Neil Young Showcases New Songs in Massachusetts

"I've got a new hat," Neil Young announced rather gleefully, if not with a note of self-satisfaction, at Friday night's sold-out show at the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts in Worcester, Mass. The folk rock veteran wore a very dapper Panama hat and his audience cheered in approval. "But I'm not wearing it tonight," he quickly corrected. "I'm very comfortable with the old one I've got."

This curious confession came two-thirds of the way through the show, the third concert of Young's 14-date 'Twisted Road' solo tour, which began May 18 in Albany, N.Y., and continues through June 7. Young, seated at an upright piano, spoke little all night and didn't elaborate an further on his sartorial preferences. After the hat comment he got on with the next song, a jaunty, sweet new number called 'Leia,' which he said was about a tiny young girl.

Some 50 minutes earlier he began with a trio of his best known songs: the throaty guitar chug of 'My My, Hey Hey (Out Of The Blue),' with its contrasting feral harmonica yelp and warm, woody acoustic guitar riffs, followed by 'Tell Me Why' and 'Helpless,' both soothingly sad. It was the perfect setup for a trio of new songs destined for Young's next album, reportedly titled 'Twisted Road' and produced by Daniel Lanois (U2, Bob Dylan).

The bitter 'You Never Call' felt raw; 'Peaceful Valley,' meanwhile, was a somber tale of the West's violent colonization (and violence in general); and 'Love And War,' perhaps the most autobiographical song, discussed always singing about love and war with Young noting, "I sang about justice once and hit a bad chord." Those new hats don't always impress.

Young knew perfectly well when to pull back and return to the well-worn. Not that he was in any way shackled to conformity; the performance continued to include some deliciously spare and staccato electric guitar jams. But there they were, the love and war songs: A vitriolic 'Down By the River'; the celestial clangs of 'Cortez the Killer'; a strident 'Ohio' plucked from his wide-bodied white Gretsch, a Cadillac of a guitar; and a bolshy 'Cinnamon Girl.' War and love intertwined into meaningless passion plays, while the doleful, reverential 'After the Gold Rush,' eked out on the pump organ, found the middle ground between acceptance and peace.

Neil Young on AOL Music