"Let's impeach the president"

When it was announced that Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young were touring this summer and would play Jones Beach, I wasn't all that excited. See, one of my favorite albums as a kid was Four Way Street, and a couple years ago I decided to finally get a CD of the album which I hadn't listened to in years.

With the exception of a few tunes, especially Neil's acoustic stuff, I couldn't believe how bad it sounded. The harmonies were anything but, the lack of rehearsal time due to the animosity between Stills and Young was pretty obvious, and the two seemed to be in a contest to see who could play the most self-indulgent guitar solo.

But, when Living with War came out and it was obvious that Neil wouldn't be doing a tour of his own to promote it, and when it was announced they'd play The Theater at Madison Square Garden -- a great, relatively intimate venue -- I gulped and plunked down the $300 bucks for a pair of tix, hoping for the best.

After all, at any time any of the four...well, let's not go there*.

Graham Nash announced, when they took the stage Sunday night, that the audience had better have good babysitters (actually, I think there were quite a few granddads with their grandkids), 'cause they were going to be there for a long time, it set the stage.

They were fucking brilliant.

Although there were ample songs from Crosby and Nash as well as Steve Stills, it was definitely Neil's show. The backup band comprised his old friend Ben Keith, as well as Spooner Oldham, Rick Rosas, and Karl Himmel who, along with Keith, were on Prairie Wind and other Neil Young albums. I'm pretty sure Tommy Bray, the trumpeter on Living With War was playing the horn as well.

Yeah, they trotted out "Our House" and a few other sing-along-ables, but they played pretty much all of Living With War. Those songs brought a new relevance to not only the tour, but to the other songs, as well. Suddenly "Chicago" and "For What It's Worth" were biting, not old chestnuts on a reunion tour. The four were energized by them. And singing along with "Let's impeach the president" -- they thoughtfully scrolled the lyrics on the delightfully low-tech screen behind the stage -- was cathartic.

The harmonies? Perfect. The solos? Incredible. Including a finale (there was no encore, they were spent) of "Rockin' in the Free World" which must have cost Stills and Young a lot of finger tip skin and Neil's black Gibson all six strings (he just played with the feedback at the end).

An absolute blast. And with a definite purpose and message. Like the old days (days I could only experience after the fact, a few years later), only with musicians who've gotten better with age. And all of them practically vibrating with creative rage.

But what is it with Neil's fandom? Is there another Rock 'n Roll star with fans who less understand what he's doing on any tour promoting a new album? He seems to attract the biggest buffoons in the business (and Madame Cura and I, in turn, seem to act as a magnate to the worst of them at every show we go to ). Maybe Frank Zappa had as many obnoxious fans yelling "Shut up 'n play," but I'm not so sure. In Neil's case Sunday, this drunken asshole next to us kept jumping up and yelling "Yeah," and "We love you, man" with uncanny timing every time the lyrics Neil was singing were detailing some new horror in our current state of endless war. And, of course, the lout had to play ghost drums throughout the show. Phantom guitar is ok, it doesn't require that much swinging of the arms.

* With the exception of the still sprightly Graham Nash. Guy's still a Holly.

UPDATED to fix some egregious typos. And this is supposed to be the set list, but while similar, doesn't match my memory of the evening at all.