Glens Falls was hopping Saturday night, and provided just another great illustration of the energy Hometown USA has right now and why it’s fun to live here.

Restaurants were packed, the Adirondack Thunder were back in action, and a Neil Young tribute band called Harvest and Rust was absolutely crushing it inside the Park Theater.

I paid $20 for the Harvest and Rust ticket, by the way, and walked away feeling as though I owed more.

The band raged through countless electric Neil standards like “Powderfinger,” “Tonight’s the Night” and “Rockin’ in the Free World,” with frontman Garret Lechowski not only sounding like Neil Young, but weaving and bobbing like him as he jammed.

And they slowed it down too, with “Sugar Mountain,” “Needle and the Damage Done,” and “Helpless,” with beautiful harmonies from guitarist Matt Cahill and bassist Jim Reynolds and some smooth peddle steal fills from Andy Gordon.

 I also loved that they broke out perhaps lesser known “Everybody Knows This is Nowhere,” and “Birds.”

Again, such a great show, great theater, great vibe.

But back to Glens Falls and its appeal.

Mind you, all this Saturday night energy was happening in the shadow of South Street’s rebirth with steel girders for new housing and retail going up on literally both ends of the street – and renovations aplenty in between. Also in between is the Ed Center – which earlier in the day was hosting a bustling Farmer’s Market as I rode my bike through town.  

Before the show, I was dining at Bastard Restobar with friends Dan Stewart and Jeff Flagg, the latter who is one of the guys making all this growth happen. He’s a longtime friend, but bias aside, he also seems to be pretty good at the probably pretty thankless job of replacing Ed Bartholomew driving economic development in the city.

It was fun to watch him joke and smile with Bastard Restobar owners Shannon Hart-Hume and Phillip Hume, who were working hard, but clearly had time for Flagg. I know he’s been in there a lot, and he was before they opened too. He gets the same treatment at Cleome down the street, having helped get that restaurant in action too.

Flagg doesn’t boast about city successes, but I think he could. His likable personality serves him well, and he genuinely cares about his adopted city – and frequently pops into business just to see how they’re doing.

Oh, dinner at the Restobar was amazing – again. The wings are insane and we complimented them with a seafood risotto. Those two offerings filled up three of us!

When we got out of the concert last night, fans of the Adirondack Thunder were headed to their cars after the sold-out opener.

“Did they win?” I asked a mom and son, who were all geared up in Thunder attire.

“Yup, 4-1, and we got fries,” the mom said happily, having cashed in on the team’s success and a local fast-food restaurant’s promo.

Feeling great about the show and with the night still relatively young at 10, we stopped in at The Golden Monkey for a nightcap – and it was packed! The good vibes continued when this nice young couple immediately asked if we wanted them to move so we could sit together. Very cool.

We enjoyed a drink, some more chat about the show, some nice conversation about scotch with a really attentive bartender, and then we shut it down.

I went to bed happy and inspired, and when I woke up 6 hours later, I sat down to write about it.

Many of us realize how lucky we are to be living around here. Some need reminding sometimes.