"Wasted
Time Slow spots undoing of CSN&Y reunion"
By Thor Christensen
The Dallas Morning News
03/08/2000
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's reunion show Tuesday night at Reunion Arena was much
like the off-and-on history of the band itself: For every brilliant convergence, you
had to suffer through long stretches where not much was going on.
With Neil Young touring onstage with the band for the first time since 1974, the
reunion was indeed "a long time coming" - to borrow a phrase from one of the
show's better songs, "Long Time Gone." But it also felt as if the four were
making up for all the lost time by playing every song they'd ever written.
The result was a bloated three-hour concert which saw some fans bolting during the
hourlong midshow acoustic set. A big part of the problem was CSN&Y's decision to play
three-fourths of Looking Forward, its mostly forgettable 1999 reunion CD.
"It's not that we don't like the old songs," David Crosby told the
near-capacity crowd at one point. "It's that the new songs keep us alive."
But there wasn't much vitality to be found in sugary new tunes such as Graham Nash's
"Heartland" or Stephen Stills' "Seen Enough" - a none-too-subtle
rewrite of Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues." And while recent tours by
Crosby, Stills & Nash have been notable for their pristine harmonies, the addition of
Mr. Young seemed to mess up the vocal mix.
Mr. Stills was particularly hit-and-miss all night, mangling the show-opening
"Carry On." When the inevitable CSN&Y reunion-tour live CD comes out, don't
expect to find any songs from this show.
The most stirring harmonies didn't arrive during band staples such as
"Guinnevere" (which came off as overly precious and dated) or "Teach Your
Children," but instead during a pair of Mr. Young's tunes: ''After the Gold
Rush," featuring the song's author on pipe organ, and "Old Man."
In fact, the bulk of the show's high points came during songs from Mr. Young's own
records ("Cinnamon Girl," "Southern Man") and whenever he unleashed
one of his great distorted guitar solos, like in "Almost Cut My Hair." As nice
as it was to see Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young back together after all these years, it
would have been nicer just to see Mr. Young and Crazy Horse rocking out on their own.
