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Palace of Auburn Hills
Detroit, Michigan, January 24, 2000

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The Verified Set List
    First Set
  1. Carry On
  2. Southern Man
  3. Stand And Be Counted
  4. Pre-Road Downs
  5. Heartland
  6. 49 Bye-Byes
  7. Slowpoke
  8. Marrakesh Express
  9. Faith In Me
  10. Almost Cut My Hair
  11. Cinnamon Girl
    Second Set
  12. Helplessly Hoping
  13. Our House
  14. Only Love Can Break Your Heart
  15. Dream For Him
  16. Someday Soon
  17. Looking Forward
  18. After The Goldrush
  19. Guinnevere
  20. Seen Enough
  21. Out Of Control
  22. Teach Your Children
    [7th Inning Stretch]
  23. Love The One You're With
  24. Long Time Gone
  25. Ohio
  26. For What It's Worth
  27. Down By The River
  28. Dark Star
  29. Rockin' In The Free World
    Encores
  30. Woodstock
  31. Long May You Run


Palace of Auburn Hills
Detroit, Michigan, January 24, 2000

review by Mike "My life's been funny that way" Tremblay

The night started out at a restaurant/bar across from the Palace at 5pm. With about 2 Black&Tans down, Kato and Jeremy walked up and joined us. Haven't seen them since HORDE 97 but, you never forget a friendly face! We had a few then headed over to the Palace at 6:30 to see if we could meet up with others. As we were about to leave, Rick Stephenson came up and said his hellos.

Walked into the Palace around 7 (after a brief parking lot break :-) and started to walk towards the grill. We got to the grill but, the crowd was thick in that area and we didn't see any faces we recognized so we kept walking till we got to an area where the beer lines were short. Also bought a program. Cost $18 but, it is very high quality with some excellent pictures.

Stood with Kato looking at it and breathing it in. It smells like strong oil based paint. We were joking that since you can't smoke in the arena they were selling these to let everyone catch a buzz! Anyway, these programs are nice. Worth getting one, either on-line or at the show. (No, I only bought one. :-) We made a few laps around the Palace and then headed down to our seats.

On reaching the floor I proudly made my way up to the front row. How enjoyable to flash that stub, especially at the Palace, where I've never even managed to get on the main floor for Neil! Started walking down the front where none of the seats were numbered till I finally asked someone to the right of the stage what seat they had, I was farther down. Got to the center where I saw one seat open between two groups. Could this be it? I asked, sure enough!!! FRONT ROW DEAD CENTER!!!!!!!!! Talk about lucky! All I can think is when I was online someone had one reserved then declined it and I happen to hit buy at the right time.

So, I stood there, leaning on the barricade, checking out the stage. It was nothing fancy. Some table-top type lamps around the stage. A big throw carpet on the ground. Some candles (small pillar type) lit. Neil had his wooden indian on the right and pump organ far right in the back. Nothing fancy.

As the house lights dimmed, Nash walked out with a cup of coffee and proceeded to take off his slippers (he went barefoot the whole time). David then walked out and greeted the crowd. Neil then came bouncing out from the back, I could tell he was pumped. Stephen walked out from the side and walked across the front of the stage. Time to start...

Some thoughts on songs...

  • Carry On -- Very good, but they were adjusting sound and monitors during it though. I heard vocal monitors going up and down. Think Nash couldn't hear himself so, he was yelling.

  • Southern Man -- Excellent, considering they cut this short. During the second solo I saw Stephen look at Neil to keep on going but Neil waved him off. It also seemed like they were still trying to get their vocal timing together. During this Neil shook his hat off and never put it back on. Hopefully this will improve over the duration of the tour when they don't have to worry about TV time.

  • Heartland -- Oh those harmonies. Not perfect, but they were getting there.

  • 49 Bye Byes -- They never got on track on this one. Thought they might stop at one point.

  • Almost Cut My Hair -- This was the one for me! Neil & Stephen did their jam and it sent shivers down my spine! Wow! As the song ended everyone was turning to each other and saying things like "wow", "incredible" etc. Think it was after this song that Neil picked up his setlist and threw it into the crowd. Think the girl in front with the sign got it.

  • Cinnamon Girl -- This never really took off. Maybe I'm spoiled by the Crazy Horse versions.

  • Helplessly Hoping -- think they were finally relaxed. The harmonies were beautiful.

  • Only Love Can Break Your Heart -- I was surprised they played this. They pulled it off pretty good though. Neil at his best vocally.

  • Dream For Him -- Gotta love David's passion. Thought they did a great job on this one. Neil's guitar was outstanding! Kinda jazzy improv.

  • Someday Soon -- Thought they jelled on this one. Everyone was very into it.

  • Looking Forward -- Thought this would be a tight song by now, but it wasn't. Neil screwed up a couple of times on this one.

  • After The Goldrush -- Neil was tucked away in the corner, so it was the only time I had a bad seat. It was ok, but I think this could become a highlight as the tour progresses and C&N harmonies tighten up. Think a lot of it might be confidence.

  • Guinnevere -- Once again, those harmonies. I thought they were right on. A true joy to watch. After this song was over David walked to the front of the stage and I gave the OK sign with my fingers and he shook his head "yes" and winked.

