Neil Young @ The Playhouse

When the coyote howls and clamouring from an audience of besotted, mainly middle-aged men gets too much for Canadian legend Neil Young on this rare Scottish date, he jokingly cowers away from the spotlight he has known so well for over three decades. For the first hour, it's just us, Young, six of his most treasured pieces of wood, a piano and his trusty harmonica, as he glides through selections from his irrepressible '70s songbook, the best of which emerge as Old Man and After the Goldrush. Young, now 62, is then joined by his band to crank up the decibel level, in no time proving he can still rock with the very best of them. More recent songs brim with vitality; the thudding, grungey riffs of Dirty Old Man in particular. But, drenched in glorious feedback, Down by the River, Powderfinger and Hey, Hey, My, My proves to be the winning salvo from an ultimately stellar two-and-a-half hour performance. [Neil Riddell]