CROSBY STILLS NASH YOUNG
TOUR OF AMERICA
San Diego Sports Arena
San Diego CA, 3/27/02

First Set ------------------------------------ Carry On/Questions Military Madness Goin' Home Wooden Ships Feed The People You're My Girl I Used To Be A King Down By The River 49 Bye-Byes Almost Cut My Hair Cinnamon Girl Second Set ------------------------------------ Helplessly Hoping Our House Old Man Guinnevere The Lee Shore Harvest Moon Old Man Trouble Half Your Angels Suite: Judy Blue Eyes [7th Inning Stretch] Let's Roll Long Time Gone Two Old Friends Woodstock Rockin' In The Free World Encore ------------------------------------ Long May You Run Teach Your Children HyperRust Reviews

CSN&Y: Still solid after all these years A powerful set from a power group By George Varga POP MUSIC CRITIC March 29, 2002 Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young had been on stage for more than 21/2 hours when Neil Young extended a playful invitation to the cheering audience of almost 9,000 Wednesday night at the San Diego Sports Arena. "Now it's time for our exclusive time-machine feature," he said, just before he and his bandmates ripped into a heady version of Joni Mitchell's "Woodstock" that soared from start to finish. Young's time-machine statement was especially apt given the vigor and passion that he and his reunited colleagues brought to a song they first performed more than 30 years ago. But their triumphant, three-hour concert was vibrant enough to be much more than a mere nostalgia fest. New songs, such as Young's tenderly yearning "Two Old Friends" and Stephen Stills' reggae-tinged "Feed the People," sounded like welcome chestnuts. Vintage favorites – such as "Long Time Gone," "Helplessly Hoping" and the concert-concluding "Teach Your Children" – were so fresh they could have been written last week. And nearly every selection was performed with purpose and commitment – even if the keys to some songs were lowered, such as Young's "Rockin' in the Free World" (which was dropped from E to D), to make them easier to sing. Yes, ticket prices were high ($43.50 to $154 per seat, plus service charges). But Young, Stills, David Crosby and Graham Nash worked hard for their money, rather than rest on their rock-legend laurels. Instead, they warmly interacted as musical equals – in contrast with the quartet's 2000 reunion tour, which was dominated by Young. This time around, his three compadres easily rose to his lofty level, rather than hustling to keep up. Equally notable were the vocals of the usually pitch-challenged Stills, who sang with strength and clarity. The two-part concert began nearly 45 minutes late with "Carry On," the opening track from CSNY's epic 1970 album, "Deja Vu." Its hippie-ish lyrics about rejoicing at the dawn of a new day might have seemed quaint or laughable if not for the bracing force with which the group delivered them. Likewise, the messages of such Vietnam War-era songs as Nash's "Military Madness" and Crosby's "Long Time Gone" seemed timely again. Young's latest budding anthem, the Sept. 11-inspired, anti- terrorist broadside "Let's Roll," served as a potent bookend to his 1970 anti-war anthem "Ohio," and Nash's ode to the Oklahoma City bombing victims, "Half Your Angels," took on new poignancy. The concert kicked into high-gear with a stirring version of Young's "Down by the River," which found him performing two guitar solos. The first was relatively understated. The second squealed and roared from the opening volley on, then led into some blistering instrumental exchanges between Young and Stills. That level of intensity was sustained on the next three selections, Stills' "49 Bye-byes," Crosby's "Almost Cut My Hair" and Young's "Cinnamon Girl," a 1969 gem that remains a marvel of undiminished power and simplicity. The second set featured a series of acoustic favorites, including Nash's "Our House," Crosby's jazzy "Guinnevere," and Young's earthy "Old Man" and lilting "Harvest Moon." Stills gave his best vocal performance of the night on "Old Man Trouble," a potent, blues-tinged song by Booker T. Jones, whose trio, Booker T. & The MG's, served as CSNY's ace rhythm section. It was preceded by an amusing exchange between Stills and Young, after the former recalled how the two had performed a Sports Arena show about 35 years ago with Buffalo Springfield, on a bill that also included the Seeds and, as Young put it, "20 other bands." "We had more teeny-boppers than you could shake a stick at," Young said. "And," Stills said alluding to the many baby boomers in attendance, "they're still here." George Varga can be reached by phone, (619) 293-2253; e-mail, george.varga@uniontrib.com; and mail, San Diego Union-Tribune, P.O. Box 120191, San Diego, 92112.