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Concerts In Review:
Four Way Street -
Crosby, Stills , Nash & Young Let
Their Voice (and Freedom)
RIng at DTE
By Robert E. Martin
There was a time in the not so
distant past when Rock music started proving that not only did it have
the potential to change the world, but indeed possessed the
power to alter the political, cultural, and social climate as we
know it.
On the West Coast, bands like Buffalo
Springfield, The Grateful Dead, and Jefferson Airplane merged
the topical pleasures of psychedelic drugs and new notions of social &
sexual morality into a cultural phenomenon known as the Hippie movement,
while here in Michigan Iggy Pop and The MC5 were staking
their own unique ground by turning the volume up on the notion of
transforming the cultural parameters being redefined by the power of
rock music into political ones.
So it was more than the mere
entertainment factor that brought a sold-out crowd to The Palace of
Auburn Hills when legendary icons Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
visited Michigan on August 31st - it was the sense, which one could feel
in the air, that the last and most musically successful exponent of
Woodstock Nation was still standing intact, surviving death, drug
overdoses, and burnout; only now more determined than ever to prove that
through the strength of music, not only could they empower people with
the hope that the past was not lost, but inspire them to action
in terms of reclaiming and re-defining that hope for the future.
The Michigan appearance fell on the final
leg of their Freedom of Speech Tour and with good reason -
as they took to the stage for the first part of what turned out to be a
three-and-a-half hour set, it was apparent that CSNY were intent on not
only polishing edges of their group interaction, but emphasizing the
urgency of their message in the state that gave birth not only to the
UAW, but also the SDS. In short, they didn't want to pull any punches,
musically or topically.
Opening with Carry On from the
classic Déjà vu album, each of their voices displayed remarkable
harmonic clarity. With all four members playing guitar, accompanied by a
hired rhythm section, it was obvious that regardless of Crosby's liver
transplant, or any of the other ravages of age, those inimitable
harmonies that have resonated through the decades remained sharper &
fuller than the sound of bells sounding a clarion in the subtle embrace
of soft winds on a Spring day.
Moving through Wooden Ships and
Long Time Gone from the debut CSN album, while it seemed Neil
Young's signature guitar growl seemed more subdued, the interplay of
lead parts with Stills registered on almost a psychic scale, with each
guitarist reading the other's thoughts and trading off solos in a
seamless fashion.
Warmed-up through this opening medley of
'oldies', Graham Nash sat at the piano to kick off the opening strains
of Military Madness, a self-penned hit from his first '70's solo
album, changing the line 'I hope the world discoversŠwhat's driving the
people wild' to 'I hope George Bush discovers...' and upon conclusion
commenting, "I wrote that song 30 years ago thinking about my father and
we're still caught in this madness." At which point Young added, "But
we're more distorted than we used to be."
It was at this turn of the show that the
focus turned upon the overtly political and the band that penned such
anti-war anthems as Chicago (about the Chicago Seven Trial) and
Ohio (about the Kent State killings) proved their outrage wasn't
limited to the past.
Earlier this year Neil Young
released a new album entitled Living With War - a scathing
indictment of the War in Iraq, current environmental policies, and the
plaque of consumerism. Indeed, if not for this creative spark, the four
probably would not have toured together.
Nonetheless, ironies did abound at this
point.
With ticket prices ranging from $80.00 to
$350.00, it wasn't exactly like the group was courting the frayed
denizens of Woodstock Nation that freely allowed their 'freak flags to
fly'. Then again, maybe it's just the price of gas involved hauling 16
vans around.
Regardless, Young has said that today
American's don't protest, they blog. For him it's not enough. It's not
the way of the sixties. So rather than sit around and wait for someone
else to pick up the reins of the revolution, Young penned a series of
songs that pull no punches.
Beginning with the eco-friendly After
the Garden, which poses the question of where do people go after the
garden is gone, through Living With War, Shock & Awe and The
Restless Consumer, the ante was fully raised and it was obvious that
more was at stake than mere nostalgia.
With the band fully throttled and at full
amperage, Young went to work like a Rockstar Rapper with Meaning:
Way out in the desert sandsŠ.lies a desperate lover. They call her the Queen of OilŠ.So much to discover. Don't need no ad machineŠtelling me what I need Don't need no Madison Avenue War Don't need to more boxes I can't seeŠ Covered in flags but I can't see them on TV Don't need no terror squadŠ.Don't want no damned Jihad Don't need no more liesŠ. Having worked the audience into a frenzy, CSNY stepped back a bit to perform a few more classics like Almost Cut My Hair and Déjà vu before taking a brief break, returning to perform another 90 minute set including such timeless gems as Helplessly Hoping, Our House, and Only Love Can Break Your Heart, with Neil on the piano and the remainder of the band huddled around microphones for the beautifully rendered chorus.
Other highlights in this set consisted of
Crosby's Guinevere and Still's closet classic Treetop Flyer
(centered around the topic of drug smuggling).
However, it took until the encore for
things to really bust open in terms of audience escalation, as the group
opened with Young's vitriolic Let's Impeach the President. While
clips of G.W. Bush flashed on the overhead projection screen showing
various times of 'flip-flop' statements, Young pressed on, singing:
Let's Impeach the President for lyin' And misleading our country into War Abusing all the power that we gave himŠ And shipping all our money out the door. Who's the man who hired all the criminals? The White House shadows who hide behind closed doors They bend the facts to fit with their new story Of why we had to send our men to war. At this point, I thought I was in the middle of Grant Park circa 1968, as the crowd instantly divided into pro and anti Bush segments, half of the stadium cheering while those in the $350.00 seats stood up and started flashing the band the finger and booing, a bizarre concoction of vocal cheers and low-registered jeers. Rock 'n roll, indeed.
Followed by the Buffalo Springfield
classic, For What's It Worth, penned by Stills & Young back in
1967, the set closed with Chicago, Ohio and What Are Their
Names, As all four harmonized a cappella on Find the Cost of
Freedom, photos of U.S. combat fatalities since March 2003 appeared
on a screen behind them and were tallied on a running meter below until
it stopped at 2,557.
If boredom and predictability is a plague
that shrouds too many concert experiences, clouded by the bean counters
that comprise the bulk of the modern entertainment industry, CSNY proved
that apart from being able to shout as loudly as Bill O'Riiley,
while four aging millionaire hippies might not be able save their
country; their commitment to speak freely and hold true to ideals first
championed during the Vietnam War highlights how they don't have to
cultivate the compromise of harmless nostalgia, either.
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