Opening Night | Neil Young & Promise Of The Real Kick Off Tour

Legendary rocker Neil Young returned to the road last night as he kicked off the “Rebel Content” Tour with Promise Of The Real at Milwaukee’s Marcus Amphitheatre. Young and his newest band, which features two of Willie Nelson’s sons, presented a handful of songs off their recently released The Monsanto Album as well as gems from Neil’s massive catalogue.

Go Neil! #neilyoung #promiseofthereal @themonsantoyears #summerfest

A photo posted by anthony logerfo (@reeforbison) on Jul 6, 2015 at 12:08am PDT

The show started with Neil Young performing five songs solo acoustic before the rest of the band joined him on-stage. Neil’s acoustic segment included such iconic tunes as “Long May You Run,” “Old Man,” “Heart Of Gold” and “After The Gold Rush.” By the end of the night Young had performed a total of 28 songs, the most he’s played at a non-CSNY show since 1999. Neil moved over to pipe organ for “Mother Earth” leading up to the full-band portion of the evening. Young & Promise Of The Real kicked off the full-band portion with the return of “Hold Back The Tears,” a song that hadn’t been performed live since 2009. They then dusted off the Harvest track “Out On The Weekend” for the first time since 2009.

The bust outs continued with the return of “Unknown Legend” after six years and “Peace Of Mind” for the first time in nearly 15 years. “Field Of Opportunity” was a tune that had gone unplayed since 2009 until last night, while “Wolf Moon” was the evening’s first song off The Monsanto Years. Following “Harvest Moon,” the band then called upon “Words” off Harvest, yet another tune last performed in 2009. Neil and the band pulled from Young’s Buffalo Springfield output for “Flying On The Ground Is Wrong.” “Walk On,” which was played for the first time since 2000 earlier this year, continued its return. A double dose of songs with “Love” in the title from The Monsanto Years came next. Over the course of the rest of the set, the group mixed Monsanto Years tracks with Crazy Horse classics including “Down By The River” and “Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere.” An encore of “Don’t Be Denied” and “Double E” brought the show to a close.

Watch Neil Young & Promise Of The Real perform “A New Day For Love”:

Neil Young & Promise Of The Real continue the Rebel Content Tour at Red Rocks on Wednesday night.

Setlist (via Sugar Mountain)

1. After The Gold Rush (solo)
2. Heart Of Gold (solo)
3. Long May You Run (solo)
4. Old Man (solo)
5. Mother Earth (solo)
6. Hold Back The Tears
7. Out On The Weekend
8. Unknown Legend
9. Peace Of Mind
10. Field Of Opportunity
11. Wolf Moon
12. Harvest Moon
13. Words
14. Flying On The Ground Is Wrong
15. Walk On
16. People Want To Hear About Love
17. A New Day For Love
18. Down By The River
19. Big Box
20. A Rock Star Bucks A Coffee Shop
21. White Line
22. Workin’ Man
23. Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
24. Monsanto Years
25. If I Don’t Know
26. Love And Only Love
—
27. Don’t Be Denied
28. Double E