A lot of people made a big mistake last night.
While most were mad at the completely unacceptable final four, or wondering if Will Smith & Chris Rock were really acting...
60 years of pent-up Brilliance happened. I'm so glad I took Mrs. Shades of Crimson to witness it.
Context:
I've seen CSN twice, (Once with Croz coked out of his mind, once completely sober - LOL) Stephen Stills & Neil Young individually - but my wife never did - & due to odd twist of fate we had to give up our tickets to the reunion tour back in early 2000's. She wanted as close as possible to having some of that experience before these 4 legends passed - she got a great taste of it.
Simple yet impactful 3-piece staging with candles burning around the stage/instruments. NO lighting effects to speak of, except on the backdrop during "Cathedral" & "Wind on the Water"
Graham & his two associates (including the great Shane Fontayne on lead guitar) calmly walked out, Nash thanked the crowd for naming the city after him, and promptly announced a "different" start to the show and launched into Find the Cost of Freedom and then Military Madness with different lyrics slamming Putin. The crowd was hooked.
They did two sets with a 20 minute break in between (to go pee according to Nash) and two encores. The setlist on setlist FM already posted this morning is accurate. It can't tell, however, the great stories & banter Nash had with the audience.
He did the Hollies "Bus Stop" as a tribute to his childhood friend Allan Clarke , explained the train ride that led to "Marrakesh Express" and closed the first set with a tour de-force triple: A mesmerizing rendition of the Beatles "A Day in the Life", followed by a show stopping "Cathedral" and closing with an almost as good as Still's "Love the One You're With".
After the break, He was determined to really become an intimate artist with world class musicianship. Done.
Busting out a clever rendition of Joni Mitchell's "A Case of You" he then went deep & personal into his catalogue for "Simple Man", "Taken at All" and the only CSN song from their 1st album not played at Woodstock, "Lady of the Island" (Which he calmly noted was for Joni when they were together).
He praised Stephen Stills for coming to his hotel room one night with a song he said almost made him cry: (4 + 20) Then turned around and jammed "Country Girl" from Deja Vu, just to get his tip' of the hat to Neil Young in the performance.
Just as with the 1st set - he hit a triple - the previously mentioned "Wind on the Water", "Just a Song before I Go" and the finale "Chicago" -- which along with "Cathedral" were the only two songs he sat behind the keyboards for - generally rotating through a bunch of acoustic guitars specifically tuned for each song brought out by his tech.
After the obligatory & well deserved standing ovation , they returned for an acapella rendition of Buddy Holly's "Everyday" and wrapped up with - of course- "Teach Your Children" with the crowd singing the chorus.
Many stories, many musical highlights. While his keyboardist was spot on, I loved Shane's guitar work & backing vocals. We were sitting 8th row stage left right in front of him and he was playing every note he should - and none he shouldn't. Fabulous.
Although his story about "Our House" was wonderful, it is well known. As is "Cathedral", so I won't repeat them here due to time/space constraints.
The absolute best Story was "Just a Song before I Go" --- About winning a $500 bet with a dope dealer - that he couldn't write a great song in two hours - before catching a plane back to L. A. from Hawaii. While that part was humorous, the money shot happened just a couple of weeks ago.
They were playing a show in So. Carolina and one of the stage attendants that worked at the arena handed Nash a small envelope backstage telling him this is very important. Nash said he thought nothing of it, stuffed it in his pants pocket and forgot about it until the next morning. Getting up he said he reached for the same pants and remembered the envelope from the night before - in it was (drumroll please) a check for the $500 from the family of the drug dealer, (now passed away) along with an apology for never having settled the bet almost 50 yrs before.
I hope this summary has given some of my fellow music lovers a small taste of a living legends performance last night. My wife, was beyond pleased that I took her and so that has put me in good shape for awhile. (wink)
Anyone else go last night?
While most were mad at the completely unacceptable final four, or wondering if Will Smith & Chris Rock were really acting...
60 years of pent-up Brilliance happened. I'm so glad I took Mrs. Shades of Crimson to witness it.
Context:
I've seen CSN twice, (Once with Croz coked out of his mind, once completely sober - LOL) Stephen Stills & Neil Young individually - but my wife never did - & due to odd twist of fate we had to give up our tickets to the reunion tour back in early 2000's. She wanted as close as possible to having some of that experience before these 4 legends passed - she got a great taste of it.
Simple yet impactful 3-piece staging with candles burning around the stage/instruments. NO lighting effects to speak of, except on the backdrop during "Cathedral" & "Wind on the Water"
Graham & his two associates (including the great Shane Fontayne on lead guitar) calmly walked out, Nash thanked the crowd for naming the city after him, and promptly announced a "different" start to the show and launched into Find the Cost of Freedom and then Military Madness with different lyrics slamming Putin. The crowd was hooked.
They did two sets with a 20 minute break in between (to go pee according to Nash) and two encores. The setlist on setlist FM already posted this morning is accurate. It can't tell, however, the great stories & banter Nash had with the audience.
He did the Hollies "Bus Stop" as a tribute to his childhood friend Allan Clarke , explained the train ride that led to "Marrakesh Express" and closed the first set with a tour de-force triple: A mesmerizing rendition of the Beatles "A Day in the Life", followed by a show stopping "Cathedral" and closing with an almost as good as Still's "Love the One You're With".
After the break, He was determined to really become an intimate artist with world class musicianship. Done.
Busting out a clever rendition of Joni Mitchell's "A Case of You" he then went deep & personal into his catalogue for "Simple Man", "Taken at All" and the only CSN song from their 1st album not played at Woodstock, "Lady of the Island" (Which he calmly noted was for Joni when they were together).
He praised Stephen Stills for coming to his hotel room one night with a song he said almost made him cry: (4 + 20) Then turned around and jammed "Country Girl" from Deja Vu, just to get his tip' of the hat to Neil Young in the performance.
Just as with the 1st set - he hit a triple - the previously mentioned "Wind on the Water", "Just a Song before I Go" and the finale "Chicago" -- which along with "Cathedral" were the only two songs he sat behind the keyboards for - generally rotating through a bunch of acoustic guitars specifically tuned for each song brought out by his tech.
After the obligatory & well deserved standing ovation , they returned for an acapella rendition of Buddy Holly's "Everyday" and wrapped up with - of course- "Teach Your Children" with the crowd singing the chorus.
Many stories, many musical highlights. While his keyboardist was spot on, I loved Shane's guitar work & backing vocals. We were sitting 8th row stage left right in front of him and he was playing every note he should - and none he shouldn't. Fabulous.
Although his story about "Our House" was wonderful, it is well known. As is "Cathedral", so I won't repeat them here due to time/space constraints.
The absolute best Story was "Just a Song before I Go" --- About winning a $500 bet with a dope dealer - that he couldn't write a great song in two hours - before catching a plane back to L. A. from Hawaii. While that part was humorous, the money shot happened just a couple of weeks ago.
They were playing a show in So. Carolina and one of the stage attendants that worked at the arena handed Nash a small envelope backstage telling him this is very important. Nash said he thought nothing of it, stuffed it in his pants pocket and forgot about it until the next morning. Getting up he said he reached for the same pants and remembered the envelope from the night before - in it was (drumroll please) a check for the $500 from the family of the drug dealer, (now passed away) along with an apology for never having settled the bet almost 50 yrs before.
I hope this summary has given some of my fellow music lovers a small taste of a living legends performance last night. My wife, was beyond pleased that I took her and so that has put me in good shape for awhile. (wink)
Anyone else go last night?
