Woodstock Comes To Cleveland

Tuesday night the Woodstock nation came to Cleveland. Okay it has been over 40 years since the Woodstock nation was at it’s zenith but looking at the crowd at the Time Warner Amphitheatre you might have stepped back in time as a huge crowd welcomed Crosby, Stills And Nash back to Cleveland.

It’s been awhile since I last saw them perform and I have to admit I was little worried about going to the show, that afternoon I almost talked myself out of it. C’mon a good scotch gets better with age, fine wines and chesses also but almost 70 year old voices….. especially voices that are as well known for it harmonies….. well that doesn't usually end well.

The verdict, I am glad I didn’t talk myself out of going and missing a great night of music.

It’s nice to go to a show and when the house lights go down the headliner knocks it out of the park with the very first song and that’s exactly what CSN did as they launched into “Woodstock”. For the next two plus hours the audience were treated to one of the iconic musical histories entrenched with idealism that stretched from Laurel Canyon to Woodstock.

“Long Time Gone”. “Southern Cross”, “Just A Song Before I Go”, “Déjà Vu”, “Wooden Ships” and that was just a part of the first set. How about throw in the beautiful Buffalo Springfield song “Bluebird” and you knew you were in for a great night of memories.

The voices, they still have it. The harmonies as always were beautiful but the strength they showed when they took the lead, was at times surprising. David Crosby showed that strength when he belted, and I mean belted out “I Almost Cut My Hair” you would have thought he was twenty years old again and rallying against the establishment! Don’t get me wrong there was a couple of rough spots especially when a moth flew into Stephen Stills mouth when he was singing Neil Young’s classic “Long May You Run” and he must have swallowed it as his voice broke a little through the song. The one thing that really stuck with me throughout the night was how good a guitarist Stills really is. He might be one of the most overlooked lead guitarist of rock and roll.

One of the only complaints, if you can call it a complaint is instead of the covers of other bands great songs they included in the second set is they left out some of their best songs. Granted hearing them do the Beatles “Norwegian Wood” and the Rolling Stones “Ruby Tuesday” (maybe better than the original?) was nice but I would have rather had them do their own great songs. Something like Stephen Stills great “Change Partners” and “Treetop Flyer” or throw in something from the The Byrds or how about just “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes”, “Marrakesh Express”, “Guinnevere” or “Wasted On The Way”. With so much in their repertoire I didn’t need them to play The Who’s “Behind Blue Eyes” but that again is a small complaint.

In all, It was a night of great music from three guys that at one time helped define a generation and still all these years later can still inspire me.