Download: Mumford and Sons - Dance, Dance, Dance

Everybody's favourite new folk band Mumford and Sons played a special intimate session for the wonderful Song by Toad at the weekend. They played four songs before rushing off for a headline gig, including 'White Blank Page' and 'Awake My Soul' from their fantastic debut album Sigh No More. In addition to this, they played 'Untitled', and a cover of Neil Young's 'Dance Dance Dance'. This was the highlight for me. You can download it below, and have a listen to the video. When you're done, head over to Song By Toad to download and listen to the rest.

Download:
Mumford and Sons - 'Dance, Dance, Dance'

More:
http://songbytoad.com/2010/04/toadcast-117-mumford-sons-toad-session/

Watch Mumford and Sons - 'Dance, Dance, Dance':

Watch: Neil Young - Fresh Prince Theme cover

Veteran rocker Neil Young TV host and comedian Jimmy Kimmel performed the theme tune from Will Smith's Fresh Prince of Bel Air on Monday night in full Neil Young guise. This is definitely worth watching. As is Jason Segel with the Swell Season. Great weekend for musical comedy!

(Oh, sorry, the post title is a lie ;) )

Watch Jimmy Kimmel/Neil Young 'Fresh Prince' theme:

Setlist: Neil Young, O2 Dublin, 21 June 2009

Welcome return to Dublin for the legendary Canadian folkster, as he thrilled 20,000 at the O2 last night. Thanks to James Jordan for the setlist. He said it was fantastic.

1. Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black)
2. Mansion On The Hill
3. Are You Ready For The Country?
4. Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
5. Pocahontas
6. Words
7. Cinnamon Girl
8. Mother Earth
9. Don't Let It Bring You Down
10. Lost In Space
11. On The Way Home
12. Burned
13. Harvest Moon
14. Down By The River
15. Get Behind The Wheel
16. Rockin' In The Free World
---
17. A Day In The Life

Watch 'Don't Let It Bring You Down':

Live: Neil Young at the O2 Stage Times

Legendary rocker Neil Young will be playing Dublin's O2 this Sunday. Get your hands on Archives, Volume 1 yet? I have and it's incredible. Can't wait til 2019 for Volume 2!

Support comes from Conor O'Brien's excellent Villagers. There are still a small number of tickets left for the show too.

18.30 - Doors Open
19.30 - The Villagers
20.30 - Neil Young
22.30 - End

Watch 'Hey Hey, My My' from last year's Malahide Castle show:

Live: Neil Young at the O2

If you missed his Irish shows last year, you are a complete and utter failure. Ah no, I don't really mean that. Maybe you couldn't afford it. Like me and every gig this year. Tough times.

Anyhow, Neil Young returns to promote his new album Fork in the Road in June, Saturday the 21st to be precise. He'll play Dublin's O2. Tickets are priced from €67 to €76 and go on sale next Monday.

'Hey Hey My My' at Malahide:

Album News: Neil Young - Fork in the Road

There's finally a release date for the new Neil Young record, Fork in the Road. It's out April 7th, and has the most homemade album cover I've seen in a long time. For some reason though, I like the album art. Then again I love everything Neil does, so I'm bound to like it.

Tracklist
01: When Worlds Collide
02: Fuel Line
03: Just Singing A Song
04: Johnny Magic
05: Cough Up The Bucks
06: Get Behind The Wheel
07: Off The Road
08: Hit The Road
09: Light A Candle
10: Fork In The Road

Video for 'Fork in the Road':

Watch: Neil Young - Fork in the Road

Title track from the upcoming Neil Young album of which we have absolutely no information whatsoever:

Watch Neil Young 'Fork in the Road':

Album News: Neil Young - The Archives, Volume 1 trailer

No further delay news, which is good. But here is the trailer that comes on the Sugar Mountain DVD.

Oh God, this boxset is going to be amazing!

Stream: Neil Young - Sugar Mountain: Live at Canterbury House

I'll be doing a best Live Albums list for 2008, so luckily I got to hear this before I made the list.

It's so much better than his 2008 Malahide show!

Stream it in full here:
http://music.aol.com/new-releases-full-cds/#/5

Watch: Radiohead cover 'Tell Me Why'

All of you regular readers will remember my Neil Young review. Oh God, it was a great gig. I've seen many of the legends now at this stage: Dylan, Young, Springsteen, The Hold Steady, etc. But I've yet to see Radiohead live.

What would be even better than seeing them live? Seeing them cover a Neil Young classic live! Thom Yorke and co. covered 'Tell Me Why' from seminal classic After The Goldrush on Monday, and it went down a treat at the Hollywood Bowl.

Watch it in full, here:

Download: Neil Young - Live at Malahide Castle

See who's listed on elbo.ws Hot Blogs today? That's right, good old Swear I'm Not Paul! How I got there, I have no idea.

Anyhow, I'm off on holiday on Sunday, so don't expect anything from me until the following Sunday. Don't fret though, Chris will be here to help. He'll try to keep you updated on stuff. Whatever he feels important. Which could be different from what I'd I think. So it'll be a good week for the blog. You've probably noticed some of Chris's posts already. His My Morning Jacket review is excellent. A brilliant addition to the swearimnotpaul team. (A team of two!)

But as a going away present, I have something very special. Remember that Neil Young show earlier this year? Oh yeah, you can download it here. For some reason I'm missing track one, can someone email it to me if they have it. Thanks.

