Photograph: AP
John Duncan, former Managing Editor of the Observer is something of a Neil Young fan.
John, it turns out now, has in fact been using the Observer as part of a sinister global conspiracy to promote the music of Neil Young. John is a 'rustie' - as Young fans with a militant tendency are known. (Something to do with the album Rust Never Sleeps.)
By way of Observer valediction John blagged obtained tickets to see what was supposed to be a special in camera on camera Young gig. John explains:
It happened like this. Jonathan Demme messes up his schedule and hasn't got anything to do for a year. So he rings up Neil Young (like you do) and asks him what he's up to. Neil, who had just a) been diagnosed with a brain aneurysm, b) recorded an album and c) had the brain aneurysm removed (in that order) tells him about the record and sends him a copy. Demme likes it and suggests they make a concert film. Demme's music cv includes Stop Making Sense of course,. Not to mention a video for New Order and a documentary about Robyn Hitchcock, as well as Silence of the Lambs and Philadelphia and the rest. So of course Neil says yes. And so the Ryman auditorium, former home of the Grand Ol Opry and the Diocese of Nashville's cathedral of country music, is booked for the shoot for two nights and here we are.
It wasn't clear that there would even be an audience. And then it was decreed to be composed of music industry folk only. No publicity, no Ticketmaster, no touts, nothing. No way of getting in. So of course we just turned up anyway.
The full story appears in this Sunday's Observer Music Monthly. But John, it turns out, felt obliged to share the process with his secret cabal of fellow Rusties. The inside story, for the hardcore, was posted on Rust list, the Young fan talkboard.
Luckily, John writes very well. So his account of reporting a secret gig - and his insight into the nature and intensity of real fandom - is worth reading even to that benighted bit of the population that doesn't think Neil Young is the best thing since bread.
Postcard from Nashville Part 1 Postcard from Nashville Part 2 Postcard from Nashville Pt 3 (in which Mike gets a ticket) Postcard from Nashville Pt 4a Music Postcard from Nashville Pt 4b Shock and Bore Postcard from Nashville Pt 5 Mission accomplished Postcard from Nashville Pt 6 2nd night Postcard from Nashville Pt 7 2nd night Postcard from Nashville Part 8 After the ticket rush Postcard from Nashville Pt 9 Happy ending and Closing credits Postcard from Nashville Pt 10 The happiest ending possible
Observer music monthly lives here.
