Photo credit: Carl Schultz
Nils Lofgren
What do Neil Young, Lou Reed and Bruce Springsteen have in common? Saturday night at Potawatomi Hotel and Casino’s Northern Lights Theater, Nils Lofgren demonstrated why those artists have chosen him as their wingman.
With his band, Grin, Lofgren’s recording career began at the dawn of the ’70s. That group included his brother, multi-instrumentalist Tom Lofgren, who traded piano and guitar duties with Nils onstage Saturday. Opening with the rumbling groove of “Give”—one of five recently released co-writes with Lou Reed that came from a 1978 songwriting binge—the band demonstrated serious musicianship. This evening would be the second night touring their new album, Blue With Lou.
As a bandleader, Lofgren was generous, offering plenty of spotlight opportunities for vocalist and fellow E-Streeter Cindy Mizelle. The world-class rhythm section of Andy Newmark (drums) and Kevin McCormick (bass) left nothing to chance. Lofgren’s blazing guitar skills were on show throughout the evening, yet it was his songwriting and vocals that drew plenty of attention.
The slowed tempos of “Moon Tears” delivered pop hooks, and “No Mercy” offered a three-and-a-half-minute, detailed character study of a young boxer ending the career of a veteran pugilist. Moving to piano, Nils recalled the recording session for Neil Young’s “Southern Man” when he ramped up to a polka beat for what became that song’s landmark solo and outro sections. Lofgren’s experience recording Young’s After the Goldrush, Tonight’s the Night and Crazy Horse’s debut album could make a book, but with more than two dozen albums to his own credit, dropping names like Ringo Starr didn’t come off as hot air.
Closing with “Shine Silently” (from his 1979 LP, Nils), Lofgren and the band ramped up to a frenzy that saw the guitarist spinning dizzily as the guitar solo peaked. With such a deep back catalog, they could have easily played another set. When asked after the show about recent studio recordings again as a member of Crazy Horse, Lofgren laughed and admitted, “Who knows? Neil does what he wants, when he wants!”
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