Woodstock Reunion - Parr Meadows 1979

I went to this show and I have to say, the passage of time has been kinder to the recordings than my memories of the show had been. To me, it was a pale imitation of the original Woodstock with Steven Stills instead of CSNY, Leslie West instead of Mountain, Jorma instead of Jefferson Airplane, etc. Plus the ticket cost an unheard-of $35 (I smirk to myself as I write this).

In the "Spirit of the Original Woodstock," my friend GH and I were determined to get in free. We climbed the fence and ran in, under the nose of at least a squad of disengaged Suffolk Co. cops who barely looked up from their donuts.

Canned Heat's set was one of the highlights.

The show itself was mixed. I arrived at the end of John Sebastian's set.

Jorma Kaukonen had recently been estranged from Jack Casady so he and drummer Bob Steeler were playing Hot Tuna gigs as a duo. He'd gotten this Punk haircut and dyed his hair platinum blonde. Fans yelled "WHERE'S JACK?" through the whole set. They felt cheated, and rightfully so, that only 2/3 of Hot Tuna had shown up.

Michael Shrieve played this incomprehensible percussion/synth jam with synth genius Larry Fast. Technical difficulties kept several other members of the band from playing.

Many highlights, though. Stephen Stills played an impeccable set that made everybody forget about CSNY and focus on what a great guitarist and dynamic solo performer he was in his own right.

I remember being real impressed with Paul Butterfield, who was playing with Rick Danko of The Band. They played a mixed bag of Band songs and Blues, as I recall. They did a lot better with the Blues standards.

Paul Butterfield's playing really impressed me.

Leslie West solo wasn't Mountain but still damn good, although his set was not included in the King Biscuit recordings. I forget who he was playing with. I remember seeing him during this period at another gig at Ubie's OTJ (a local Rock club) with Busta C. Jones (later of Talking Heads) on bass and Dino Danelli from The Rascals on drums. He was a guitar god then, and remains so today.

Canned Heat really tore it up, as you can hear on the King Biscuit tapes. They were a band that were just consistently great whenever they played. They really don't get the credit they deserve and should be more popular than they are now. I think they're still playing gigs...?

But by far the best set of the day was by Johnny Winter who at this time was a headliner, at the peak of his popularity and his playing. He had the crowd eating of his hand and enjoyed interacting with them. When I recall how good Johnny was that day I have to smile, even so many years later.

Johnny Winter's set was easily the best of the day.

There were zero amenities or vendors that day at Parr Meadows, an unused, forgotten attempt at a racetrack in Suffolk County. It had never hosted a concert before and as far as I know, never did again. No food for an all-day show was not fun!

By the time the evening came most of the crowd had been without food and water for quite some time and were in an ugly mood. This was not helped by the obviously amateur concert Security staff, who roughly shoved people off the stage.

During Johnny Winter's set I had my elbows on the stage and some security goon roughly threw me off and I hit the ground with a loud, painful THUD! I got back up and latched on to the guys leg, fully intending to pull him off the stage and beat him. In hindsight I'm glad I didn't succeed.

By the time Michael Shrieve came on, the security staff and the audience were clearly at odds. There were significant technical difficulties during the transition and the crowd was close to open rebellion. Eventually they decided to start playing without guitar, bass and whoever else didn't play. As documented on the tapes it turned into this annoying free-form synth and percussion jam that did nothing to calm the crowd.

I guess a quick deal was made because by the time Shrieve had gotten three songs into his set there were members of the Pagans motorcycle gang lining the stage, replacing the concert security. They were the baddest guys going in those days and nobody with a lick of sense wanted to mess with them. My friend GH said that it looked more like an Altamont reunion than an event comemorating Woodstock.

Peace and love to all of you who were there. - GG

Crosby Stills & Nash - Jones Beach 8/20/10: Everything a Great Rock Band Should Be!

You would think, after more than forty years on the road, the Crosby Stills and Nash would lose their edge or their love of playing. That at some point gigs would become "Just another day at the office." That they would lose their desire and just live on their laurels as so many of the older Rock bands do. Well, if you did you'd be wrong. Judging by their show at Jones Beach last night, CSN aren't in danger of doing that anytime soon. To me they are, and remain, everything a great Rock band should be.

CSN have been idols of mine since the first Woodstock album came out.

"Great" is a word that is thrown about much too easily these days, especially when it comes to Rock and Roll. There are many young (and older) bands out there aspiring to the mantle, but last CSN showed once again while they are the template for a Great Rock band.

First, let's contemplate what makes a great Rock band.

