Neil Young overcomes loneliness at the United Palace

In his song "A Man Needs a Maid," Neil Young sings from the perspective of a man who has been hurt and confused by human relationships and would rather have something that he can "understand."

I was thinking that maybe I'd get a maid
Find a place nearby for her to stay.
Just somene to keep my house clean
Fix my meals and go away.

During his lively performance at New York City's United Palace Theater in Washington Heights last night, it was clear most of the audience knew the feeling.

The crowd was so engaged and shouted between songs, getting into philosophical arguments about their duties and Neil's. The typical exchange went something like this:

"Play 'Cinnamon Girl'!"

"Let him play what he wants!"

"Shut up!"

"Leave him alone!"

"We love you, Neil."

"'Old Man'!"

To which Neil Young smiled and replied, "Watch it, now."

If the crowd was engaged, it was becase Neil Young never seems to be going through the motions. A crowd does not need a rock star. They wanted Mr. Young, who did an acoustic set alone, surrounded by seven guitars, a banjo, a grand piano, his grandmother's upright piano, and a synthesizer, before doing a loud and white-hot plugged in set.

Sitting in a chair in the middle of the stage, surrounded by a circle of his guitars, he moved like a scarecrow with his limbs loose and syncopated, but not totally in control. Something moves him.

He performed my favorite song ("Ambulance Blues") and did an amazing rendition of "Mellow My Mind" on the banjo. His acoustic performance of "Cowgirl in the Sand" wowed the entire audience, leaving the woman behind me to ask how he could fill the United Palace with sound like that. "I can't believe it was just one guitar," she said.

Since so much of Neil Young's catalogue deals with loneliness (he played, for instance, songs called "Sad Movies," "Bad Fog of Lonelieness" and "Oh, Lonesome Me") it was overwhelming to feel a packed house singing along together to songs abut feeling alone.

By the time he plugged in, the crowd was willing to follow, and he did raucous renditions of some old songs and new. His last song before the encore was a 20-minute crunchy jam to "No Hidden Path."

For his encore, he blazed through "Cortez the Killer," which is a song whose lyrics have always mystified me. But to see Young intimate, with his guitar solos before an audience of thousands, was to understand.

Mos Def has said that hip-hop is medicine for loneliness, and it's clear that for Mr. Young -- and the audience last night -- a guitar can do just as well.

Click here for setlist.