Crosby, Nash, Young triumph

Adam Block
NME
February 16, 1974

AMERICA’S archetypal supergroup, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, may never tour again. But any time a member of the old team pulls into home base for a Bay-Area concert, it’s a strong bet he’ll have company.

As promoter Bill Graham commented at the recent Crosby/Nash concert here. "If they want a good sound, they’ll have to tell me if the other two horsemen of the apocalypse will be putting in an appearance."

As it turned out, on this night, it was lone horseman Neil Young who decided to join his old cronies. I’ve never been crazy about CSNY and never very interested in David Crosby, or even Graham Nash, as solo artists. The "Four Way Street" disc did little for my hopes of a great live show — but this proved a concert to knock your socks off It opened with the mediocre accapella work of The Dencoino All Stars. David Blue followed backed by Don Feldner on electric guitar, and an unfortunate sound mix made Blue’s lyrics nearly inaudible behind Feldner’s incredible racing runs.

Feldner proved to be the surprise bonus of the night. He later joined Crosby Nash and company, providing startling, succinct, inventive riffs.

Crosby and Nash are old pros by now, and I’ve seldom seen performers more at ease, enjoying one another, and communicating that enjoyment to the crowd. They opened with "Deja Vu," and moved directly to "Wooden Ships."

It was a fine performance, with no harmonic holes. The latter version was actually richer and tighter than the complete CSNY’s.

They introduced two songs from Nash’s new solo LP "Wild Tales" — "Grave Concern" and a sing-a-long ditty called "And So It Goes" — before dismissing the band and taking to acoustic guitars. Then came a fine version of Souhbound Train from their joint LP. And then Nash left the stage to Crosby.

Crosby has always been a bit of a counter-culture buffoon, (Dennis Hopper modelled his portrayal in "Easy Rider" on him) but it’s a role he plays with some delight. Adjusting an E string, he looked up and grinned, "I can see it in ‘Rolling Stone’ on Monday (in prim senatorial tone). Mr. Crosby appeared confused and tuned endlessly.’

He proceeded with Joni Mitchell’s "For Fret" and a nice ranting version of Triad", a song he wrote for Grace Slick. Nash came back to solo with two tunes, and then Neil Young came shambling out in a filthy jean jacket, unshaven, with his hair falling long and greasy from under Bill Graham’s aged brown felt hat.

The crowd went bananas. The three-man team, with the band behind, did fine versions of "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" and "New Mama." Then the concert took its turn for the political.

CSNY always produced the best middle-of-the-road anthems of outrage and counter culture togetherness. The crowd of wholesome bright-eyed folks were ripe for a shot of nostalgic, self-congratulatory auto-hype, and the team were more than ready to oblige.

The set led off with a new Nash tune, with a Brecht-Weil ‘Those Were The Days’ sound. It was titled "Prison Song." Then David Crosby took the reins on "Almost Cut My Hair."

They moved to "Immigration Song", followed with "Long-Time Comin’" and brought the audience streaming to its feet with "Military Madness" before leaving the stage.

The crowd stuffed the darkened hall with a forest of lit matches, and stomped the group back for "Ohio", and sang along through "Chicago" in a stunning timeless reverie.

At this time it looks as though Crosby and Nash will continue to play together with Neil Young joining only occasionally. There seems a good chance that Stephen Stills may tour with Nash and Crosby, since his band Manassas has pretty much disbanded, with Chris Hillman and Al Perkins joining Richie Furay on a group venture for Asylum.

Stills is living in Mill Valley with his new wife, and is at present touring. Another venture is his career-spanning album of outtakes, titled "Stolen Stills".