Crosby Stills Nash & Young Triumph Again (8/1/06)

On Monday night, July 31st, Crosby Stills Nash and Young rocked the Hollywood Bowl with powerful new material and an incredible catalog of politically-fueled classics that made for a must-see rock concert. Between American politics coming full circle since the early 70's and Neil Young's new "Living With War" album speaking out against the current corrupt administration, this show felt like an important political statement for the year 2006... not a reunion tour trying to re-live the early 70's. Don't miss this show when it passes through your city. The epic, 3-hour-plus event features the opportunity to see the premiere elder statesmen of political rock with something important to say...and they say it with passion and rage. Each song in the setlist proves the strength of their songwriting, playing and singing. Although this is their 3rd reunion tour since 1974, it is by far the most relevant. The 1999 reunion tour was fun b/c they were finally playing together. The 2002 tour felt like a nostalgia act that had run its course. This tour is The Tour. This is the exact concert I had waited my whole life to see from this collection of musicians. I actually never thought I'd get the chance see them so fired up on stage together. With the theme of the night being Fuck Bush, How Sad That We're As Fucked Now As We Were During the Vietnam-Watergate Era, and You Can Make A Difference If You Stand Up And Speak Out, these 4 talents have delivered the tour of their careers.

Neil Young's latest CD, the powerful LIVING WITH WAR, is the heart of this show. To have such a strong, relevant political statement to tour behind has proven to be the perfect vehicle to rejuvinate this band. Just as Neil lifted CSN to a higher level, they did the same for him. He looked as psyched to be singing their songs and sharing a stage with friends that date back 40 years as they looked to have his energy and presence on their stage. Honestly, if CSNY were in their 20s rather than their 60s, this tour wouldn't only be the most talked about tour on the road, it would be headline news. An excellent video production aided the band in getting their powerful message across as news footage from the past few years drove the point home that it's time for a big change in this country. One can easily conclude that any show that opens with a song from Neil's LIVING WITH WAR and closes with "Rockin In the Free World" is one loud, powerful statement...and it was. Shortly before "Rockin", the show built its way up to Neil's new "Let's Impeach the President". This was a fantastic moment as the band and crowd sang their hearts out. Rather than show the band members on the videoscreens, nothing but lyrics were posted so that everyone could sing along....and sing along they did. Between all of this were classics like "Millitary Madness", "Find the Cost of Freedom", "Ohio", "Chicago", "Immigration Man", "Almost Cut My Hair", "For What It's Worth", "Southbound Train" and "What Are Their Names". The powerful, yet current feeling of these songs stands as a testament to the incredible strength of the CSNY songwriting catalog. Other rock stars have had 30 years to rival this collection of honest, topical, melodic material...and no one has. Equally powerful were the non-political songs like "Only Love Can Break Your Heart", "Carry Me", "Our House", "Deja Vu", "Teach Your Children", "Guinnevere", "Southern Cross", "Helplessly Hoping" and new-ish songs like Stills' bluesy "Old Man Trouble" and Nash's "Milky Way Tonight".

The performances were perfect throughout the night. The show followed the typical CSNY format: a set of rock followed by a set of acoustic music that breaks the 4-some into duos and trios and then another set of rock. David Crosby and Graham Nash are still the best rock harmony singers of all time. Both are still in perfect voice. Neil is still Neil...one of a kind. Stephen Stills couldn't look or sound any worse. In fact, the band has compensated by limiting his vocals so that the songs don't get butchered: Crosby and Nash handled most of the vocal duties for "Wooden Ships" while Neil Young provided the 100% dead-on perfect harmony parts for "Our House" that Stills originally provided on the recording. Stills did rip on guitar and he sounded great on his keyboard-driven, bluesy "Old Man Trouble" - his deep, gravelly voice is now a perfect fit for that kind of material...but it's a real stretch for him to handle CSNY material. He should be a lesson to singers everywhere not to abuse their sinuses, throat or lungs. Augmented by musicians mostly from Neil's camp, the band featured a great pedal steel player, organ player, trumpet player (for Neil's new album) and a great drummer.

I was seated behind music legend Rick Rubin, who was bobbing his head and dancing all night long. A few seats away were Bill and Luke Walton as well as Billy Crystal. Everyone was enjoying this show. The whole night, I couldn't help but thinking that I was finally witnessing The Triumphant Moment. A band that was leaders of their generation and had it all....and then blew it...was finally back on top of their game and relevant once again. The sad part is the reality of the political circumstances that led them back to where they belong. If this tour ends up being the closing chapter of the CSNY saga, they couldn't have done it in a more fitting way.

Setlist:
1. FLAGS OF FREEDOM
2. CARRY ON
3. WOODEN SHIPS
4. LONG TIME GONE
5. MILITARY MADNESS
6. AFTER THE GARDEN
7. LIVING WITH WAR
8. RESTLESS CONSUMER
9. SHOCK AND AWE
10. WOUNDED WORLD
11. ALMOST CUT MY HAIR
12. IMMIGRATION MAN
13. FAMILIES
14. DEJA VU

Set 2

15. HELPLESSLY HOPING
16. OUR HOUSE
17. ONLY LOVE CAN BREAK YOUR HEART
18. GUINIVERE
19. MILKY WAY TONIGHT
20. TREETOP FLYER
21. ROGER AND OUT
22. SOUTHBOUND TRAIN
23. OLD MAN TROUBLE
24. CARRY ME
25. TEACH YOUR CHILDREN
26. SOUTHERN CROSS
27. FIND THE COST OF FREEDOM

[With the band off stage, Neil's legendary giant mike is brought out and roadies tie a giant yellow ribbon around it as Hendrix's "Star Spangled Banner" plays over the P.A.]

28. LET’S IMPEACH THE PRESIDENT
29. FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH
30. CHICAGO
31. OHIO
32. WHAT ARE THEIR NAMES

Encore
33. ROCKIN' IN THE FREE WORLD