Bob Rice, Coastal, Daryl Hannah, documentaries, Jerry Don Borden, movies, music, Neil Young, reviews
April 10, 2025
by Carla Hay
Directed by Daryl Hannah
Culture Representation: Filmed during rock musician Neil Young’s 2023 solo tour of the West Coast of the United States, the documentary film “Coastal” features an all-white group of people who are connected in some way to Neil Young and the music industry.
Culture Clash: Young went on a solo tour where he did not have any backup musicians on stage with him, which is a big change from most of his previous tours.
Culture Audience: “Coastal” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of Young and other rock music artists who emerged in the 1960s.
“Coastal” is a “casual hangout” documentary that is an easygoing reflection of Neil Young’s no-frills 2023 solo tour. The cinematic tone is a laid-back family movie with tour bus conversations getting almost as much screen time as the performances. This a movie made mainly for fans of Young. Everyone else might be a bored but could be charmed by how unpretentious he is as an artist on this tour. It his first tour in nearly four years and his first tour since the COVID-19 pandemic forced many tour cancellations. The tour (which lasted from June to July 2023) mainly went to cities in California, with a few concert dates in Oregon and Washington state.
Directed by Daryl Hannah (Young’s actress/filmmaker wife; they’ve been married since 2018), “Coastal” is entirely in black and white, which makes the film look more timeless than it really is. The movie had its world premiere at the 2024 Woodstock Film Festival and then screened at the 2025 Santa Barbara Film Festival. Young (who was born in Toronto on November 12, 1945) has been a longtime U.S. resident who’s lived in California for decades. His familiarity with California is evident in his commentary as his tour bus drives on the highway to get to the venues that are featured in the movie, such as the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, the Santa Barbara Bowl, and the Greek Theatre in Berkeley.
As most music fans already know, Young can be put in the “legend” category for his talent and influence as a music artist, beginning with Buffalo Springfield, and then with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and continuing through his solo career. And even though he’s known for his collaborations with a lot of outstanding musicians throughout his career, Young did something that most singers and musicians with his experience wouldn’t do: He did a tour where he was the only one performing on stage, and he didn’t perform his greatest hits. For this tour and in the “Coastal” documentary, he played guitar, piano and harmonica.
The beginning of “Coastal” (which clocks in at 106 minutes) has a memorable opening shot of Young writing the words “Before & After” in the sand on an unnamed beach. After that, the first 15 minutes of the “Coastal” might throw some viewers off, because it basically shows Young on his tour bus making small talk with his tour bus driver Jerry Don Borden, who looks like he’s from the same Baby Boomer generation as Young. They talk about the traffic and some other mundane things as they head to the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles.
Young does not travel with a large entourage. Young’s longtime colleague Bob Rice (a music producer, guitarist, sound designer and engineer) is on the tour to look after and tune the instruments. Young is not particularly extroverted and social with the backstage people at the venue, but he’s friendly and likes to casually joke around.
“Coastal” director Hannah doesn’t put herself in the documentary very much. She can be heard talking off-camera and is briefly glimpsed on camera, such as when she lovingly fixes Young’s rumpled hair before he goes on stage. And she wasn’t on the entire tour because there’s a scene where Young tells with fondness, backstage before a show, “I missed you.”
The audience members are not shown during the performances, although there’s some footage of fans gathered near the tour bus and saying nice things to Young. The movie doesn’t show him interacting with his fans other than these short encounters. In this documentary, you won’t see him doing backstage meet-and-greets or signing autographs or taking photos with people waiting near his tour bus. Young also doesn’t care about personally going on social media to promote himself, so don’t expect him to see him doing things like livestreams or selfie postings.
Young’s banter with the concert audiences is genial and sometimes self-deprecating. When he performs “I’m the Ocean,” he comments on how he’s aged: “I can hardly recognize myself.” He gets enthusiastic applause and cheers of approval for that statement when he says that maybe some people in the audience can relate to that. He adds, “You might want to find out about me before …” and then his voice trails off. He concludes by saying how people can find out: “There’s the Internet.”
The audience members show a lot of love in return and treat his brief jokey comments as if he’s a masterful stand-up comedian. (He’s not.) Sometimes, the audiences can be heard laughing at anything Young says. It’s mainly because Young looks like he could be a cranky old man, but he’s not when he’s on stage. He does have wry observations that look completely unrehearsed and unscripted. Audiences appreciate that authenticity.
He’s also shown telling anecdotes about some of the instruments he plays on stage. He talks about a Martin D-45 acoustic guitar that his former bandmate Stephen Stills gave to him. Young points out that the guitar is very old and of beat up but it’s one of his most treasured gutars. He adds, “Buffalo Springfield was a lot of fun. We had a good time there.”
During a performance of “Love Earth,” Young begins by asking the crowd, “What’s your favorite planet?” They shout back “Earth!” Then, Young gets a little annoyed when he doesn’t think the audience is singing the song’s chorus loud enough. He tells them to sing louder until he’s satisfied.
At other times in the documentary, Young’s on-stage banter is nothing more than forgettable rambling. Young isn’t trying to prove that he’s got youthful energy. He performs as well as expected and has more passion than energy in his performances.
Off stage, it’s back to the tour bus, where Young is content to have casual conversations with bus driver Borden, occasionally with Hannah, and no one else. When the bus passes a sign for Howard Hughes Parkway, Young asks Borden what Howard Hughes’ main claim to fame and if Hughes had any ties to the entertainment industry. Borden then gives an impressive biographical summary, including talking about Hughes’ business ventures, how Hughes dated some famous actresses, and the famous story of how “mentally unstable” Hughes was told to leave a hotel and bought the hotel instead. Borden concludes by saying, “I can’t believe I know so much about Howard Hughes.
Is this “Coastal” documentary an outstanding technical achievement? No, and it was not meant to be outstanding technical achievement. There are a few visually striking shots, such as a full moon overlooking the outdoor venue when Young performs “Comes a Time.” He’s also a model train enthusiast, so the documentary includes the whimsical way that he ends a concert by switching on a model train set-up on stage.
Young is a truly original artist. “Coastal” won’t be considered his best concert documentary, but it’s a worthy showcase to prove that in many ways, he’s still got a big non-conformist streak by refusing to give in to pressure to just play his hits. What you see is what you get. And sometimes, that’s all that matters.
Here is the complete song list for the “Coastal” documentary:
- “I’m the Ocean”
- “Comes a Time”
- “Prime of Life”
- “My Heart”
- “Dream That Can Last”
- “On the Way Home”
- “Love Earth”
- “Throw Your Hatred Down”
- “Mr. Soul”
- “When I Hold You in My Arms”
Trafalgar Releasing will release “Coastal” for a one-night-only limited engagement in cinemas worldwide on April 17, 2025.