Stills’ concert draws mixed reaction

by Steve Grandin, The Saratogian

Concert at SPAC attended by more than 12,000

It’s both enjoyable and painful to watch Stephen Stills perform. On one hand, his coarse voice, familiar lyrics, and fine guitar work bring back the fun years when Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young reigned supreme. But it’s hard to watch Stills struggle, with his voice cracking and his guitar lacking the assistance that only David Crosby, Graham Nash and Neil Young could provide. Over 12,000 fans watched Stills both struggle and succeed Sunday night at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center with mixed reaction.

In Stills’ top song, “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes,” he warns us, “Don’t let the past remind us of what we are not now…” But it’s impossible to forget Stills’ partners and the fine music they created five years ago, while today his tunes are only a vague remembrance of those earlier days. The crowd was obviously more pleased with the old CSN&Y tunes, as it gave Stills a standing ovation on nearly every one.

Stills, with his receding hairline and short locks, also realizes that his voice cannot withstand the strain that it used to. He relies heavily on his fine guitar work, as well as that of his impressive background group. Many of the songs were long and drawn-out, with Stills often doing a few minutes of a guitar solo. His voice, the same one that led CSN&Y for years, failed him several times, making him inaudible over his guitar. Stills struggled bravely on, however, and gave one of the longest concerts by a single group at SPAC in many years. There was no warm-up group, and Stills only missed about 15 minutes of the three-hour concert.

Wearing white pants and his familiar football jersey. Stills opened the evening with one of his biggest hits, “Love The One You’re With.” But the huge sound system distorted the tune to the point where most of the crowd didn’t realize the song until the second or third verse. He followed that with another CSN&Y tune, “Wooden Ships,” and received a good ovation.

His background group took over from here, with lead guitarist Donnie Dacus taking on many of the vocal responsibilities. Stills and his friends did many cuts from their new album that sound only slightly like his previous efforts. Many of the lyrics seem very strained and fail to flow as many of Stills’ words usually do, while the music is typical for him. The group did 45 minutes of “electric music” before Stills took over with his acoustic guitar.

Appearing alone on the huge stage, Stills’ voice couldn’t hide behind the blasting music that it had earlier. But he struggled on, and the crowd’s applause seemed to be more for his effort than for his performance. He changed his football jersey (to one borrowed from the New York Jets’ Steven Tannen) and was soon borrowing tunes. Stills did the
Beatles’ “Blackbird”, Eric Clapton’s “Crossroads”, and “Everybody’s Talking”, the theme from “Midnight Cowboy.”

The background group, consisting of Dacus, lead guitar; Joe Lala, percussion; Rick Roberts, rhythm; Jerry Aiello, organ; George Perry, bass; and Ron “Tubby” Zeigler, drums, gave Stills a brief rest by doing a ten-minute job on their own “Ain’t It Time.” Stills reappeared, and it was back to the earlier “electric music.” Roberts did a great job on his own “Colorado,” a tune seemingly off an Eagles’ album.

Stills let his hands do most of his singing the rest of the way, playing many instrumentals and solos. After finishing with a rousing solo, Stills came back to do “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” as his encore. This proved to be the evening’s high point, with much of the large crowd dancing in the aisles.

The evening’s performance was marred by some ceaseless fans who were more content to throw frisbees and set off firecrackers during the concert. Several times Stills had his timing thrown off by the sudden burst of a loud firecracker.

All in all, the audience liked Stills and his old songs, and overlooked most of the artist’s shortcomings. They appreciated his fine effort to overcome his problems, but there is only one way all the shortcomings could have been
solved. With David Crosby, Graham Nash, and Neil Young.

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