If you watched American Idol ,(in my home you have little alternative) as I occasionally did, you may recall seeing Graham Nash perform an acoustic duet with the cute little blond girl who looks like Nancy Travis. She lost (I don't remember -already- who won), but the rendition of "Teach Your Children" started a chain of events.I decided that if Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young were touring, I was going to see them. Again. Their website said they were launching a tour in June, starting on the west coast and heading across the country over eight or ten weeks.
The Chicago date said "Radio Show", no location or time. Just "Radio Show". No other information. I did more research and came up empty as far as the Chicago show.
No problem, they were headed for South Bend after Chicago, a manageable hour and a half drive.
Problem. South Bend was already sold out. Back to the schedule I went, finding a concert date at a casino in Iowa. No problem, just a little longer drive in the other direction.
Problem. The casino is on the west side of Iowa, the side that borders Nevada or the Phillipines or whatever. Check the schedule again.
Minneapolis. Pass, no comment.
Then, a ray of light. The Chicago show was to be a private concert at the Rosemont Theatre, sponsored by FM radio station WDRV 97.1, a 7th birthday party the station was throwing for itself. They hired Crosby, Stills & Nash (Young is doing something in Holland, the wooden shoe and windmills Holland, not the one in Michigan) and they were giving away all the tickets!
Knock me over with a feather, I won a pair of tickets.
The show was terrific. CSN has re-tempo'd a few songs, slowing them down to be a little more perform-able for guys who are 39 years removed from their first Chicago appearance. The revisions work just fine. There was a wedding bouquet of music: some things old, some things new, a few songs borrowed and a little bit of Steven Stills blues guitar.
CSN is still, 40+ years after they started, embracing politics in their music. More striking is that some of their music is relevant again. Not still relevant, but relevant again. When Nash started wailing about "Military Madness", there was a discernable emotional response from the audience. A few hollered in support, many seemed uncertain as to whether this was an acceptable reaction, at least one started hollering his objection to the message.
The pro-peace, anti-war, anti-administration message gained acceptance and support from the audience as it was played up for a stretch of a few songs plus some banter from the band. They moved on into another segment, but CSN had made their statement, just as they always have.
The show was wonderful. I'm a big CSN fan and I had my fill. I've now seen them at the Chicago Stadium, the United Center and this most recent, more intimate performance. The audience was decidedly middle aged, happier to sit and listen than to stand and interact.
The lingering sentiment, aside from the "I love their music" feeling, is that we are in a different day. Politics and music aren't interwoven very frequently, and nobody seems to get very excited about the things that used to make us very excited. Read about GenX, GenY and whatever follows and you read about people who are into getting everything for themselves and getting it right now. The Boomers, by comparison, sang and spoke and acted upon everything that mattered to the group. Seems that very little of that migrated to the successors.
Teach your children.
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