There was an excited murmur in the air at the Palais Theatre this past Friday night as lifelong fans of Crosby, Stills and Nash settled into their seats. Not too soon after the lights dimmed and Graham Nash came on stage. A serious tone to his voice he explained down-heartedly that David Crosby had lost his voice after their gig the night before. Fearing the worst, the audience was quickly abated, Crosby would indeed be on stage, he just couldn’t sing, and in fact the trio and backing band had done a bit of a set mix around to make sure it was still going to be a great night, which it was.
The band got off to a great start, second song ‘Marrakesh Express’ was greeted warmly by the crowd, though it was apparent that Stills and Nash lacked the melody that Crosby brings. If this was an issue though, no one in the audience seemed to mind. What was invaluable about the gig was the stories and introductions made before each song. Steve Stills introduced song ‘Southern Cross’, apparently about Crosby coming back from an overseas trip back in the day and Stills being so jealous he wrote a song about it.
‘Military Madness’ was introduced by Nash with a definite note of contempt in his voice, ‘I wrote this song 45 years ago about my father going off to fight in World War Two, and we still haven’t learned.’ The three men played with the same passion they spoke with, Nash in bare feet, playing as comfortably as if he was in his own living room (the homey feel complemented by the three large Persian rugs on stage).
A new song was played, ‘I’m Almost Gone,’ to much delight from the audience and Crosby, obviously sad, hoarsely whispered into the microphone, ‘I want to sing for you so bad, it’s making me crazy.’ The crowd called out sympathies and clapped in appreciation before Nash jokingly pointed out, ‘I hate to break it to you but you are already crazy.’
Stills sang solo (a song about Judy Collins) and then it was time for interval (much too quickly), but before everyone could rush off Nash reminded them that, ‘It’s very hard to make a dollar, and you’re all here, God bless you.’ Talk about putting things into perspective, many people shuffled off to the lobby with a smile on their face.
The show’s second half was a welcome slower tempo and the bad echoes had been fixed that had a few people sticking their fingers in their ears in the first half. Steven Stills took up an acoustic guitar and treated the audience to a beautiful rendition of ‘Girl From The North Country,’ as slow and heartfelt as a howl. Then the lights darkened and a purplish glow filled the theatre and organ music played like an oncoming Apocalypse; it could only be the thought provoking ‘Cathedral’ which left everyone with tingles, most likely why everybody was so happy to sing along to the cheerful ‘Our House’ afterwards. More laughs as Nash jokingly asked, ‘Why do they call us a political band?’ and Crosby it seems knew the answer.
‘Love The One You’re With’ ended with a standing ovation as the band walked off stage, only to return with crowd favourites ‘Woodstock’ and ‘Teach The Children Well.’ When the audience came in on the last chorus of the latter song you could tell by the look on Crosby, Stills and Nash’s face that the lack of peace on Earth was still as much a mystery to them as when they began playing to promote it.
– Hannah Joyner
