CALGARY - Surprising everyone and hitting the stage 15 minutes earlier than scheduled, Neil Young wasted no time tearing the heads off the sold-out crowd at the Saddledome last night.

Pounding away on Old Black, his trusty 1953 Gibson Les Paul, he ripped into Love and Only Love off his Ragged Glory album with such fury, there was hardly any believing this 63-year old man suffered a potentially-fatal brain aneurism only three years ago.

A handful of senior citizen rock veterans have paraded through the 'Dome in recent months -- James Taylor, Neil Diamond and Elton John -- and none of them were anywhere close to being on their game as Young.

When he brought his first tune to a thunderous close, he moved into Hey, Hey, My My and the air positively bristled with energy.

Young blew the crowd away, leaving them reeling in a manner most artists take a whole concert to achieve.

He wasn't ready to let up yet, playing the title track to his first hit album, Everybody Knows This is Nowhere and then into another timeless classic, Powderfinger.

You can do that when you have over 40 albums, not including material from other projects like Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.

It wasn't till after the smash Cinnamon Girl, also off Everybody Knows ... that he finally gave the crowd a breather, grabbing an acoustic guitar and playing the popular country music cover tune Oh Lonesome Me.

The lights dimmed and Young climbed behind an organ for the church-y hippie ballad Mother Earth.

Until the backup singers came in, it was just Young, the organ and his harmonica. It was obvious he still needs no one to prop him up.

He kept the vibe somber, grabbing the acoustic again and playing the heroin-tragedy Needle and the Damage Done. The audience could not help but sing along.

Other hits last night included Heart of Gold and Old Man, and Cowgirl in the Sand.

At press time, pretty far into his set, still conspicuously absent were the giants Down by the River and Cortez the Killer which he'd also skipped every night of the tour so far.

Young is a master of electricity and every nuance he puts into his music comes out that much larger -- his chords positively resounding against the Saddledome roof.

As he says in Hey, Hey, My, My, also allegedly quoted on Kurt Cobain's suicide note, it's better to burn out than fade away.

Based on what was witnessed last night, neither is likely to happen anytime soon.

Death Cab for Cutie played their unusually generous one-hour warm-up slot after a brief 25 minute, mostly-acoustic set by Vapor Record's Everest.

The Seattle-based four-piece threw their hearts, lungs and bodies into what was largely 60 minutes of spectacularly uninteresting wuss-rock. It was only when Ben Gibbard sang I Will Follow You Into the Dark the show sizzled.