After seeing the Boarding House Shots film clip a few years ago it got me excited and inspired me to write down all these memories. Sorry it is so long. The Boarding House shows were among the very best concerts I ever attended and certainly were one of the peaks of Neil’s long career.
It was early April 1978 and I was 20 years old living in Berkeley. Jimmy Carter was president, the TV show Dallas had just premiered, Annie Hall had won best picture, disco & punk music were flourishing, Elvis had died the previous August and the final Sex Pistols show had taken place at Winterland in January. It was a Sunday morning and like any other Bay Area music fan I was poring over the San Francisco Chronicle Datebook section—the "pink section”—to see which new concerts had been announced.
There were a variety of choices that day—David Bowie at Oakland Coliseum, Foghat & The Outlaws at the Cow Palace, The Mutants at the Mabuhay Gardens, and Sonny Rollins, Doc Watson or Stephane Grappelli at the Great American Music Hall. But buried in the back of the paper was Joel Selvin's Lively Arts column with this short paragraph:
"In his only public performances of the year, rock star Neil Young will perform May 24-28—two shows per night at the Boarding House. Young, whose new album 'Give To The Wind' should be released in early May, will appear solo, accompanying himself on guitar and piano."
This was music to my ears. I was already the proud veteran of three Neil Young shows and was eager for more. I was still enjoying American Stars & Bars with the twin epics, Like A Hurricane and Will To Love, along with the funky Bullets material. I went into ticket-buying mode and ended up with four premium "dinner" tickets to the first performance of the Boarding House One Stop World Tour—the May 24th early show. I later found out that the entire run had sold out in 40 minutes with no advertising other than the announcement in Selvin's column.
Come May 24 (it was a Wednesday), my friend John picked us up for the show. John worked for a timeshare company in the era before computer networks. He drove computer tapes back and forth between Santa Clara and Berkeley several times a day in a beat-up mustard-colored van with just a driver seat and no windows. Later some of John's co-workers got smarter about transporting tapes around and were early employees at the networking giant Cisco Systems. John delighted in bouncing us around in the back of the van as we crossed the Bay Bridge and drove through the hilly San Francisco streets. My very good friend Mike, who sadly passed away in early 2021, was with me in the back. RIP Mike.
To this day I love going to the first show of a tour. You don't know what's going to happen and they are just more exciting. Yes, I know—I’m the set list guy—but it's just better not knowing what's going to happen. With the state of the internet now, that genie is long out of the bottle.
The Boarding House was located on 960 Bush St., a few blocks from Union Square. It was run more like a nightclub than a concert venue. With my dinner tickets we got a sit-down dinner in a separate room prior to the show and first choice at seats in the main room. All I remember was ordering some sort of vegetable soup that was mostly finely grated carrots. I was so eager to be the first into the venue I forced my friends to rush through their meals. Pretty annoying on my part, I know.
The Boarding House was a small, narrow, rectangular room with no balconies. I think it seated about 300 people. There were roughly two rows of small tables across the front with little reserved signs on them. Steps leading to the center of the four-foot-high stage split the front tables. More small tables were placed along each side wall. Across the middle of the room were rows of chairs with a center aisle leading right to the stage. We ended up about 3–4 rows back with my seat on the left side center aisle.
As showtime was approaching we started hearing a pounding at the door on the left side of the stage. Folks disregarded it at first and then it happened again. People continued to ignore it and finally after the third time someone got up to open the door and in came Neil Young from the outside, wearing a Mexican poncho or serape. He shook a few hands, hopped up onstage, quickly said that he'd be back out in a few minutes, and disappeared backstage.
After twenty minutes or so he returned wearing the dapper beige jacket & pants we've seen in all of the Boarding House photographs. The piano was in the back right and several wooden Indians in the back. The guitars were in front of one of the Indians, including the never-seen-before Taylor 12-string guitar. Missing from the stage was any kind of chair or microphone. It turned out Neil was wired for sound—there was a wireless transmitter in the guitar strap and small microphones mounted in his harmonica holder. That was certainly the first time I'd seen that, and the effect was obvious—a huge barrier between the audience and performer had been removed in what was already a very intimate space. Except when performing two songs on piano, Neil spent the evening freely roaming & prowling the stage with Woody and his friends.
What proceeded was one of the highlights of my concert attending career.
- Pocahontas
- Human Highway
- Already One
- Comes A Time
- Birds
- My My, Hey Hey (Out Of The Blue)*
- Shots*
- Cowgirl In The Sand
- After The Gold Rush
- Thrasher*
- The Ways Of Love*
- I Believe In You
- Ride My Llama*
14. Sugar Mountain
- Sail Away
- - debuts
You look at this list today and it looks like a greatest hits show, but five of the songs were debuts and ten songs were unreleased at the time. Sometimes it a takes a few listens to get used to new songs and other times it hits you quickly. With this group of songs, the impact was immediate. I recognized Pocahontas (I think I called it Aurora Borealis) from 1976 Crazy Horse fall tour and Sail Away from a 1977 Ducks show, but they were new to most of the crowd. My My, Hey Hey & Comes A Time were instantly familiar. Thrasher is an epic masterpiece and it felt that way upon first listen. How does one come up with the line—“the rose clipped by the bullwhip"? The complete acoustic Shots remains a hidden jewel. Our view of Ride My Llama has been expanded recently by hearing the NY&CH Dume version on Archives Vol 2. I just remember thinking that one was quirky with its traveling outer space vibe. I've always been a Cowgirl In The Sand kind of guy so I was thrilled to hear it. To this day I find Sail Away to be a perfect closing song with its out on the road feel.
What details do I remember?
After My My, Hey Hey, Neil looked down and made a comment about hearing a knocking or rattling noise. He eventually decided it was the button from his jacket’s right sleeve and ripped it right off.
One of the verses to Thrasher was forgotten—“These songs have so many words, I need to do that one again. This is the first time I've ever sung it."
The big Taylor 12-string guitar sounded spectacular in person. I'd never heard a 12-string sound so good. That rapid strumming up the neck during Ways Of Love was unforgettable.
Somehow we knew they were filming the shows, but I never saw any cameras. Later I heard they'd filmed only the late shows, but I don't know if that was true. I don't think we knew anything about the Human Highway movie they were working on at the time.
It was a small place and anything you said could be heard. The crowd was a little chatty, but respectful and friendly.
I was taking photos from my center aisle seat, and at one point Neil was staring right at me. It scared the crap out of me and I ended up putting my camera down for a while.
The show was over in a little over an hour. By today's standards you might think it was a little short. All I know is when we left the club we all felt we'd got our money's worth. We all left talking about the Elvis song and "that really long one.” My friends immediately teased me how excited I was during the show. I knew it was a special one at the time and still believe so today.
I was so moved by the show that I convinced another friend into going to the May 26 early show. We had no tickets, but with a little determination out front of the venue and a timely $20 "tip" to an usher we ended up at one of the front reserved tables. Gone were any opening night jitters, and three of those performances ended up on Rust Never Sleeps.
When Comes A Time came out in the fall I have to admit I was a little disappointed with the more elaborate arrangements. It is a really good album full of great songs that have withstood the test of time, but I was spoiled by the solo & spare Boarding House performances. Both ways work of course. My "disappointment" with Comes A Time was later reconciled with the Rust Never Sleeps release. I look forward to the Boarding House and Oceanside-Countryside releases in Archives Volume 3.
If you'd like to read a proper review of these shows, seek out the brilliant Paul Nelson piece from the July 27, 1978 Rolling Stone—“Young's One Stop World Tour.”
Tom Hambleton / NYA member August 2024