and the concert was marvelous.
The tour setlist is a killer, with many superb songs being performed. Many of these shows have a great "edgy" feel to them.
A number of them kick ass. Amidst the wild, ragged glory and abandon the bands plays with, there's definitely brilliance and sparks flying during the tour's best concerts.

This Seattle gig is one of these. Neil is in good humor and fine form. I do not hear Nash on this show, I think only Crosby guests on this one.
This is also one of the better-quality shows, sound-wise, from the 1973 tour. I rate it VG/EX. Song samples provided.
A lot of the information here comes from Neil's excellent authorized biography, "Shakey," by Jimmy McDonough, which is a must-read (1973 tour info is on pages 384-401).
Enjoy.

Setlist: Disc One (75:20)
01. Sugar Mountain
02. Tell Me Why
03. Old Man
04. Heart Of Gold
05. Time Fades Away (cut)
06. L.A.
07. Lookout Joe
08. Don't Be Denied
09. Are You Ready For The Country? *
10. Last Dance *
11. Yonder Stands The Sinner (very end cut) *
DELETED-ON TIME FADES AWAY LP
12. Tuning Banter *

Disc Two (25:34)
13. New Mama *
14. Southern Man *
15.  Cinnamon Girl *
16.  Alabama *

* David Crosby
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