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The Paul Looking Forward Tomita Review
(more reviews coming)
Also See:
The show details.
The Oregon Live review.

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. Out Of Control
21. Seen Enough
22. Teach Your Children
    [7th Inning Stretch]
23. Woodstock
24. Long Time Gone
25. Ohio
26. For What It's Worth
27. Down By The River
28. Love The One You're With
29. Rockin' In The Free World
    Encore
30. Long May You Run

SSShhhhhh!!!

Can you hear that?
I'm sure you can!
It's screaming out.

It's the sound of the silly face-splitting grin still on my face, hours after Down by the River and Rockin' In The Free World. It was a great concert all around up to that point. But then... ...words cannot begin to describe it! Well, maybe I'll try.

Tacoma was great, but Portland was even better! Better acoustics, better mix, better seats (but not until after Ticketmaster scared the shit out of me by cancelling the ticket I had ordered that morning.) The boys seemed both more relaxed and more intense.

Nostalgia Act? No way. Playing your hits once every 26 years is not how nostalgia acts operate. CSNY has refined and interpreted the songs they are doing. Is it better or worse? Only you can be the judge of that. They certainly cannot match the youthful spontenaity, boundless energy, naive idealism or stoned hippyness they once embodied. What they do bring to 2000 is a very obvious love of the songs, fresh enthusisim for what great music they make with each other and a relaxed friendship and love for each other. Seeing the joy on their faces watching each other play is worth it alone. From the sixth row, I saw them pouring their souls into their craft. I thought the results were magical.

The new songs are getting better each show (after two shows I'm an expert :-) and already surpass the studio versions. By the end of the tour they're going to be great. Slowpoke, Dream for Him and Out of Control were highlights of the new crop for me.

Almost cut my Hair was the highlight of the first set both nights. Croz's voice sounded great. Incendiary dueling guitar solos put it over the top. Guinnevere highlighted how heavenly Crosby and Nash still sound together. Maybe better than ever. Any physical degradation in vocal cords is more than made up for by the soul and sensitivity displayed. How something so fragile can sound so damn good in two big arenas amazes me.

Okay, I'm drooling on myself now. A few downers to bring myself around... Stills voice seems to have these *holes* in it. Certain notes don't come out. Carry On was better live than VH1 but still made me nervous in Tacoma. However at Portland I just waited for the guitar solos and I knew everything would be all right. Cinnamon Girl kinda plodded along for me. Woodstock was again betrayed by Stephen's voice and it seems more stuck in the mud of time than the other old chestnuts.

But the end of the Portland show was unbelievable. Neil's solos on Down By The River blew me away. Crosby and Nash had hands on knees, leaning forward, huge grins on their faces, watching Neil carry us all away. Keltners drumming was right with every twist Neil took. I am so happy Neil decided to stretch this one out a bit.

Caught my breath a bit during Love The One You're With, and then, Rockin' In The Free World! Others have posted how hot CSNY is on this. They're right! Seeing Neil up close (and with good binoculars to boot), I was struck how transported he is. When he finally touched down, he seemed totally dazed and disoriented, like "how did I end back here on stage?"

Then the rest of the boys are waving goodby and Neil is kinda taking a few steps back and forth until it dawns on him that its time to go.

Long May You Run brings me gently back to reality and bouncing towards my car for the 3 hour drive home...

Looking Forward...
Paul Tomita

PS: To the left of the stage, beyond the curtained area where Larry was tuning Neil's guitars, there was a platform set up with a woman signing for hearing impaired folks who were in that section of seats. At first she was just using the typical hand gestures during the singing and the between-song banter. But later in the show, during the electric jams she was boogying around like a dancing fool, doing the "International Sign Language Neil bob and weave" !!!

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