It’s hard to imagine a more poetic way to ring in Neil Young’s Saturday Desert Trip set than a cream-colored harvest moon settling in over the Empire Polo Club in the desert city of Indio.
Young, the most electric, powerful performer so far at this second weekend of Desert Trip, the mega-festival featuring the likes of the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, the Who and Roger Waters, seemed to take the cue from above.
His set drew heavily from his 1972’s “Harvest,” his spare, lovelorn classic that bookended his wild feedback experiments and 10-minute guitar-solo seances — “Heart of Gold,” “Old Man,” “Out on the Weekend” and “Alabama.” For an artist known for abiding no expectations on his set lists, he knew what fans wanted to hear, and, with unexpected generosity, he gave it to them. (And of course, he played “Harvest Moon.” How could he not?)
But he also knew how to make it new.
The enormous burlap backdrop behind his stage advertised organic seeds (agriculture issues being, of course, a longtime passion project for Young).
But Young did something that, so far, no other Desert Trip performer had done — he made classic rock rooted in land and history feel vital and modern.
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Roger Waters performs Oct. 16 during the second weekend of Desert Trip in Indio, Calif.
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Roger Waters and his band perform Oct. 16 during the second weekend of Desert Trip.
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An elaborate stage set-up surrounds Roger Waters as he performs Oct. 16 druing the second weekend of Desert Trip.
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A fan records part of Roger Waters’ Oct. 16 set during the second weekend of Desert Trip.
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Roger Waters performs Oct. 16 in front of a giant screen at Desert Trip.
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From a distance, fans watch and record Roger Waters’ Oct. 16 Desert Trip performance.
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Roger Waters’ Oct 16 performance closes out the second weekend of the Desert Trip festival in Indio, Calif.
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Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend of The Who open with their early hit, “I Can’t Explain,” during the second weekend of Desert Trip.
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Roger Daltrey swings the microphone in his trademark style as The Who performs during the second weekend of Desert Trip.
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A water vendor at weekend 2 of Desert Trip in Indio.
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Drummer Zak Starkey performs with The Who.
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A music fan seeks shade from the sun as it sets during the second weekend of Desert Trip in Indio.
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Pete Townshend strums his guitar in his trademark windmill style as The Who performs.
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A fan attends the second weekend of Desert Trip.
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Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend of The Who.
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Music fans take pictures at a large reproduction of the album cover for the Wings’ 1973 release of “Band On The Run.”
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Fans show their appreciation for the legeendary rock band The Who during the second weekend of Desert Trip.
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Paul McCartney takes the stage during Weekend 2 of Desert Trip in Indio.
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Anticipation builds for Paul McCartney’s performance at weekend 2 of Desert Trip.
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Paul McCartney performs during Weekend 2 of Desert Trip.
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Paul McCartney performs during Weekend 2 of Desert Trip.
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Paul McCartney performs during weekend 2 of Desert Trip.
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Paul McCartney performs during weekend 2 of Desert Trip.
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Neil Young banters with the crowd during a performance at Weekend 2 of Desert Trip in Indio.
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Neil Young performs at weekend 2 of Desert Trip.
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Camera and lighting personnel wait for Neil Young’s show to begin during Weekend 2 of Desert Trip in Indio.
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Neil Young performs at Weekend 2 of Desert Trip in Indio.
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Neil Young performs with his band at Weekend 2 of Desert Trip in Indio.
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Neil Young performs at Weekend 2 of Desert Trip in Indio.
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The setting sun casts a golden glow as a couple poses for a picture in front of a large reproduction of the album cover for “Band on the Run” by Paul McCartney and Wings during Weekend 2 of Desert Trip in Indio.
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Concertgoers cast shadows on umbrellas spread out on the Empire Polo Grounds for Weekend 2 of Desert Trip in Indio.
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Music fans wait in line to check out the vinyl and cassette tapes at a record store on the Empire Polo Grounds during Weekend 2 of Desert Trip in Indio.
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Music fans thumb through the selection of vinyl at a record store on the Empire Polo Grounds during Weekend 2 of Desert Trip in Indio.
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Terayuki Kobayashi, 25, a visitor from Japan, checks out an image of Mick Jagger at a photo exhibit during Weekend 2 of Desert Trip in Indio.
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Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones perform on the second weekend of Desert Trip in Indio.
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Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones perform on the second weekend of Desert Trip in Indio.
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Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones perform at Desert Trip.
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Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones perform at Desert Trip.
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Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones perform at Desert Trip.
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The Rolling Stones perform at Desert Trip.
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The Rolling Stones perform at Desert Trip.
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Fans enjoy the Rolling Stones at Desert Trip.
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Mick Jagger sings at Desert Trip.
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Mick Jagger performs at Desert Trip.
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Concert-goers wander the Empire Polo Grounds in Indio as gates open for Desert Trip’s second weekend.
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The sun beats down on huge crowds waiting to buy merchandise at Desert Trip.
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Fans pose for pictures in front of large reproductions of classic album covers at Desert Trip.
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Hungry fans crowd a pizza vendor at Desert Trip.
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The sun sets as a crowd gathers at the Empire Polo Grounds to watch Bob Dylan’s performance on Desert Trip’s second weekend.
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The sun sets as a crowd gathers for Bob Dylan’s performance.
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Bob Dylan is projected on a big screen as he opens Desert Trip’s second weekend.
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Shafts of light from the setting sun stream through the dust.
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The moon looms over the stage as fans wait for Bob Dylan to perform.
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Fans pose for photos under a large reproduction of the Rolling Stones’ “Some Girls” album.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) For starters, his much younger band (Promise of the Real, featuring Willie Nelson’s son Lukas) knew the right line between paying alms and asserting themselves.
Take “Cowgirl in the Sand,” already a winding rumination on noise and loneliness on record. On Saturday, it became mountain-sized once they got hold of it.
Young and Nelson, their eyes locked onstage, dared each other to dig in harder, heavier, stranger on their guitars. It was so heavy, but so sad and alien, that it made a decades-old song drip with surprise, fear and potential.
Young’s always felt a step ahead of his peers in that way, but it was never more pronounced than at Desert Trip, where so many other acts have been essential viewing but made no attempts to envision the future.
Even when the indisputable Sir Paul McCartney (who left a crowd at the tiny Pappy & Harriet’s dumbstruck on Thursday) brought out Rihanna for “FourFiveSeconds,” it was more an act of inter-generational respect and camaraderie than a stab at something unprecedented. Half the Desert Trip audience only seemed vaguely aware of who she was, even if she sounded fantastic and looked genuinely humbled to be there.
But it turns out, that for Neil Young at least, the future is nothing new.
He figured it out way back in the ‘60s and ‘70s — a world of coming dust and decay, punctuated by flashes of noise and lighting. And above it all, a harvest moon to remind us how small we are, and how lucky to be here to see it all.
For breaking music news, follow @augustbrown on Twitter.
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