Thanks for the memories!

Good movie but grossly overrated

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

Rust Never Sleeps (1979) *** (out of 4) Neil Young and Crazy Horse take the stage at the Cow Palace for this show that took place on October 22nd, 1978. Many Young fans consider this tour to be one of his best and we get many classic tunes including: Sugar Mountain, After the Gold Rush, My My Hey Hey (both versions), The Needle and the Damage Done, Cinnamon Girl, Like a Hurricane and Welfare Mothers. It seems this tour was highly thought of but at the same time this film seems to draw some heat. This was my first time viewing it and my first time seeing any Young performance from this era and I must admit that I really liked it. I agree with some of the negative press that the filming was quite poor as much of the concert doesn't go to film very well as it's dark, grainy and at times the camera doesn't seem to know what it wants to focus on. There's a stage act going on but none of this is captured very well. Having said that, the music is certainly the most important thing here and the performances are terrific. Young does some solo numbers, which are excellent as are the stuff with Crazy Horse. Some of the highlights including a rocking version of Like a Hurricane and a very somber The Needle and the Damage Done. Even some of the lesser known tunes come off extremely well. Young's vocals are very good and the guitar playing is tops as usual. The film kicks off with some Hendrix and Beatles so that's never a bad thing.

I have been a Neil Young "fan" since 1970. That is probably the first time I heard his music or at least associated his music with him. I was living in the city (SF) with about 12 other folks way up off California St. It was a nice victorian on Lake St. The album (yep - 12" plastic) was Everybody Knows This is Nowhere. I was immediately drawn to the countryish twang of some of the songs (TLE, ENTIK, R&R,RD); I was mesmerized by Down by the River and Cowgirl in the Sand.I first played the RNS movie while in Japan in 1982. I was on the vinyl CED format. I bought it at a record store above the Yokohama train station. I was awed by the quality and choice of material. Neil must have tapered his interaction with audiences during the mid-late 70's. Early on he was such a blabber mouth - not a bad thing - but on RNS he was "courteous" but focuses on the presentation. Almost all the songs were superbly executed. This contains is my favourite Powderfinger arrangement. The screw-up on Thrasher demonstrates a professional just slyly grinning it off and rewinding a tad to recover nicely without skipping any of the lyrics. I have always wondered how he screwed that part up? "they were...rock formations" - he forgot "lost in". I only wish he had put this version of thrasher on the "live rust" lp/cd.The roadeyes and woodstock bits were a drag but on the cd version can be effortlessly, immediately bypassed. I am 54 years on and I have a lot of concerts under my belt and many Firday or Saturday nights were at Winterland and the Fillmore West seeing the greats of the day. imagine Led Zeppelin at the Fillmore; bumping into Janis at the Fillmore; There was no sense of star ego then. It was a different thing. Carlos Santana talking to myself and others on the street after a concert. he was walking alone. Those days are gone forever. What the heck happened?Rust Never Sleeps is superb. The music isn't flawlessly performed but it is real and really, really good. Perhaps some do not know that many Neil Young recordings are essentially live takes - not a bunch of crappy track takes and overdubs to create the sound some record exec wants to sell to an unsuspecting public.The simplicity of many of the RNS songs are their beauty in disguise. From the gentle acousticals to some of the blistering industrial tunes (Sedan Delivery, Powderfinger, ...) its unlike any video/movie/musical I have ever seen/heard. Neil was at his best. The horse was up for the task. This is a must-see for anyone who thinks live music sucks!

I come from germany and i have seen the video on TV in 1997. I was a neil young fan before, but i have never seen a concert like this. "It makes me feel free". And if i hear rock- musik like this, i don`t need drugs to fly away.

All rock and roll fans should see "Rust Never Sleeps" . Neil Young is incomparable to any one else in music . Fans should also seek out "Neil and Me" written by his father , Scott Young. Even though it's over 20 years old the concert film has not lost any of its power - get ready to watch it over and over.