  • Seen Enough -- They walked out and placed about six sheets of lyrics in front of Stephen before the song. He only looked at them a few times. This is probably my least favorite song on the album, but it was better than I thought it would be live. They can drop this song from the setlist, though, IMHO.

  • Out Of Control -- Pretty good except, Stephen was lost. He stood there diddling with his guitar. Then he would all of a sudden send out some notes, then stop, then diddle.

  • Love The One You're With -- Pretty good version. Thought it was the best one by Stephen.

  • Ohio -- Excellent. Tight guitars and vocals. Crowd loved it.

  • For What It's Worth -- This one needs some work. Neil kept missing the riff. Nice to see live though. Another one that should get better as time goes on.

  • Down By The River -- This was the one that was going to be the jam. It was great to hear the CSN harmonies on it, but it fell short. Neil did his part -- he was jamming -- but Stephen just couldn't pull it off. Neil jammed and went to pass it to Stephen and he just started playing the melody. Then Neil jumped in with the melody, and instead of going to a different riff, Stephen just went back to the chords. At that point Neil went off on his own. But by then it was lost. Even Duck Dunn stopped playing for a few bars till he found his way back. Don't get me wrong, it was great but, the jam didn't happen like it did on Almost Cut.

  • Dark Star -- They did a decent job on this. Could have used some bongos though.

  • Rockin' In The Free World -- Neil!! He could have been up there by himself and it would have been just as good. Actually, he might have been. :-)

  • Woodstock -- Neil's guitar was sounding great. He's the only one that can make that sound.

  • Long May You Run -- Neil and Stephen's guitars sounded very good. I liked hearing this again! I really grew to dislike the organ version (no flames, please). They were all singing the words from their heart.

    OVERALL: Excellent! Worth the money. They were having a lot of fun. Even when they made mistakes they all kind of just smiled at each other like, "Ok, sorry but, aren't we havin' fun!". When Neil & Stephen hit it they were great! Same with vocals! I think David was blown away by it all. He kept pounding his heart saying "this touches me".

    If they keep up the attitude they had last night, the shows are going to be great! If they don't, they are going to go down hill. I sure hope they can, it'll be a once in a lifetime show, like mine was!

    POSTSCRIPT: After getting home to Port Huron around 2:30, me and brother Bob watched the VH1 broadcast. We both were surprised at how bad it sounded. Don't know who was in charge of the mix but, it SUCKED!! There was no echo. They must have went directly off the board or something. Actually, it sounded like they used the monitor patch!!

    Take my word for it, The SOUND AT THE SHOW WAS FANTASTIC!!! A bit rough at the beginning but it improved as they relaxed and they got the monitors tuned.

    OBTW: I did make it on TV. Couple of time when I'm pretty dark but, once during Southern Man on the second guitar break when they shoot towards the front, you can see me in-between Neil and David bobbing my head (Bluejean shirt & black tee, full beard). A brief moment in the light.

    Mike
    "My life's been funny that way"


    Palace of Auburn Hills
    Detroit, Michigan, January 24, 2000

    report by Kato Kitamura

    Firstly - it was a very odd crowd. Some around me were very vocal in their dislike of any of the new songs! But everyone was on their feet for almost the entire show. Another kept asking "Which one is Nash? Which one is Stills?" until it was patiently explained "From fattest to thinnest, it's Crosby, Stills, Nash then Young" which made me laugh.

    Misc observations...

  • There were many mistakes, but much of the charm was seeing the four laugh at their own blunders. Donald 'Duck' had his share of mistakes but remained stone faced.

  • One 'train wreck' occured in 49 Bye Byes. I don't know if there is video of the event, but watching Neil conducting the band out of the mess they got in was a treat. Toscaninni couldn't have done it better.

  • Old Black had it's share of full-on distorted screaming, but there were also some moments of quiet non-distorted jazzy riffs, during Crosby's Dream for Him.
    ("Jazz isn't dead, it just smells funny" - FZ)

  • Dueling Falcons! On a couple songs (Teach your Children, Long May You Run, etc.) both Stills and Young played identical Gretsch Falcons.

  • Stills/Young guitar duets: There were many. Almost Cut my Hair, Long Time Coming, Rockin in the Free World. But on Down By the River they actually played together in some sort of psychic (or pre-planned) harmony. DBTR was a joy to see -- but I missed Billy's bassline.

  • The harmonies sometimes faltered in the loud songs, but were spot-on on anything quiet, such as Only Love can Break your Heart.

  • After Long Time Coming, Neil led the crowd in a "Crosby - Crosby - Crosby" chant. Crosby was consistenly great throughout. Later, Neil gave Crosby a big hug.

  • The roadies showed their backbone when a couple of them casually picked up the upright piano and carried it off mid-set.

  • The baseball song during the "7th Inning Stretch" was a hoot! The house lights came up a bit, and the two video screens showed the words "7th Inning Stretch", and a corny baseball song was played over the PA. But the band stayed on stage, talking to each other, laughing, joking, probably laughing at their mistakes. It felt like being in a rehearsal with them, but unfortunately I couldn't hear what they were saying.

  • Stills never touched a keyboard, which is a shame since I always liked his organ playing. Stills did play bass on at least one song (Dream for Him). Other than that, he was on guitar for the whole show.

  • Odd things:

    (more reviews coming soon... --RE*AC*TOR)