Crosby, Stills and Nash proved that age is nothing but a number after performing an impressive show to their veteran fans at Manchester Phones4u Arena on Saturday.
With a combined age of 211 you may be forgiven for thinking this supergroup, comprised of Stephen Stills, David Crosby and Graham Nash, may show some vocal deterioration, but on the contrary they are just as harmonically smooth and instrumentally talented as they ever were.
Understandably the usually fast paced chorus from Cathedral dropped slightly in tempo to alleviate their vocal cords, but the classic sound of Nash on piano combined with the rich texture of the rest of the group made it the song it always was back in the day.
Stephen Stills’ highly imaginative and improvisatory guitar playing struck many a chord with the listeners and certainly compensated for the slight fragility of his voice but nevertheless he was given the freedom to take centre stage for his own song Treetop Flyer giving the atmosphere a more rock ‘n’ roll vibe after listening to one of the slower yet beautifully harmonic songs of Guinnevere and Just A Song Before I Go.
It was great to witness the chemistry between the lifelong group, in particular the cheeky American Crosby and the usually barefooted Nash who have always shared a personal connection.
All three of them engaged with the audience especially when sharing their dry wit and light hearted humour in between songs, some of them being new material which they keep coming up with after an impressive 45 years together.
Crosby certainly enjoyed engaging with the fans making the concert feel more like an informal gathering between friends.
Even the harmless hecklers had some amusing thoughts of their own as one of them screamed at the top of his voice: “I love you David”, to which Crosby replied: “I expect that comment from a girl but coming from a guy, it reminds me of when I was in prison.”
The set list was well thought up with a combination of old and new songs interwoven with upbeat rock, light harmonic melodies and solo numbers, making the entire performance a great night out.
After a promising first half, the second half included the absolute classics Our House, Wooden Ships, and the political song Burning For The Buddha.
The only disappointing end was the absence of Suite: Judy Blue Eyes, the encore we were all probably expecting but instead we had the Buffalo Springfield song For What It’s Worth which nevertheless still ended the concert on a high.
After 45 years together and playing for 2 hours and 40 minutes, there was no indication of the talented trio letting up just yet as they played their hearts out to a joyous audience.
Image courtesy of Eva Rinaldi via Flickr, with thanks.
For more on this story and many others, follow Mancunian Matters on Twitter and Facebook.
