Website dedicated to Neil Young and his music
Neil Young in Auburn (July 2006)
My first CSNY concert ever!!! I think I still don’t realize what I saw and some day it’s just gonna hit me. I’ll wake up in the middle of the night and I’ll think to myself: “did I just see Crosby, Stills, Nash AND Young the other day!?” But let’s start at the beginning. I moved to Seattle a few months ago and I hoped that if Neil ever does another tour I will surely have more luck catching him in Seattle than in Montreal (where he didn’t go one single time since the Broken Arrow tour!!!). I was right! I could’ve even seen him in 4 different venues that were places reasonably close to Seattle but I don’t really like seeing the same band over and over again in a short period of time. So I bought tickets for the closest venue: The White River Amphitheatre in Auburn. BonzoBabe (Stephanie, my girlfriend) came all the way from Montreal to see the show with me!!! (well I hope it was to see me too but I know I can’t compete with Neil...)
The day of the show (it was scheduled to 8PM) I got back from work at 6PM and I told Stephanie that we should be going and maybe stop somewhere near the venue to eat. Now you have to know that Auburn is about 50 miles from Seattle and that it’s a small village. No highways go there (the closest one is 10 miles away) and only a 1 lane route goes to the venue. Now take all the hippies and the rusties going to the show and imagine how that tiny route can accommodate such a massive flow of vehicles. What I mean to say is that it took us 2 hours to get to the Amphitheatre and we had to stop at a MacDonald’s and eat in the car. Frustrating enough already, eating in a car while moving at 5MPH in huge traffic... What completely made me go out of myself is that I missed the first song of the show. Meaning that I didn’t see Neil appear on the stage!!! THE most important moment of the show! THE moment that makes you scream in exhilaration and realize that “I’m here!!! Neil is here and so am I!!!” I was furious and it took all of Carry On to calm me down!
The seats I had must’ve been the best seats in the house. I was 9th row dead center with only 1 row in front of me. During most of the show, there was nobody seating in the row in front of me, so other than an empty seat there was absolutely nothing between Neil and me! I was close enough to see their faces very clearly and far enough to have a great view of the whole stage. The people next to us were really cool too. The guy on the left (who was a perfect ringer of Ben Keith) was completely absorbed by Stephanie’s handbag that I had just given her (a plastic bag made of 45RPM records!)
When they started playing all of their classics (Carry On, Wooden Ships...) I was ecstatic! I never heard these tunes live so I was completely blown away. The first moment when I had literally shrills going all over my skin was when Neil stormed in with his solo during Military Madness. It was amazing!
Then came the Living with war tunes. I think the album is very weak but live some of the tunes sounded pretty damn good. The four that he played at that moment were the best tunes on the album so it was OK. It’s Families and Roger & Out that I find particularly dull but I can’t complain because I know what this tour is all about and it was obvious that they’d focus on that album.
Throughout the rest of the show I think it’s Stills who really was the best! He already was my favourite of the CSN trio but at that show I think he was even better than Neil. His Treetop Flyer song was simply sublime and all the other tunes he sang made me almost stop breathing. What an amazing voice and charisma!!! Also I though that Crosby was the one who was the closest to the audience. He kept looking directly into people’s eyes, pointing at people etc. There was one funny moment when Neil made everybody start Our House all over again because Nash screwed up. When the song was over, Crosby said that every time something went wrong it was always because of him and that it was nice to see the Englishman screw up for once. Nash started laughing and gave Crosby the finger. I also noticed that at one moment when Crosby was singing, Neil gave him a very affectionate look. It was really heart warming.
Among other memorable moments was Find The Cost Of Freedom which in my opinion is THE CSNY tune. Their voices blend so beautifully together that it’s difficult to imagine something more breathtaking. Rocking in the Free World was definitely a highlight too with the completely mad jam at the end during which Neil broke all the strings on his Old Black.
Those guys may all be over 60 but they can still kick any young band’s ass. Where do they take their energy and passion from? What’s great about them is that you can see that they believe in what they’re singing. Not like some of these damn young and cynical indie bands that put no effort whatsoever in their performance and that guarantee to make you want to put a bullet in your brain after their show. Those guys are not saying life is awful, human beings are despicable creatures and world is going to an end like most of these dumb lowlifes do.
My last rant will be against the venue. What’s with the US and alcohol anyways?!?! Why the hell can’t I bring some beer to the show and enjoy it while listening to the music? Why must I go into a damn tiny shack 500 feet from the amphitheatre to drink my beer away from all “normal” people’s sight? Everybody’s smoking pot and everybody knows it but to see some yellow liquid in a cup, OH MY GOD! That would certainly be the end of the world. I say FUCK this dumb puritanism! It makes me sick. And why can’t I get closer to the stage and dance to the music? Why each time somebody who just wants to have some good time and enjoy the music clearly without disturbing anyone, there’s a security nazi coming right away to pick him up and bring him back to his stupid seat as if he was a damn thief or something? There you go... it’s out.
After the show, I got some T-shirts for Stephanie and me. There was one T-short I really wanted but at both booths the person right in front of me took the last one. That plus the 3 hour drive in slow traffic after midnight back to Seattle was a bit frustrating too... But at that moment I was in such a trance that nothing could possibly piss me off. I had just seen Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young playing for 3 hours right in front of me!!!
The bottom line is this was one of the greatest and most intense shows I have ever attended and I certainly won’t ever forget it. After all, I’m so lucky to have seen all four of them together. Let’s face it; they’re not getting any younger.
I sure hope to catch them (individually or together) again at some other occasion. Bridge School maybe?
