Stood listening to "Wooden Ships" - the first CSN encore song at Manchester gave me a spiritual line directly back to Woodstock - these 3 guys are still at it, still enjoying it and still well able to deliver. Sadly the sound at the MEN Arena was not delivering and the whole thing was a little flat. Early on as the trio took us through some semi-acoustic songs, there was a dire hiss from the p.a. throughout and the guitar sounds were tinny at best - a great shame - and a disgrace really when the tickets are so expensive and the music is so good - these days there is no excuse for low quality sound.
There were some highlights - a Crosby - Nash duo was particularly good, and the one-off (because Manchester is his home town) Cold Rain was very well received by the audience. Stephen Stills was given due adoration for his guitar solos - one notable series of exchanges with the organ was particularly good - of it's day if you must, but I enjoyed it!
Most of the greats were there, and they slipped in Dylan's "North Country Fair" too - David Crosby was still reeling from Nash's attempts at explaining cricket (The Ashes having just started) but didn't let it detract from the music, Graham Nash was on top form, his singing obviously coming right through his body before it got out of his mouth - Stephen Stills not sounding quite so harmonious these days, but still fiery and still making those guitars howl.
Most of all we went to pay homage to a great trio - so job done there - shame about the sound - they could learn a trick or two from the 4th member of their other band who has recently proved that stadiums can sound good whether you play loud or quiet.
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