When I caught Barbra Streisand the other day, she was performing her 84th concert since 1963, Crosby, Stills and Nash on Saturday night at the Beacon? Their 84th concert since January. On the road to push their latest live package, CSN 2012, they are way into their sixties and look it, and, actually, act it. But they have enough energy and just plain chops to cover a nearly three hour set and leave the well off (a buck and a quarter for my 7th row orchestra seat) midriff widening, loud singing, well into their age themselves plus occasional ringer audience gagging for more.
Though it is hard to remember today, a quick read of David Browne's "Fire And Rain" will refresh you on how big these guys were. Touted as the next Beatles while the Beatles fell apart, Crosby, Stills and Nash battled out their egos and exploded and Young? Young was outta there even earlier. But the confusion comes into the subsequent career. CS&N were never great after that, but Stills was, his first three albums, Stephen Stills, Manassas, and Stills 2, stand as a testament that from Buffalo Springfield thru CSN and onwards, he earned his stripes as a master rock and roll guitarist.
But that fight with Elvis Costello, where Elvis Costello called Ray Charles "a blind ignorant nigger", Stills was with Bonnie Bramlett and sinceever since then, Stills the rocker has evaporated and Stills the coked up, fat, balding hasbeen, nostalgia merchant is all that survives for the cognizanti. Elvis Costello was in the audience Saturday ("That's enough (clapping) or he'll want to get paid" Nash cracked) and so, to quote Shakespeare, 'tis not hard, I think, For men so old as we to keep the peace." Let's forgive and forget.
Stills did just that, and stole the set from under his friends noses with a couple of wonderful guitar solos. An early "For What It's Worth" finds Stills in great shape near the edge of the stage playing bottle neck and getting a standing "o" for his troubles and a little before intermission, he recrafts the old Buffalo Springfield "Bluebird". David Crosby nods his head in pleasure. "That's why I wanted to leave the Byrds and join them", Crosby claims. "The Byrds were great but they didn't rock out like that." Really? I thought Hillman and McGuinn fired him in 1967.
Crosby battled worse demons than the Byrds in his life but certainly since the 2000 reunion with Young, he has rejuvenated himself. and is just fine Saturday night. While he was responsible for the worst moment of the night, an interminable "Guinnevere", he was also responsible for one of the best, "Helplessly Hoping". But Crosby is a little irritating and every time he does something he thinks is smart he pulls in his stomach and pushes out his chest like a self-satisfied walrus.
Nash is worse. Playing MC for the night, when did this humble smart former Hollie get to be such a plank? Strutting around the stage, interfering in everybody's solos, interrupting the proceedings and making a nuisance of himself, the former best of the band, is now the worst. Plus, stuff like "Our House" and "Teach Your Children" are revealed as the sub-McCartney dribble they are (the former is especially dire) and only "Chicago" unequivocally makes the grade, and on Saturday they reminded you what a clever song it is. CSN didn't perform "Marrakesh Express" (by the way: they didn't perform "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" either, though they will if you make it down to the Beacon tonight and wanna pay a scalper, they are playing the first album in its entirety).
"Chicago" reminds me, can I be the last person on Earth to mention how completely useless their political songs are? Yes, I had heard of Bradley Manning, he is the gay US soldier, who has been imprisoned since 2010 for giving classified military documents. Arrested for espionage: "For most of his time at the brig, Manning was held in highly restrictive pretrial confinement while awaiting a mental-health hearing to determine if the court-martial case against him would proceed. Designated a maximum-custody detainee under prevention-of-injury watch, or POI, he was confined to his cell for 23 hours a day and had a number of other restrictions placed on him." According to Wired.com. Now, I am not saying Graham Nash isn't correct, and the Army haven't been torturing him to the point of insanity, I am saying I haven't found any one willing to collaborate the claim, the New York Times for instance. And I wouldn't mind as much if "Almost Gone" wasn't such an atrocious fucking song. Indeed, all the new songs, every single one (well, all two) on CSN 2012 are lousy.
Which leaves us with the three part harmonies, which, except for a terrific "Girl From The North Country" suck, and the two part harmonies which are quite alright. Sure, all the voices are not that great any more. Still, they were much better than the 2003 set at Lincoln Center where they couldn't stay in tune.
Of all the rock superstars that came out of the 1960s, CSN (though not when Y played with em) were easily the worst. There was something about their unending egotism and self-righteous hippie dumbass that never traveled well through the 1960s in tact, let alone the decades. Still, Saturday was more than just a nostalgia trip and ever since Crosby got straight they've emerged from the drugs and the money. This wasn't CSNY 2000 -but it wasn't bad.
Grade: B