CSN Still Looking Forward
Band begins first tour in five years tonight
"Déjà Vu" all over again
 Rolling Stone, August 13, 2001
 
A barefooted Graham Nash strolls across the well-warn carpet that has graced so many Crosby, Stills and Nash stages and loudly proclaims to anyone listening, "OK, we've got songs." At a rehearsal hall in Burbank, California, it's obvious that CSN do have plenty of great songs to run through while they prepare for their first major tour in five years. With the band back in place, they run through a new Nash rocker "Dirty Little Secret," which is about a little-known Southern race riot in the 1920's that still holds the record for the most casualties resulting from a racial incident in American history.

Stephen Stills begins the song on timbales, then switches over to an ancient Fender Strat for a bombastic, searing solo. The whole band (Mike Finnigan on organ, Joe Vitale on drums and Gerald Johnson on bass) is working like one gigantic instrument. As a rock & roll band, Crosby, Stills and Nash have never sounded better.

"Yeah, it's gonna be a good tour," says David Crosby, who is doing double duty fronting his own band, CPR, as well as his day job with CSN. CSN&Y had a big year in 2000, with their Looking Forward album and subsequent tour. To some extent, that experience has rubbed off on CSN today. "You know," continues Crosby, "it just gave it a little freshness again, because CSN&Y is a completely different band, a completely different chemistry. We [CSN] do different things; we do some of the same songs completely different. So, coming from that to this gives freshness to this. We got into a room together and dug in and played and looked at each other and got grins all over our faces. This is a rock & roll band; this is some serious stuff. And then we did a couple of acoustic things and they sounded really, really good. CSN has been a great band for a lot of years, and I think that we're getting to the point in our lives where we're grateful when we hear that real stuff happen, and we look up and say, 'Ah, thank you, thank you ­- somebody's being nice to us. The muse just came and sat on my shoulder again.'"

The muse that Crosby is talking about is in the room today, as the band effortlessly runs through a version of Stills' Latin-tinged rocker "Faith in Me" and a relaxed and vaguely countrified arrangement of Nash's evergreen "Marrakesh Express." Perhaps the most intense moment in the afternoon was an elongated version of Crosby's "Déjà Vu," which is so different from the 1969 version, replete with a neo-boogie middle section that gives Stills plenty of room to explore his jazz chops.

Aside from the CSN tour, Crosby has just released his second CPR studio album, Just Like Gravity on Gold Circle Records. Completely different from CSN, this project is more akin to Steely Dan being fronted by David Crosby. Much to Crosby's delight, CPR has taken up most of his time over the past three years, and their intense touring schedule has paid off on the new album. "The second record sounds much more like a band," Crosby says. "We're locked into who our bass player and drummer are [Andrew Ford and Steve DiStanislao, respectively], and they're exactly right for us. And they have solidified us in a sense, along with finding out more about getting the best out of each other."

During a break, Crosby strolls by with his young son Django in tow and looks over and smiles, "Am I the luckiest guy in the world? Yes, I am the luckiest guy in the world."

CSN tour dates:

8/13: Clarkston, MI, DTS Energy Music Theatre
8/14: Rosemont, IL, Rosemont Theatre
8/16: Burgettstown, PA, Post-Gazette Pavilion
8/17: Camden, NJ, Tweeter Center
8/19: Columbia, MD, Merriweather Post
8/20: Wallingford, CT, CTNOW.COM Oakdale Theater
8/22: Boston, FleetBoston Pavilion
8/23: Wantagh, NY, Jones Beach Ampitheatre
8/25: Saratoga Springs, NY, Saratoga Performing Arts Center
8/26: Hershey, PA, Hershey Park Star Pavillion
8/27: Holmdel, NJ, PNC Bank Arts Center
8/29: Virginia Beach, VA, Verizon Virginia Beach Amphitheatre
8/30: Raleigh, Alltel Pavillion 9/1: Birmingham, Mountain Amphitheatre
9/2: Atlanta, Chastain Park Amphitheatre
9/4: Selma, TX, Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
9/5: The Woodlands, TX, Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
9/7: Austin, The Backyard
9/8: Dallas, Smirnoff Music Centre
9/11: Denver, The Fillmore Auditorium
9/12: Albuquerque, The Journal Pavilion Amphitheatre
9/14: San Diego, The Navy Pier
9/16: Los Angeles, The Greek Theatre
9/17: Saratoga, CA, Montalvo Center for the Arts
9/19: Concord, CA, Chronicle Pavillion
9/21: Seattle, The Gorge
9/22: Eugene, OR, Hult Center for Performing Arts