Crosby, Stills, Nash: Mellow Like Aging Vintage Wine

by Bob Drzewiczewski, Rutland Daily Herald, July 26, 1978

How many times have you heard the advertising slogan “new and improved”? It usually means that they’ve changed the cover or label and raised the price without doing anything to the original product.

This is not the case with Crosby, Stills and Nash, who played to a crowd of 13,953 at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center here Monday night.

Actually CSN could be called old and improved. After a series of breakups in the mid-1970’s, the group reformed in late 1976 and has been mellowing like a vintage wine ever since.

Time and new material transformed the group from a sagging ex-headliner to one of the more popular bands in the country. Escaping from the mundane with a mixture of rock and roll, country rock and easy acoustic numbers, CSN seemed to regain the audience that they lost a few years ago.

CSN momentarily lost its hold on the pop market with a trashy LP that was recorded in the middle of one of the group’s impromptu reunions. There was no trash offered Monday.

Perhaps one of the reasons that the group has rebounded with such grace is that the members have retained their individual musical tastes without detracting from the whole.

Stills, in a definite departure from the group’s earlier years, fed the audience a sampler of rock and roll classics (the Rolling Stones’ Not Fade Away and Cream’s Crossroads) along with a few select acoustic numbers.

When it was Crosby’s turn to perform alone, the ex-Byrd told the audience, “This is as dangerous as giving a three-year-old a driver’s license.”

Even Graham Nash-who rarely performs alone-sang one of his own compositions, Magical Child.

Though their individual performances awed the audience, it was the collective arrangements that drew the largest amount of applause from the crowd.

The group’s long string of single successes gave the audience an excellent background to the band’s music. Crosby, who acted like a pop Lawrence Welk at times, turned the chorus over to the spectators on occasion, and the near 14,000 people had no trouble finishing the numbers.

On stage the band has a style that is expected from three veteran musicians. Stills knows when and how to prance in front of the audience; Crosby uses his clown antics at what seems to be the right time; and Nash uses his shyness and dry humor in proper doses.

Early in the evening, Stills brought the gathering to its feet by breaking into Buffalo Springfield’s For What It’s Worth, a late 60’s protest number.

Dividing its concert into three parts-two rock sets split by an acoustic medley- the band appealed to all segments of the crowd. Some danced to Long Time Coming, while others hummed Our House.

And yes, there was an encore.

Closing appropriately with Teach Your Children, the trio left the stage while the 13,953 on hand begged for more.

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