At the age of 82, the former member of the Hollies and ex-acolyte of David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Neil Young demonstrated that he was still in shape and in voice to a well-filled room, mainly white, gray or gray heads. a little bald.
In short, people who knew and appreciated a good part of the 65-year career of the man who participated in the legendary Woodstock festival and was inducted not once, but twice into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Nash did not disappoint in his two-hour performance during which he took the audience on a journey through the highlights of his career. A fine storyteller, he offered the audience a story surrounding each piece, then performed it in the company of three talented musicians.
Solid musicians
First of course the excellent keyboardist and Hammond B3 organ ace Todd Caldwell, who had also accompanied Crosby, Stills & Nash on tour for eight years, but also the multi-instrumentalists Zach Djanikian and Adam Minkoff, whose versatility did not fail to impress everyone.
You had to see Djanikian and Minkoff both move from drums to bass and guitar or even mandolin and accompany Nash with their vocal harmonies for almost the entire evening.
For this show in two parts separated by an intermission (“It gives me the chance to go pee… Don’t laugh! Try that at 82!” said a joking Nash), the singer and guitarist served several classics from the beginning.
Nash was surrounded by solid musicians in Zach Djanikian, Adam Minkoff and Todd Caldwell, who spent eight years touring with the band Crosby, Stills & Nash. (Palais Montcalm)
A Marrakesh Express by Crosby, Stills & Nash, composed in a train between Casablanca and Marrakesh, or Military Madnessa piece that the naturalized British American performed after admitting that he felt better since Joe Biden withdrew from the presidential race in favor of his vice-president Kamala Harris. To hear the applause, there were few Donald Trump fans in the room.
Joni and friends
Nash’s two-year relationship with Canadian singer Joni Mitchell, although dating back more than 50 years, also repeatedly found its way onto the stage. First on I Used to be a Kinga piece he composed after they broke up, “unfortunately” he says, and in which he says that no one will ever break his heart again.
Then it is A Case of Youa piece by Mitchell said to be inspired by their relationship, then finally, just before the encore, Our House, a Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young song composed by Nash about an episode where Mitchell bought a vase at a flea market on Ventura Boulevard, in Los Angeles, and then brought it to their house in Laurel Canyon.
His friendships with Crosby, Stills and Young also enhanced the evening, as when he performed Love The One You’re Witha piece by Stephen Stills, the diptych Critical Mass and Wind on the Water, with Minkoff’s guitars which recalled the cries of whales, as well as Immigration Man et Taken At All, originally performed as a duet with the late Crosby, or the solid Ohioa piece composed by Neil Young, to close the evening.
Anecdotes
We also enjoyed the anecdotes of Nash, who lived through several periods of the golden age of music. As when, before interpreting Bus Stophe says that his manager Michael Cohen had sent him to see “the son of a woman he knew who wrote songs” in order to get rid of him.
The 15 year old kid’s name was Graham Gouldman, future member of the group 10cc who scored hits for a multitude of artists, including For Your Love Yardbirds, No Milk Today Herman’s Hermits and, of course, Bus Stop from the Hollies, Nash’s first band.
Or else Just a Song Before I Gocomposed following a bet that a friend had made with him just before he left Hawaii, where he had spent a vacation. “He bet $500 that I couldn’t write a song right before he left!” said Nash, who of course kept the bet.
A few years ago, Nash met a young woman who gave him an envelope after a show, which he didn’t open until the next day. “It was a check for $500 from the family of the guy who had bet with me 40 years ago!” he revealed, provoking bursts of laughter.
In short, an almost perfect evening where not much was really missing, except Chicago/We Can Change The Worldthe very first extract from Nash’s first solo album which was very successful in Canada when it was released in 1971.
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