father_time
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7/10/2006 3:47:06 PM
---- Updated 7/10/2006 3:48:29 PM
2006 CSNY Tour - How to make music that matters
I was at the first show on the tour, it was highly memorable. One thing sticks with me as one of the greatest concert moments of my lifetime. The way the crowd responded and sang along to Let's Impeach the President. It was truly surreal. The last segment of the show was just amazing. They brought on the giant microphone prop (I think it started in the Rust Never Sleeps era), wrapped a yellow ribbon around it and ended with a bunch of the most important message songs ever written.
Find the Cost of Freedom
During this song they had a counter ticking off all the Americans who have died in Iraq along with many pictures of them, it counted down the full length of the song, very intense.
Let's Impeach the President
The words were up on the screen. The crowd was so into it. The song sounded so much fuller with the voices of CSN behind it.
then it was Buffalo Springfield's For What it's Worth (a funky version), Nash's Chicago, Ohio, an acupelo What are their Names, Lookin for a Leader (from Neils new Living With War)
Walkin' among our people
There's someone who's straight and strong
To lead us from desolation
And a broken world gone wrong
Someone walks among us
And I hope he hears the call
And maybe it's a woman
Or a black man after all
and ..
a 15 minute phenomenal version of Deja Vu !!
A lot of people in their 20s refer to CSNY as old hippies but they are more vital as artists right now than they were in their so-called heydays. I have many bootleg tapes of them from this era and there is no denying their music is more powerful now.
I find it interesting that Neil and Pete Townshend are the best spokesmen for THIS generation of rock music too.
About the rest of the show, well, they played over 3 hours. Played a bunch of hits scattered around. Harmonies were unbelievable. Helplessly Hoping, well, it's music of the gods, something that could never be touched by electronic harmonizers of today. Guenevere, well I've heard David and Graham sing this live probably 50 times and I seem to love it more every time. It was great that the band did Immigration Man, a song that couldn't be more timely, although Stills needs to get his lead guitar playing up to snuff on that but it was the first night of the tour.
True artists who only play exactly what they want to play, CSNY in their first set played about a dozen songs in a row that had to be brand new to their audience after getting them warmed up with a great long version of Wooden Ships, and Woodstock. Living With War was played pretty much in its entirety and sounded much better with CSN voices. Most of the songs on it got a great reaction from the crowd, like Shock and Awe for instance. In many respects CSN is more of a backup band to Neil these days. But it becomes possible because Neil is also the ultimate team player, was out on the stage on many numbers just playing guitar or harmonica.
I told you already about the last segment, but the first set was entirely songs that spoke about the present day in politics and the world - though some of them were written in the 60s. Which is what made Deja Vu such a fitting ending to the concert. Neil called the tour CSNY soapbox 2006. It was that and I gotta say if you put together what they did it was probably the most comprehensive package of message songs ever delivered by any act in the history of music. It made me question myself what my commitment is to America, and just how strongly I am against the US politics of war. What these 4 guys did out there was awe inspiring, could never be matched by anybody, and I suppose what's most disturbing is that in that arena, what the throngs experienced, in context of the current atmosphere of helplessness, it was almost an isolated incident of passion about a lot of things that matter a lot.
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fwiw the concert inspired me to put together a station of FT songs that pack a punch. Check it
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