(quote)
" Anybody who loves model trains can't be all bad. "

No , NY is not "all" bad and neither is his music. It's just that hius bitterness and anger comes throguh and one can't help but get the sense that he still wants that center stage attention in the worst way ( meaning for the wrong reasons IMO ) when he does ihis guitar-thrashing. I mean there are a lot of other, more crative ways to "feal young again" but resorting to dragging out his re-enactment of one's "teenage wasteland frustrations" at his age , just to stay relevent , can't be diimissed as being more than a little sign of an inate immaturity.

I guess the song of his that I can't get out of my head when I see him is him playing solo on "The Damage Done". That and the line " you can't be twenty...on Sugar Mountain" sum up his ever-present melancholia and wistfullness.

Obviously I can turn my critically jaundiced eye on Pete townsend of the Who whenever he resorts to his trademark performance antics , but he doesn't put up an front of being angery and frustrated in a "teenage wasteland"-mode thus pandering to the younger crowd. Also , too , a lot of the Who songs are more celebratory rock anthems not sung in anger or cynicism , but in joy .

I would like to introduce in evidence of The Who's performance
at the Concert for NY for all of N.Y."s finest in the wake of 9/11.
The reaction of the faces and eyes of those grateful boys in blue and fireman to the chosen songs of the Who ( "Behind Blue Eyes " in particular ) spoke volumes.

Perhaps seeing Neil Young thrashing out " Keep On Rockin' in the Free World" would've found it's place , but somehow the crassness that over-amplified thrash Punk celebrates seems as if it would';ve been out of place somehow contrasted with the class performances of the others. Even the Rolling bones puled off a classier chose of song , "Salt of the Earth" , from an ancient album " Beggar's Banquet" ( Yeah they had to dig that dep to find something appropriate )

(quote)
"Also, a buddy of mine told me he (Neil) was a huge train guy, and had purchased the Lionel Train Company. "

Well anyone who has enough disposable income to just up and "buy" Lionel Trains certainly ain't hurtin' financially. Hey mhe was able to nail choice seats for the latest Rolling Bones Concert.
Neil's fine enough. It''s just that his music does different things for different people and for me only a few of sings do something for me. I dunno, perhaps I'd be more appreciative if I heard the Rev Bobert sing and pl;ay some of the Neil young songs that he prizes. Than again I prefer the Bobert's voice and performance style.