CSN: Live at Saratoga

SARATOGA SPRINGS - The man looked like to be in his 50s.
He was wearing blue jeans, a neatly pressed shirt, and he was standing among 4,000
music fans inside the pavilion of the Saratoga Performing Arts Center.

Just then, Crosby, Stills and Nash were about to take the stage.

“This is weird,” he said to nobody in particular.
“What’s weird,” I asked him.
“I don’t see anyone here I recognize. A lot of the people I used to hang
out with, they probably didn’t make it out of the ‘60s alive.”

Just then, Graham Nash walked to center stage. Flanked by band mates David
Crosby, Stephen Stills, Nash began strumming the lazy rhythms of the set
opener, “Carry On.”
When the man-who-recognized-no-one heard the distinctive chords flowing out Graham Nash's guitar, he turned, faced the stage, and watched the musicians performing together like an old family of friends.

In the gold and scarlet hues of the simple but effective lights, CSN performed two sets and a trio of encores in a set that lasted 2-1/2 hours long. More than half were from the trio’s 1969 self-titled debut and its follow-up “Déjà vu” after the three added Neil Young.

Once a call to action, the songs today, more that 30 years later, lend themselves more to a summer party, a gathering of friends and a celebration of existence for those who did make it out of the ‘60s.

Barefooted and dressed in black, Nash strummed and vocalized throughout, blowing harmonica on the song “Déjà vu,” and pounding they keyboards for the intense “Cathedral.” A group hug-fest broke out after the performance of “Our House.”

Crosby – looking every part the rock ‘n’ roll walrus – showcased a voice strong as it has ever been.
He added color to “Marrakesh Express” and “Immigration Man,” and harassed his 12-string guitar for the tune “Wooden Ships.”

Crosby’s acoustic fingers highlighted the songs “Lee Shore,” and “Guinnevere,” and was the most talkative of the three with his in-between song banter.

“We never play a song the same way twice,” he explained.
“It’s not because we’re jazz guys or anything – we just can’t remember the way we
played it before.”

Stills meanwhile, appeared to be going for a “Miami Vice” meets “Hawaii Five-O” look with a colorful top, over khaki shorts and brown loafers, proving that if his fashion sense left something to be desired, he is still one of rock’s great guitarists.

He strapped on a cherry red Flying V guitar and soared through “Military Madness,” belted a grovel-voiced “For What It’s Worth,’ and seared through songs “Dark Star” and “Southern Cross,” and delivered a chilling guitar duet with Crosby during an emotionally charged “Almost
Cut My Hair.”

A trio of encored included a version of “My Country ‘Tis of Thee,” the raucous hair-rising racket of “Woodstock” and the show-ending sing-a-long inspired by “Teach your Children,” which
sent the crowd filing out stopping momentarily to pause at the backstage area and get a glimpse of the funky, two-tone touring bus that had “Peacemaker” stenciled simply across its front, with its engine rumbling, ready to roll into another town.

by Thomas Dimopoulos
originally published in The Saratogian, Aug. 27, 2003.