Neil Young, Graham Nash, David Crosby and Stephen Stills in friendlier times
Update (March 11): Back in late January we reported that Neil Young said he would not rule out a possible reunion of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, despite the widely reported acrimony between the group’s members (see below). Now, according to a published article by Roger Friedman on the Showbiz411 website, a CSNY reunion is that much closer to becoming a reality.
“I hear that Crosby, Stills, Nash, AND Neil Young– all of whom hate each other and have publicly slagged one another off– are considering a mega reunion tour,” Friedman wrote. ” He then continued: “Nash and Young have been hobbled financially by massive divorce settlements. They each parted from 30 year-plus marriages in the last couple of years. Plus Neil has that whole Pono disaster. He’s had to have lost a ton on manufacturing a portable music player no one wanted, and looks like a Toblerone candy bar. The PonoMusic site still says ‘Under Construction.’ Meantime, Neil’s campaign for uncompressed streaming and downloading has already been realized by HDTracks.com, Tidal, and even Spotify is jumping in. When would this tour take place? It could be early this summer, but my guess is beginning after Labor Day. Stills has dates booked with ex flame Judy Collins for August. Plus, if they get this right, CSNY could be part of the next Desert Trip at Coachella come October.”
While no announcement or even public hint has been dropped by CSN or Y, anything is possible in the bizarre world of rock. As Friedman noted in closing, “Plenty of acts have toured without speaking to each other off stage. (See: The Police, Simon & Garfunkel, and so on.) And think of the ancillaries: live album, some kind of video special, pay-for-view, etc. This is the year to do it, too. No one’s getting any younger.”
We’ll find out soon enough if this is just wishful thinking or the real deal.
Here is our original report from January…
The members of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young made it very clear last year that they were through after nearly five decades of making music together. But now, says, Neil Young, maybe it doesn’t have to end that way.
Speaking to writer David Fricke for a feature article in the latest issue of England’s Mojo magazine, Young said, “I think CSNY has every chance of getting together again. I’m not against it. There’s been a lot of bad things happen among us, and a lot of things have to be settled. But that’s what brothers and families are all about. We’ll see what happens. I’m open. I don’t think I’m a major obstacle.”
This may come as news, especially, to Graham Nash, who was the first to announce that he was done with the ongoing collaboration last year. Nash cited his disgust with certain things said by bandmate David Crosby, who specifically had made some less-than-kind public comments about Young’s split from his longtime wife Pegi and the singer’s budding relationship with actress Daryl Hannah, calling her a “poisonous predator.”
Related: Feature article: Graham Nash after CSN
Just to throw salt on the wound, Crosby, in a separate interview last year, also reportedly tore into Stills: “Each of us has not survived at the same rate. Stephen’s voice is nowhere near what it was. Nowhere near. He knows it, and he’s trying hard to counteract it. But he’s still smoking cigarettes. What the fuck? I love the guy, but that’s just never gonna work out right. Nash is close to what he was. But he hasn’t got quite the clarity on the edge that he used to have.”
Finally deciding enough was enough, Nash told a Dutch magazine, “I don’t like David Crosby right now. Forty-five years I have been there for him to save his fucking ass, but he treated me like shit. When it goes on longer, and I keep getting nasty emails from him, I’m done. You cannot do that with me. Perhaps for a day as long as I think you can back to your senses.”
INDIO, CA – OCTOBER 08: Musician Neil Young performs onstage during Desert Trip at The Empire Polo Club on October 8, 2016 in Indio, California. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Desert Trip)
Nash continued, in no uncertain terms, “Fuck you! David has ripped the heart out of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young … How can I not be sad? Look at the music we probably lost. How can I not be sad about that? The truth is, after being totally immersed in me and David and Stephen and Neil’s music, I’m done. I’ve had 10 years of it. Leave me the fuck alone. I need to concentrate on me now.”
How suddenly Nash’s decision came about is unknown. When Best Classic Bands’ editor interviewed Nash in 2014 and asked how relations were between the members, Nash responded, “I think we’re much closer. We’ve recognized in our maturity that we have our strengths and our weaknesses. And I don’t want to concentrate on our weaknesses. We did decades of that.”
Judging from their interactions and work of the past year, that sentiment is now dead and buried. Indeed, each member of CSNY spent last year recording solo projects and touring solo or with their own bands. How exactly Young thinks the rancor can be turned into reconciliation remains to be seen, but we’ll sure be curious to see if he can broker a peace deal.
Stay tuned, and in the meantime…
Watch CSNY in 1970 at Fillmore East
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1 Comment so far
Jump into a conversationVery cool video. Love seeing stuff from the Fillmore east. If only I’d been born about 12 years earlier.. I’d love to see what the guy who complains about ticket prices thinks of the sky high prices nowadays. For ex. Clapton and the chili peppers $150+ for crap seats at MSG!!