Neil Young

A peculiar triple bill? Maybe, if you consider only its intergenerational nature. But Neil Young has never limited his musical interests by genre or decade, and it's not unusual for him to be as emotionally naked as Death Cab's Ben Gibbard. And the L.A. quintet Everest, led by Russell Pollard (late of Sebadoh, among others), rustles up a rootsy, alt-country sound clearly influenced by Young. Neil himself returns with a band similar to the one he used here last fall, including guitarist Ben Keith, bassist Rick Rosas, and wife Pegi. Kicking off the fall leg of his tour, Young is likely to perform a mix of classics and newer stuff from last year's Chrome Dreams II, rather than the obscurities he concentrated on a year ago. Since it's election season, he also may delve into politics, which played a prominent role in his latest project, CSNY/Déjà Vu, the film he made documenting his 2006 reunion tour with Crosby, Stills, and Nash. Meanwhile, Death Cab's latest, Narrow Stairs (Atlantic), is more musically textured, elegantly rendered, and considerably darker lyrically (often with a sense of foreboding) than many of its sunnier predecessors. Everest's debut, Ghost Notes (Vapor), has a hazy, late-summer vibe, a slyly laconic style laced with vintage bits of acoustic rock, crafty progressive pop, and judicious eruptions of electric guitar.
Tue., Oct. 14, 7 p.m., 2008