Love And Only Love
I've Been Waiting For You
Mr. Soul
Spirit Road
Powderfinger
Hey Hey, My My
Too Far Gone
Oh, Lonesome Me
Mother Earth
The Needle And The Damage Done
Unknown Legend
Old Man
Get Back To The Country
[Band intros]
Words
Intro to...>
No Hidden Path
----
A Day In The Life

And get them all in a big .rar file:
Part 1
Part 2


Oh, and in case you didn't notice... I'm off on HOLIDAYS!

Live Review: Neil Young and The Frames, Malahide Castle

What a beautiful evening it was on Sunday for an outdoor concert. No doubt Oxegen will be waterlogged as usual, but Neil Young could not have asked for a better Irish summer's evening than we had at Malahide Castle. This was the first time I had ever been at the castle, and I must say getting in and out of the venue was a joy. There were special Dart trains put on for the concert, and although ours was packed (with happy Dublin fans after the match as well as concertgoers), not one person fainted! The trek home wasn't as smooth, as the train left about fifteen minutes late, but the adrenaline distracted me from looking at my watch.

So, onto the show itself. I only caught the end of the first act, Everest, who did impress me from what little I heard. Their version of the Bob Dylan/Byrds classic 'You Ain't Goin' Nowhere' (which Glen Hansard has covered on occassion) made me wish I had gotten there earlier to see them in full stride. We sat down on the grass and ate ice-creams while we waited for The Frames to come on stage. Not too often you can say that at a gig, is it?

The Frames were wonderful. I didn't expect them to be as on-form as they were. Marketa Irglova makes a great addition to the band, and her harmonies are beautiful. Colm Mac Con Iomaire was his usual splendid self and is surely the most underrated musician on this island. They opened with 'Redchord' and played a host of crowd-pleasing tunes. Glen Hansard only told a handful of anecdotes, none of which were particularly new. One, however, was quite bizarre. He invited us to sing along with the chorus on 'Happiness', but then told people who weren't feeling it (or something along those lines), not to sing at all. A very strange man indeed.

In fact, 'Happiness' was the low point of the set. It followed 'Santa Maria' which is a cracking tune which builds and builds up to fantastic proportions. However I felt many of the people in attendance weren't as into the song as they should be, probably because they were there for Neil, and maybe hadn't heard it on the radio. The radio tunes were excellent, and Glen has really grown in confidence as the years have passed.

But nothing could have prepared the crowd for the man himself. As soon as a glimpse of his paint-stained white shirt and pants were seen, a huge roar went up in north Dublin. The one and only Neil Young. Kids, cherish this day. He opened with a very long version of ' Love and Only Love' which I felt was a bit of a disappointment. He didn't seem on form, and his solo was a little jarring. 'I've Been Waiting for You' was a vast improvement, but I still wondered would this be a set of songs that only half the crowd knew. However, any fears I had that this would be one of the biggest disappointments of the year totally disappeared when he tore into 'Mr Soul'.

'Spirit Road' and 'Powderfinger' were wonderful. And it was only during 'Powderfinger' that I noticed each song was accompanied by a lovely little painting at the right-hand side of the stage. A neat effect, and also a way to make every fan there seem like they knew every song. The guy beside me bellowed out "I bet this is Too Far Gone", which impressed the rest of his posse. I was in on the act though. He couldn't fool me. He wasn't even singing along. 'My My Hey Hey' was truly a highpoint, and the only song that was on the recent 2FM advertisments that he actually played live! The crowd belted out the chorus, perhaps even loud enough to drown out Neil himself.

'Oh Lonesome Me' was also excellent, and the band had some downtime and a little sitdown during the so-so 'Mother Earth'. They got back into the swing of things with 'The Needle and the Damage Done'. Oh what a song! The next trio of tunes were similarly brilliant, 'Unknown Legend', 'Old Man' (oh yeah!), and 'Get Back to the Country'. 'Words' was much better than the performance Boyzone gave of the same song the previous night.

'No Hidden Path' went on very, very long. About half an hour I think. I actually noticed some people leaving at this point, probably to beat the traffic and catch the bus back into town. The encore was the same as the last few shows this tour, and after studying setlists before the show, I wasn't one of the many claiming disappointment with a one-song-encore. Young's take on 'A Day In the Life' is definitely up there with the original, and caused another superb singalong, sending the crowd home on a high.

A night we'll all remember. And a night to tell the grandkids about. Although guessing by the ages of some of the audience present, some grandkids have already been told.

'Hey Hey, My My':

Setlist: Neil Young, Live at The Marquee, Cork, 30 June 2008

Neil had a more varied setlist down south, pulling out the classics 'Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere' and 'Heart of Gold' as well as a cover of Bob Dylan's 'All Along the Watchtower' (That's right, it's not a Hendrix original!)

Love And Only Love
Hey Hey, My My
Everybody knows This Is Nowhere
Spirit Road
I've Been Waiting For You
All Along The Watchtower
Oh, Lonesome Me
Mother Earth
The Needle And The Damage Done
Unknown Legend
Heart Of Gold
Get Back To The Country
Words
No Hidden Path
----
A Day In The Life

Setlist: Neil Young, Malahide Castle, 29 June 2008

Just back from a great show. Expect a full review tomorrow.

Love And Only Love
I've Been Waiting For You
Mr. Soul
Spirit Road
Powderfinger
Hey Hey, My My
Too Far Gone
Oh, Lonesome Me
Mother Earth
The Needle And The Damage Done
Unknown Legend
Old Man
Get Back To The Country
Words
No Hidden Path
----
A Day In The Life