S and I will be going to five concerts this September (it was supposed to be six, but Big BabyHead had to go into rehab), and tonight was the first of them, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.
I've never seen CSN, or CSNY before, though I did see part of a Neil Young show when I was a senior in high school. It's kind of a show that you don't want to miss, that you want to see at least once before it's all over for them. And it was definitely worth it. It's pretty fucking cool to see "Ohio" and "Find the Cost..." live, though I have to admit that I'm sad that they didn't play "Woodstock". Also, I'm not sure if you were aware (apparently some in the crowd were not), but all four of these guys are aged hippies. Liberal aged hippies. That really hate the war in Iraq and really hate the president. I mean, they perform a song called "Let's Impeach the President", which is a Neil Young song that all four of them play with gusto. A couple of people behind me were booing, but their boos were really just a teeeeny little noise compared with the roar of approval all around us. S didn't even hear the booers. I mean, I'm not sure how you could mistake CSNY for a conservative outfit; they've always been the quintessential protest/liberal trio/quartet. And I mean, come on. Neil Young is clearly a radical--his last album was called "Living with War". He hates it, and he's never been afraid to say it. So I just don't get how you can't realize that what you get when you go see CSNY is some good ol' American protest rock. (You clearly have to have had your head under a rock, because the reviews have been very clear on the whole shebang. What kind of moron pays $200 for a seat and doesn't know what's going on? Clearly, there were two of them behind us.)
Mostly, I liked the music, though there was a sorta boring part towards the middle-to-end where they all played their own sub-par solo efforts. Snoozy. But again, I was impressed overall with the quality and quantity of music played. (I'd better be, for $200. Or rather, my dad should be.) Stills' voice isn't very good, though Crosby and Nash sounded good, and Young sounded like, well, Young. Stills also doesn't look very good, Crosby looks like someone's grandpa, Young looks like an angry neighbor who kept the next-door kid's baseballs and so on, and Nash looks a lot like a put together Englishman. Stills and Crosby need haircuts. But it worked, it really did. Honestly, though, I couldn't stop thinking about how those four men came to be on stage. I read Hotel California, which is sort of about the music scene they were apart of, and I mean, come on! Those guys PUBLICLY hated each other. They basically all slept with Joni Mitchell to spite one another. They derided each other's music, in public. Neil Young WALKED OFF a tour that he was doing with them. I mean, boom! Neil's gone.
And now, now they're onstage and they look comfortable. They seem to like one another, and they make some nice music together. You think they've forgiven each other about Joni? Or maybe it was good that she ended up being more married to her music than to any man, because it gave them room to be friends again. Probably it's good that none of them are fucked up anymore on the massive amounts of drugs they used to do. That probably helps a good bit.
I also kept wondering if Neil Young likes playing more with these guys than Pearl Jam. I even asked S that at one point, and he looked at me like I was crazy. But I can't help it, I'm fascinated by the fact that this tour is happening, despite all the very public hatred. Plus, these guys are well, closer to Neil's age. Maybe Pearl Jam is too young for him. Or maybe he likes PJ better because they keep him young.
Okay, I'm weird.
Still, two thumbs up. Bravo. On deck: Eric Clapton on Sept 20. I think. I could be wrong. It might be The Who. Still. Sept 20 is the next show. (Which, if you're doing your math, means three other shows between then and Sept. 30. Crazy month, this.)
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