Friday, July 28, 2006

woodstock nation, revisited


last weekend s.a. and i went to tahoe to decompress for a few days... and to see crosby, stills, nash and young. the only reason i really wanted to go was to see neil young, s.a. just wanted to go. i was blown away by how good these guys still are. of course, there were some missed high-notes and the boys look a lil worse for wear, but they sure can rock. and they still make a point...

during the course of the two-set, three hour show almost everything important that this band, and it's members, has done in the past 40 years was played. neil's new record, 'living with war' seemed to highlight the festivities with the cut 'flags of freedom' kicking it all off and the rest of the album scattered through the sets. that was quite fitting seeing as neil's scathing sonic indictment against bush and company is keeping up their fight against injustice and the 'man'. only the new stuff is dark and saddeningly nasty in it's delivery. none of the passion was lost in translation with the others joining in. it may have tempered it, made it easier on the ears with 4-part harmony, but it was a bush bashing kinda evening overall.



i knew that going in, as should of the rest of the crowd. as usual a few couldn't, got mad during 'let's impeach the president', and showered the stage with assorted debris... to show their love of king and country i suppose (what part of 'csny' spells neo-con, right-wing, stem-cell savin', war-monger bigot?). the band just played on as clips of king george's blunders flickered across the massive backdrop. so much for the 'freedom of speech' as the name of the tour.

other than that the band put on an amazing show. the bit where neil and stephen gigged on 'treetop flyer', or when graham jumped on the beat-up pianny while the other three stood along side singing 'our house' and the unreal guitar shoot-out between neil and stephen for 'de ja vu'. david was even up and about, laughing and singing like an angel. it warms my heart to know this man is america's most famous sperm donor.
all in all a great time was had by the majority. enuff sed...

oh yeah, there was this bit where they left the stage and the star spangled banner by hendix played, loud. almost everyone stood and was singing along, i think that was my favorite part, next to the rest of it.






July 22, 2006
Stateline, NV: Harvey's Outdoor Amphitheatre

Set 1
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
18. GUINIVERE
19. MILKY WAY
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
28. HENDRIX
29. LET’S IMPEACH THE PRESIDENT
30. FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH
31. CHICAGO
32. OHIO
33. WHAT ARE THEIR NAMES
34. ROCKIN IN THE FREE WORLD

Encore 1
35. LOVE THE ONE YOU’RE WITH




a few all-american songs for america in these good ol' days,
by the all-american band (the beach boys don't count)
in mp3 on a limited time offer:

csny (in better days):
sea of madness (woodstock)
wooden ships (woodstock)
marrakesh express (woodstock)
suite:judy blue eyes (woodstock)

neil (these days):
after the garden
the restless consumer
living with war
let's impeach the president

(pics by s.a. copyrite amerika)

5 comments:

Laurie said...

That sounds great!!! I love CSNY but you probably knew that already.

sleepybomb said...

i kinda figured as much, you'da had a blast. they really looked like they were enjoying themselves and it got the whole place rockin'. .

mister anchovy said...

they played Toronto recently as well, but we had free tickets for the Bonnie Rait show same night, and well free tickets are, well, free.....

sonicfrog said...

Hey Sleepy...

Long time no visit. Been busy doing uninteresting stuff. I haven't blogged too much in the last few months, a direct result of the uninteresting stuff filling my life. Oh well.

I saw CSN (no Y) in the early 90's. They were really good, and I didn't realize what a talent S is on guitar. N seemed to have a hard time with his pitch that evening. Gee, never happened to me :-).

Well, CPG has come to an end, officially. Yes, I know I left the band, but it never left me. they never found a permanent replacement bass play player, so I still played when they had a gig. It was a great ride and tons of fun. But it's time to move on. I have a couple of music related posts on my blog you might enjoy.

Avram Mirsky said...

Sleepy,

I'm jealous - just missed CSNY down here cause I was in Chicago. Loved the video and the commentary.

Avram