Crosby Stills Nash & Young ...

Rocks The World * 2/09/ Sacramento

....It was incredible a generous three-hour (plus intermission), 31-song show. Any doubts about the first Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young tour in 26 years were tossed aside minutes into Wednesday's night show at the Sacramento Arco Arena. CSNY2K show may not have been up to, say, the level of CSNY1970, but in some ways it was shockingly better. With CSNY -- better known as classic rock icons David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash and Neil Young -- on their first tour together in more than 25 years, one could've expected this bunch of fiftysomethings do as little work as possible. Perhaps a standard issue 90-minute performance heavy on nostalgia and light on anything that might appear relevant to the pop music landscape of the 21st century . While the evening was front-loaded with more than its fair share of golden oldies, this veritable all-star team of Rock and Roll Hall of Famers proved unwilling to rest completely on its laurels, serving up a spirited three-hour show that thrilled the near-sellout crowd. And left you wondering aimlessly that you just witness one of the finest shows of this Millennium.
..........They opened with ``Carry On,'' it was a apt choice. Considering the internal squabbles that quashed previous reunion attempts, CSNY appeared refreshingly at ease on stage. Backed by super sidemen Jim Keltner (drums) and Donald "Duck" Dunn (bass), the foursome launched into great harmony . ``CSNY2K,'' the tour was conceived to promote the new album ``Looking Forward'.' The hippie-for-life supergroup is bucking the odds with its current tour. Over the years the on-again, off-again classic rock cabinet meeting of David Crosby, Stills, Graham Nash and sometimes Neil Young has faced more adversity than a longhaired hitchhiker in a law-abiding hamlet. A dozen years after its last album together, several years after Crosby's liver transplant and a few months after a freak boating mishap late last year, that temporarily hobbled Nash with two broken legs. Celebrating his 58th birthday Wednesday, former Hollies mainstay Nash appeared fully recovered..
..........The show finally took on a life of its own with ``Almost Cut My Hair.'' With Crosby's evangelical zeal, and Stills and Young sparring with their guitars as if they were back in their Buffalo Springfield days, the moment was a special, and rare one, to witness. They worked with what they had, though, and built up steam as they rolled through ``49 Bye-Byes,'' and Crosby, Stills and Nash's first hit before Young came on board, ``Marrakesh Express.'' Even ``Faith In Me'' -- a new song with a calypso beat which could easily fit on a soundtrack of any latest movie. Nash's new song ``Heartland'' was as corny and at least as cliched as his domesticated ditty ``Our House,'' but it moved Crosby enough that he played a little air guitar as he sang. Midway through the show, the four took a 20-minute break and returned with their guitars unplugged and played ``Our House''.. Extreme ticket prices -- some as high as $200 -- kept this rare reunion from selling out.. The group could not have missed the irony of singing some of its freakier lyrics -- paranoia striking deep, Guinnevere drawing pentagrams, the radical politics of ``Ohio'' or ``For What It's Worth'' -- to the upscale audience. But CSNY's flip side is one of the most family-values-friendly in rock .
....The audience wanted was a reminder of its younger, wilder, more idealistic days, and the band obliged
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By Marcy Medeiros