Crosby, Stills & Nash at the Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall, 3 July 2010
Almost a year to the day that I first saw Crosby, Stills & Nash in the suitably magnificent setting of the Royal Albert Hall, I was back in the same place to see them again. This time I didn’t have quite as impressive seats (last time I was practically at the front), but was pleasantly surprised to find I was still quite near the stage but in the side stalls this time. I always forget just what an incredibly beautiful place the Royal Albert Hall is and how perfectly designed it is as a music venue, and to be fair I imagine no matter where you were sitting you would get a good view. But I must admit it is nice to be fairly close to your heroes where you can even hear their off-microphone banter on stage (my favourite being when Crosby responded to requests from the crowd saying “I’ll do all the ones I can remember” playing on his notorious drug-fuelled reputation and earning a huge laugh, to which Stills, off mike, pointed to Crosby’s tele-prompter and said “But you have that!”) .
Having arrived late last time, I was hugely thankful I was there on time for this show because the iconic trio launched the night with a blistering version of Joni Mitchell’s Woodstock. Whereas last time they had started things acoustically and then halfway through turned on the electric guitars, this time it was a full on electric assault from the start and it was absolutely glorious. As if they knew I had been playing Graham Nash’s underrated solo classic, Songs For Beginners, over and over lately, they went straight into a beautifully energetic Military Madness, with a barefooted, silver-headed Nash bouncing around like a man half his age, and of course his famous CSN train song Marrakesh Express, the tune that made him quit The Hollies.
Although CSN are best known for their perfect harmonies, one of the joys of seeing them live is experiencing Stephen Stills in action. Seeing him rock out on his guitar, surely one of the best guitarists I’ve ever seen, turned me from a casual fan into a major one last year and left me seriously regretting missing out on seeing him solo the previous year (annoyingly I had been considering it right up until the last minute). He may not look like the slim, beautiful, golden-haired rock god of his youth but this time at least he was looking slimmer and a lot healthier, which was good to see after his health scares a couple of years back. The electric section of the show really is his forte and this was particularly evident on songs like Long Time Gone, the Buffalo Springfield classic Bluebird (complete with awesome long guitar break – what I would give to see Stephen and Neil Young in one of their legendary guitar duels on this) and the great Southern Cross, one of Stills' best latter day songs which I think, live at least, is on par with his most classic material.
There was also a new song from Graham which was surprisingly good, a political anti-war song (of course) called In Your Name - a plea to the Almighty about all the fighting done in the name of religion - but one of the highlights of the night came next when Crosby told us “Every tour we have a huge discussion about which song of the tall, skinny Canadian we’re going to do”. It turned out to be Neil’s ode to his old, beloved hearse Mort, Long May You Run, with Stephen taking lead vocals, and it was so beautifully, warmly sung by the threesome I had tears in my eyes, it was that good and a lovely nod to their old friend (and my favourite singer).
While Stephen was the star of the first half (he was truly thrilling to hear and watch), of course the laid back, cutely round and smiling Crosby got to shine on an amazing duo of two of his best songs, Deja Vu and Wooden Ships, which ended the first part of the show. I must admit I kind of wish they had kept going because when they returned for the acoustic portion, I felt the show stalled a little, particularly as Stills went missing for quite a lot of it. I did finally get to hear the trio sing one of Stephen’s most beautiful songs, Helplessly Hoping (which I missed last time) and like last year’s show they previewed some songs from their forthcoming Rick Rubin-produced covers record. Of these, probably The Beatles cover Norwegian Wood (nicely dedicated to George Harrison) got the biggest and best reaction but the others sounded pretty good too: Ruby Tuesday, Girl From North Country and The Allman Brothers’ Midnight Rider. With Stills doing his disappearing act, Crosby did a haunting version of Guinnevere, a song he said he had never done the same twice on account of never remembering how he did it last time and the less known but poignant Delta, sung for Jackson Browne who was in the audience and who had apparently urged Crosby to complete it during his dark days at the beginning of the 80s.
After a crowd-pleasing couple of Nash numbers, Our House and Cathedral, which was sweetly dedicated to Graham’s sister who was in the audience (the guy next to me was particularly taken with this one, amusingly exclaiming “that was fantastic!”), there was another cover that also proved a pleasant surprise, The Who’s Behind Blue Eyes. Who knew it would work so well with CSN’s trademark triple harmonies, but it really did, soaring and powerful throughout. Whoever’s idea it was the cover the song (hopefully on the new record), should be congratulated on that suggestion. After another dose of Buffalo Springfield from a rocking Stephen (one of my faves, Rock & Roll Woman), the show ended on a roof raising Almost Cut My Hair, with Crosby’s voice sounding just amazing, and surely as good as it did 40 years ago. A guy in front of me (who looked like a 50-something accountant) obviously agreed, punching the air throughout and jumping excitedly up and down. I had to stop myself laughing at the sight but it was nice to see someone enjoying themselves so much (even if he then looked completely disappointed and bored at the encore for some reason).
