| | 12:07 AM - CSNY: them old dudes can rock out! I'm in Toronto, Canada with my parents, staying at the Royal Canadian Military Institute (don't ask, for I have no answers for ye). Tonight we went to the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young concert at the Air Canada Center (corporate sponsorship, here we come)--this show is what inspired my mom to suggest that we travel to Toronto in the first place.
The guys walked on stage at 7:46 PM and left at 10:01, only having had a 15 minute break. That's right--three hours of music. I got to hear some of my very favorites, including the song that always brings me back to the beach of Uruguay during our NYU in Bs. As. trip, "Southern Cross." That was definitely the Steven Stills highlight of the evening. My mom kept commenting on how he looked like he had had "plastic surgery--but, like, BAD plastic surgery." I kept saying that he was looking more and more like a fat fish. Neil played several new songs--I must admit I was dreading this setlist, having heard nothing but terrible things about his newest album, _Living with War_. To my surprise, however, the music was pretty good live. Don't know that I'd want to hear it again & again on CD, but it was cool to hear in the huge ampitheatre.
"Only Love Can Break Your Heart," one of my FAVORITE Neil Young songs, was made prettier when Graham Nash and David Crosby sang harmony. Nice. And of course the whole audience stood up and rocked out to--you guessed it--"Keep on Rockin' in the Free World."
During "Teach Your Children," I must admit that I got a little teary-eyed, first thinking of our year of AmeriCorps with the students we worked with (and the subsequent slide show we slaved over that featured said song)--I wanted to call Carly & Lexi & Suzanne, not caring about the $0.49/minute cell phone charge. But then my mom put her arm around me and I thought about my parents and sister and the song went back to reminding me of what it always had before--families, parents, kids, the obvious. It was a really nice moment. I even saw some people nearby watching my mom with her arms around me.
The tour is called _The Freedom of Speech '06 Tour_, and the show is most definitely political. Lots of anti-W stuff, which was interesting to be privy to outside of America. There was an anti-W song ("Impeach the President," I think it was called?) off of the new Neil Young album that was especially hair-raising, and though everyone cheered like crazy, I still wonder what the hippie American crowd will do when they hear it. The Canadians dug it but perhaps may not have the same sort of anger built up. Who knows?
An amazing show overall. I know I joked about it a lot, despite being an out-of-the-closet CSN/CSNY/Y fan, but I really am so happy I went. I am a bit foggy now, having had my brain blasted out with loud music, clouds of nearby pot smoke that surely got me halfway stoned, and a few $7 (!) beers that have made me sleepytime Jan.
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