Neil Young – Bread & Roses Festival 1980 (Marshall-0010)

Bread & Roses Festival 1980 (Marshall-0010)

Bread & Roses Festival, Greek Theater, Berkeley, CA – October 3rd, 1980

(42:32):  Are You Ready For The Country?, Coastline, Stayin’ Power, Turbine, Motor City, Union Man, Comin’ Apart At Every Nail, Hawks And Doves, Homegrown, Four Strong Winds, Are You Ready For The Country?

Between the Live Rust tour in 1978 and the Trans tour in 1982, Neil Young made only two live appearances.  One was in 1981 for the Michael Bloomfield tribute (about a month after his passing), and a forty-five minute set for the Bread & Roses Festival in 1980.   

Bread & Roses Festival founder Mimi Fariña writes about the program:  “Since its founding in 1974, Bread & Roses has remained faithful to its original mission: using the power of performing arts to uplift the human spirit. How we do this is simple in concept, but challenging to deliver. We provide free, live, quality entertainment to people who live in institutions or are otherwise isolated from society.  In the 25 years since we began bringing shows into institutions, we have reached tens of thousands of isolated Bay Area residents. In doing so, we have created a social awareness of this ‘hidden society.’ That awareness has inspired other communities throughout the United States to build local organizations with missions similar to that of Bread & Roses.”

This tape is a cleaned up copy of Berkeley Bread And Roses.  It is clear but distant and emphasizes the top end frequencies.  Neil Young’s set for the festival in October 1980 is an essential tape for any collector.  This was his first live appearance in almost two years since the end of the Live Rust tour in 1978, and it would be another two years before he would play live again for 1982’s Trans. 

Young was joined on stage by the Hawks & Doves studio band including Ben Keith on pedal steel guitar, Rufus Thibodeaux on fiddle, Greg Thomas on drums, Dennis Belfield on bass, and Hillary O’Brien on vocals.  The forty minute set is remarkable for being filled with rarities and is the only known performance of three Hawks & Doves songs “Stayin’ Power,” “Union Man,” and “Comin’ Apart At Every Nail.”

It is also the debut of the scarcely played Re*act*or song “Motor City,” and of the rarely played title cut “Hawks & Doves.”  Even more interesting, this show is the only known performance of the unreleased song “Turbine.”  It isn’t known if this was ever recorded in studio, but the mid tempo country and western song is very effective on stage. 

The only nods to the past are “Homegrown” from American Stars And Bars, the Ian Tyson cover “Four Strongs Winds,” and two versions of the Harvest track “Are You Ready For The Country?”  This is packaged in a simple yet effective single jewel case.  Given the historic nature of the recording, the rarities and the unreleased track, this is an absolutely essential title to own.  The Marshall version circulates commonly and should be easy to track down.