Legendary Canadian rocker Neil Young performs at Mile One Centre Monday night. - Photo by Justin Brake/Special to The Telegram

Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, London, Helsinki, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, and Halifax - just some of the cities that didn't experience what Neil Young delivered Monday night at Mile One Centre in St. John's.

Launching his 2009 Continental Tour in Newfoundland and Labrador, Young and his electric band (Ben Keith, Chad Cromwell, Rick Rosas, Pegi Young, and Anthony Crawford) performed what not only shaped up to be as electrifying a show as their reputation predicates, but they played a few "bonus tracks," in the words of Young himself.

Opening with "Love and Only Love," a jolting rendition of "Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)," and "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere," the set was shaping up to be a carbon copy of the 2008 and early 2009 production the band offered up in Europe, North America, and the South Pacific.

But after performing staples like "Cinnamon Girl" and "The Needle And The Damage Done," Young uncharacteristically unleashed a youthful energy - not in his performance, but in his spontaneity.

"I never could figure out what a 'bonus track' was," he told the jam-packed Mile One crowd as the band seemed scattered in preparing for the next tune. "Is it something that wasn't good enough for a record? What is it? What is a bonus track?"

What followed was "Lost in Space," a song from the 1980 record "Hawks and Doves." According to sugarmountain.com, a respected online Neil Young set list archive, the song has never been performed live since its release 29 years ago.

If that wasn't enough, Young and the band also reached down deep into the pockets of his most successful album, 1972's "Heart of Gold," and pulled out - or pulled off, rather - a lively rendition of "Are You Ready For The Country?" - a tune that hasn't seen a set of ears in nearly a decade.

Between the surprises were Young standards, and not coincidentally, fan favourites, like "Cortez The Killer" from "Rust Never Sleeps," the 1979 album which would later inspire the grunge movement of the late '80s and early '90s.

"Heart of Gold" was a shoo-in, as was "Unknown Legend," but a string of numbers from the 1975 album "Tonight's The Night" was also something of an anomaly.

A bluesy "Speakin' Out" was followed by the title track, "World On A String," and "Albuquerque."

And "Words," from Young's 1970 breakthrough rock album "After The Gold Rush," was another welcomed addition to the set.

The presence of Young's wife Pegi as a backup singer usually warrants a mention in any review, but it wasn't so much her physical presence that mattered - Mrs. Young shone on "Just Singing A Song," the only song performed from Young's new album "Fork In The Road," which hits record store shelves today.

The atmosphere in Mile One Monday night was interesting, to say the least. As I peered out over the few thousand bodies crammed onto the floor, many were passing around "non-tobacco" (shall we say) cigarettes, evident by the aroma that filled the arena, heads in the front row were consistent with the music, and a woman caught my attention as her arms meandered smoothly above and around her head during "Unknown Legend".

Merely enjoying herself, the intensity of her movement reminded me that in moments such as these, there are no hierarchies, conventions, or rules. The 16- to 60-year-olds and everybody else in Mile One weren't in an arena.

Evidently, they were somewhere else.

Young and his band celebrate the release of "Fork In The Road" tonight in St. John's and then embark on a cross-Canada tour that will take them as far as Kelowna, B.C. and on to the United States. If you have tickets for tonight, you have reason to be excited - anything can happen.