Other than the Neil Young cover, the best moment came in the encore when Stephen broke out his most famous solo track, Love The One You’re With, which had most of the audience on their feet and singing along. Looking around at the crowd during this number was heart-warming, seeing all-ages full of energy and excitement. Finally, Graham didn’t forget how much I love his solo album because, whereas other shows had finished with Teach Your Children (as did the gig last year), instead I was far happier to hear an exhilarating version of Chicago (We Can Change The World).
In short: an absolutely breathtakingly brilliant gig, all the more amazing for their ages (they are all in their 60s now), and one of the best I’ve been to this year.
Having arrived late last time, I was hugely thankful I was there on time for this show because the iconic trio launched the night with a blistering version of Joni Mitchell’s Woodstock. Whereas last time they had started things acoustically and then halfway through turned on the electric guitars, this time it was a full on electric assault from the start and it was absolutely glorious. As if they knew I had been playing Graham Nash’s underrated solo classic, Songs For Beginners, over and over lately, they went straight into a beautifully energetic Military Madness, with a barefooted, silver-headed Nash bouncing around like a man half his age, and of course his famous CSN train song Marrakesh Express, the tune that made him quit The Hollies.
Although CSN are best known for their perfect harmonies, one of the joys of seeing them live is experiencing Stephen Stills in action. Seeing him rock out on his guitar, surely one of the best guitarists I’ve ever seen, turned me from a casual fan into a major one last year and left me seriously regretting missing out on seeing him solo the previous year (annoyingly I had been considering it right up until the last minute). He may not look like the slim, beautiful, golden-haired rock god of his youth but this time at least he was looking slimmer and a lot healthier, which was good to see after his health scares a couple of years back. The electric section of the show really is his forte and this was particularly evident on songs like Long Time Gone, the Buffalo Springfield classic Bluebird (complete with awesome long guitar break – what I would give to see Stephen and Neil Young in one of their legendary guitar duels on this) and the great Southern Cross, one of Stills' best latter day songs which I think, live at least, is on par with his most classic material.
There was also a new song from Graham which was surprisingly good, a political anti-war song (of course) called In Your Name - a plea to the Almighty about all the fighting done in the name of religion - but one of the highlights of the night came next when Crosby told us “Every tour we have a huge discussion about which song of the tall, skinny Canadian we’re going to do”. It turned out to be Neil’s ode to his old, beloved hearse Mort, Long May You Run, with Stephen taking lead vocals, and it was so beautifully, warmly sung by the threesome I had tears in my eyes, it was that good and a lovely nod to their old friend (and my favourite singer).
While Stephen was the star of the first half (he was truly thrilling to hear and watch), of course the laid back, cutely round and smiling Crosby got to shine on an amazing duo of two of his best songs, Deja Vu and Wooden Ships, which ended the first part of the show. I must admit I kind of wish they had kept going because when they returned for the acoustic portion, I felt the show stalled a little, particularly as Stills went missing for quite a lot of it. I did finally get to hear the trio sing one of Stephen’s most beautiful songs, Helplessly Hoping (which I missed last time) and like last year’s show they previewed some songs from their forthcoming Rick Rubin-produced covers record. Of these, probably The Beatles cover Norwegian Wood (nicely dedicated to George Harrison) got the biggest and best reaction but the others sounded pretty good too: Ruby Tuesday, Girl From North Country and The Allman Brothers’ Midnight Rider. With Stills doing his disappearing act, Crosby did a haunting version of Guinnevere, a song he said he had never done the same twice on account of never remembering how he did it last time and the less known but poignant Delta, sung for Jackson Browne who was in the audience and who had apparently urged Crosby to complete it during his dark days at the beginning of the 80s.
After a crowd-pleasing couple of Nash numbers, Our House and Cathedral, which was sweetly dedicated to Graham’s sister who was in the audience (the guy next to me was particularly taken with this one, amusingly exclaiming “that was fantastic!”), there was another cover that also proved a pleasant surprise, The Who’s Behind Blue Eyes. Who knew it would work so well with CSN’s trademark triple harmonies, but it really did, soaring and powerful throughout. Whoever’s idea it was the cover the song (hopefully on the new record), should be congratulated on that suggestion. After another dose of Buffalo Springfield from a rocking Stephen (one of my faves, Rock & Roll Woman), the show ended on a roof raising Almost Cut My Hair, with Crosby’s voice sounding just amazing, and surely as good as it did 40 years ago. A guy in front of me (who looked like a 50-something accountant) obviously agreed, punching the air throughout and jumping excitedly up and down. I had to stop myself laughing at the sight but it was nice to see someone enjoying themselves so much (even if he then looked completely disappointed and bored at the encore for some reason).
Other than the Neil Young cover, the best moment came in the encore when Stephen broke out his most famous solo track, Love The One You’re With, which had most of the audience on their feet and singing along. Looking around at the crowd during this number was heart-warming, seeing all-ages full of energy and excitement. Finally, Graham didn’t forget how much I love his solo album because, whereas other shows had finished with Teach Your Children (as did the gig last year), instead I was far happier to hear an exhilarating version of Chicago (We Can Change The World).
In short: an absolutely breathtakingly brilliant gig, all the more amazing for their ages (they are all in their 60s now), and one of the best I’ve been to this year.
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