Photo Credit: Bill Kelly

Last week, Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts arrived in Europe for the first leg of their Love Earth Tour. During the ensemble’s second stop at the Bergenhus Festning in Bergen, Norway, they delivered a 14-minute take on the 1975 release “Cortez The Killer.” A fan-shot video of the extended rendition surfaced online yesterday and presents the ensemble’s drawn-out instrumental entry, which topped the six-minute mark. Their take also included lost lyrics, previously unveiled in 2024. 

Before landing on “Cortez the Killer,” which assumed the concert’s encore slot, the band, Spooner Oldham, Micah Nelson, Corey McCormick, and Anthony LoGerfo commenced the night with a tour debut of “Heart of Gold,” before mourning their loss of adolescence on “Sugar Mountain.” The frame went on to include fan favorites and staple Young offerings like “Cinnamon Girl,” “Hey, Hey, My, My,” “The Needle and the Damage Done,” “Harvest Moon,” “Like a Hurricane,” amidst deeper cuts that touched on the bandleader’s Crazy Horse legacy, “Be The Rain,” “Fuckin’ Up,” and “Sun Green.”

Ultimately, the veteran musician and his sage team of helpers turned in “Old Man” as the final song of their main frame. The concert’s encore represented the tour debut of the aforementioned Zuma track, which narrates the story of Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés and his vast and devastating acts of violence against the Indigenous population of mainland Mexico, which caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and the initial colonization of the Americas. 

Fraying from the Zuma-originated presentation, the esteemed Canadian guitarist/ vocalist tacked on added lines, sometimes referred to as the forgotten lyrics: “I floated on the water/ I ate that ocean wave/Two weeks after the slaughter/I was living in a cave/They came too late to get me/But there’s no one here to set me free/From this rocky grave/To that snowed-out ocean wave.”

Similarly, during Young’s April 24, 2024, performance with Crazy Horse at Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre in San Diego, Calif., the concert began with a debut of “Cortez” featuring the forgotten lyrics. Last night’s rendition clocked in at three minutes longer than previous live renditions during last year’s Golden State appearance. 

Scroll down to watch a fan-shot video of the 14-minute “Cortez the Killer.”