Let's talk about songwriting. A great band has great songwriters and a large body of work. CSN easily qualifies in this category. They could play three nights in a row, never repeat a song and still put on a satisfying show. They have so many signature songs and so many huge hits that everyone knows they can't play them all in one night.

No other Rock band gets cheers specifically for their vocal harmonies!

Let's talk about singing. CSN have long been, and remain, the best-singing Rock band I've ever seen. OK, I saw them thirty years ago and their voices are a bit the worse for the wear and tear now. Their keyboard players have to carry the load on some of the high notes. But CSN still haven't lost their collective ability to harmonize and blend their voices with the unique beauty for which they are deservedly famous. In all the hundreds of Rock shows I've seen over the years, CSN is the only band I ever saw get cheers specifically for their vocal harmonies.

Let's talk about playing. While Crosby and Nash are certainly both competent instrumentalists, the real standout was Stephen Stills and his amazing guitar playing. When fans talk about the great Rock guitarists the name "Stephen Stills" rarely if ever comes up, but it really should.

Let's talk about showmanship. One thing that easily jumps out at you when you see CSN play is how they still love doing what they do. There is a lot of joy in their playing, maybe because they're older and they've learned to appreciate it more. But their enthusiasm comes across and it helps them engage the audience, who helped out on several sing-alongs.

But for all that, the thing that impressed me the most about CSN was how they have not been content to rest on their laurels. They are still writing new songs and performing new material. They are still very proudly liberal and anti-war, at a time when America needs to hear the message of peace. It needs to be said even more now than it did during the Sixties, because there are so fewer people out there saying it now. This was underscored by playing songs like "Chicago," "In Your Name" from the last tour and a new song, "Who Are These Men?" about the people who really run America.

To their credit though all three are two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Famers, CSN are not content to rest on their laurels. Nor have they muted their message of peace and love.

As far as songs, they did pretty much what they've been doing on this tour. They served up an abundant helping of old favorites like "Wooden Ships," "Long Time Gone, "Guinevere," "Woodstock" and "Southern Cross." They threw on some solo songs like "Military Madness and Buffalo Springfield songs like "Bluebird" and "For What It's Worth."

A new wrinkle in the band's set is that they are performing cover songs. As David Crosby put it, "We're playing songs we wish we had written." Hey guys, YOU WROTE SO MANY OF THE SONGS I WISH I'D WRITTEN!!! CSN really has no need to play other peoples' songs but they're doing it, as Crosby quipped, "Because the record company wants us to." I read in Rolling Stone that they're putting together an album of covers.

The cover material was well done, although some of the songs lent themselves to CSN's vocal style better than others. Their unique harmonies gave the Beatles' "Norwegian Wood" a whole new dimension. Another highlight was The Who's "Behind Blue Eyes." But CSN's treatment of The Stones' "Ruby Tuesday," Dylan's "Girl From the North Country" and the Allman Bros. staple "Midnight Rider" left me a little cold. It didn't annoy me as much as seeing Aerosmith spend half their show playing Blues standards, but to be honest would I rather have heard "Helplessly Hoping" and "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes."

But despite the minor flaws in the show, Crosby Stills and Nash remain everything a Rock band should be. They have a great acoustic thing, a great electric thing, and they're still relevant when many of their contemporaries have to play their hits in package shows like Hippiefest to get people to come see them.

It was hard to believe CSN couldn't sell out Jones Beach, because they are really a must-see.

Arcade Fire MSG 8/5/10 - Awesome in So Many Ways!

I cannot say enough good things about Arcade Fire last night at MSG (2nd night - thurs). The singing, the songs, the musicianship, the showmanship. The way the crowd seemed to know every word and sang along.

Their unique sound - "Stop Making Sense" Talking Heads meets "Think White Duke" period Bowie and ELO at Sonic Youth's house. In fact, David Byrne would probably agree because I saw him there Thursday night.

David Byrne from Talking Heads was in the audience, hobnobbing with fans.

My wife and I are not youngsters - we've been to literally thousands of musical events over the years, including many of the Rock legends. We are grizzled veterans and hard to impress. Arcade Fire had us spellbound.

We easily could have been the parents of most of the kids there but we still had a great time!

It's been years since I saw a band live and had to immediately go out and buy all their recordings but that's what I'm going to do today! That's how awesome they were.Hopefully they are the beginning of a long and stellar career.

Favorite moment: Encore when everyone in MSG was singing along. It gave me chills!

Opening act(s): Owen Pallett (eh) and Spoon (pretty good). Both acts would be much better in a smaller venue