Cool Cherry Cream

Tuesday, July 11, 2006 at Air Canada Centre, Toronto, Ontario

Hmm… I wonder if I'm the first to post anything about this concert on the Internet? Pretty darn cool, if I do say so myself.

Jada and her family picked me up from my house at 4:30 and we left her house at 5:30. We got there at, hmm, actually, I don't recall. Maybe I've inhaled too much, uhm… smoke.

Anyway, Jada and I were looking for our section, and we ended up going around the entire ACC. If not for that blue mustang, well, we'd be looking and looking and end up missing the show. We realized eventually that our section, 301, meant we were supposed to go up to level 3. Ha ha ha.

So we made our way upstairs and found our seats, after going into the wrong section. We were at the end of the row, with one empty seat beside the wall. We wondered if the person sitting alone was a nerd. When the owner of the seat arrived we realized our suspicions were correct. We also noticed he had something that looked like Jada's fake backstage pass on her jeans and we tried to come up with a plan to steal it, but were unsuccessful. After awhile I wondered if maybe he works for a newspaper or something and was a reviewer. Well, too bad Mr. Nerd, I've beat you to publishing my article. Ah, wonderful blog.

Anyway, 7:30 came and went and no CSNY. But at about 8:00, down came the lights and people started screaming. As soon as the lights went down, a certain smell filled the air… We noticed people lighting up in the row in front of us in the middle of the first half. I apologize if I inhaled too much of it and my memory is foggy. Anyway, then some people started coming on the stage.

Did I mention we were in section 301? Did I mention that section 301 is even farther away than my seats for Bon Jovi?

Well, I could not tell who was who for the life of me. Jada luckily had thought to bring binoculars, so that was good. Guess I'll have to get some for Ringo. Anyway, it was Nash, Stills, Young, and then Crosby. And there was a drummer and keyboard player and trumpet player and other people like that.

Heh, the screen was not very big. That's how far back we were. You need binoculars to see the SCREEN! BWHAHA!

Anyway, they started with Flags of Freedom, I think is what it's called. I didn't know the song. But they had flags behind them and stuff.

So, okay, well, here we are. CSNY. All right.

I can't recall exactly what songs they played in the first half. I'm looking at another review, and I can recall them playing Long Time Gone, Military Madness, Wounded World, and Immigration Man. Those are some of the only songs I knew from the first half, because I don't know any from Neil's new album. But I did listen to some of my dad's CSNY stuff the days before the concert, because I like to know the songs they're playing. And after seeing the concert, I like them a lot more.

There was a song, I think a new one, called After The Garden which I liked.

Then there was the intermission. There were four dudes sitting beside us, and they all left and didn't come back. We contemplated going for a walk, but as I was about to say "as soon as we get down there, they'll start again", the lights went down. And they started again. Ha ha.

In the second part I recall a bit more. They played Helplessly Hoping, Déjà Vu, Carry Me, Southbound Train, Teach Your Children, Find The Cost Of Freedom, an electric Star Spangled Banner and brought out a big microphone (err… I think that's what it is… you know, since it's Freedom of Speech tour, and umm, it took me awhile to figure that out), and Let's Impeach The President, among other things. They played Our House, I believe with Nash on piano, and he said it was for Joni Mitchell. Then after that, Neil was on piano for Only Love Can Break Your Heart, and he said it was for Nash.

Guinevere is probably one of my favourite CSNY songs, it's a very pretty song. During that song I thought I saw the stage move, but y'know, it was probably the smoke.

Milky Way Tonight and Roger And Out are two newer songs they played that I liked as well. Roger And Out, or the hippie highway song, I noticed really could've used some more snare drum. I mean, just for some variety, he should've done like SNARE SNARE SNARE every third bar or something I'd counted.

They played Treetop Flyer, and Stills and Young were really rocking out on the guitars. Pretty cool. At first I was like "whadda they need four guitars for?" but it's definitely a pretty cool sound.

I think they ended with For What It's Worth, Chicago, and Ohio. I contemplated calling my parents during Ohio or something so they could hear it. I was a little surprised they didn't play Woodstock though.

The final song was Keep On Rockin' In The Free World, which I was surprised they played, because I'd heard they didn't play it at some other places. And they REALLY rocked out on this one, and everyone was standing and singing and whatnot, like they always do at the end. It's cool sometimes to watch the audience when they've got the bright lights on, but not too much, because you don't want to miss the show!

Stills and Young were really rocking out with the guitars again, and then Stills falls over! Now, I thought he was just playing, and was going to pull an Angus Young or something. But then the security guys come running over. A bit slow, I might add, I mean, they didn't RUSH over or anything. They took their time. But then I think he said he was okay and they left or whatever, because he kept playing and got up and finished the song.

So then they leave and everyone's like YEAH YEAH YEAH and clapping and WOOing and clapping and WOOing. Then someone (I don't know who, I couldn't see, y'see) comes on the stage and says that it's the end, because Stephen hurt his hand pretty bad.

So yep. That was it. Too bad there was no encore, but I mean, whatever. It was pretty darn good. When I came home my dad asked if it was better than The Stones. Now, I don't know. I mean, The Stones was awhile ago, I can't remember it that well. And they're two really different groups.

With the Stones, everyone is watching Mick Jagger prancing around and dancing. It's more of a gimmick. For CSNY, well, Neil Young is definitely the star, but he's not a gimmick. He moved around a lot more and there was just something that draws you to watch him. But CSNY is probably the most music oriented band I've seen. The others all have a sort of gimmick about them. CSNY is about the music, about the message. And that was really cool.

I don't know if they were as good as the Stones or better or worse or what. But I mean, right now, I know it was a really good concert. For all concerts I find afterwards I like new songs by the band or whatever. For Bon Jovi I started listening to a lot more of their stuff. And I'll definitely be doing that for CSNY too. I'll have to look for a CD when we're in the States. I love those used CDs stores, considering I'm so cheap.

Well, I said Neil Young was really the star. But no, not for me. There was something about Graham.

And then towards the end, I realized, "Oh. Right. He's British."

*sigh* Typical.

Stills cuts hand at CSNY T.O. Show

CSNY Still Rockin' in the Free World

SET LIST

1. Flags Of Freedom
2. Wooden Ships
3. Long Time Gone
4. Military Madness
5. Wounded World
6. After The Garden
7. Living With War
8. The Restless Consumer
9. Shock And Awe
10. Feed The People
11. They Want It All
12. Immigration Man
13. Families
14. Deja Vu
15. Helplessly Hoping
16. Our House
17. Only Love Can Break Your Heart
18. Guinnevere
19. Milky Way Tonight
20. Treetop Flyer
21. Roger And Out
22. Southbound Train
23. Old Man Trouble
24. Carry Me
25. Teach Your Children
26. Southern Cross
27. Find The Cost Of Freedom
28. Let's Impeach The President
29. For What It's Worth
30. Chicago
31. Ohio
32. What Are Their Names
33. Rockin' In The Free World