Saw Stephen Stills last night

terrapin · #1 08-03-2015, 04:38 PM

I have Stephen 6 times throughout his career with his various bands and projects. Has Been kinda hit and miss as to the quality of the performance based on where he was at with his Substance Monster at the time! Last night he was obviously sober, focused and committed to putting on a good show...which he did! Instead of the customary acoustic set followed by an electric set he chose to intersperse both durin a 2 set, 2 1/2 hour performance. Great selection of material from his catalog with an emphasis on the Manassas years. Also did a few standard folk songs and 4 cuts from his recent work with the Rides (his project with Kenny Wayne Shepard).

He played a Plethora of NICE guitars. Acoustically he used two custom D-45's (both Sitka over Brazilian) and a Gorgeous 00-45 also Sitka over Braz. As expected the vast majority of the acoustic stuff was in open tunings. His fingerpicking was accurate and adept, and he was obviously pushing himself by reinventing familiar licks and fills. WONDERFUL tone which was pleasantly surprising to me because I often find his amplified acoustic tone to be a"quacky" and unnatural sounding. Electrically he used a Custom Gretsch White Falcon (no surprise) and 3 different vintage Strats. He ran the electrics into either a wide-panel Tweed Princeton or a wide-panel Tweed Concert (I think)? Wonderful electric tone as well, but I kept wanting that Tele into a big Tweed with the treble off and the Bass dimed like in Wooden Ships. Great, tight, focused band.

If you get the chance, go see him. At least on this night he was at a high point in his game!

muscmp · #2 08-03-2015, 04:52 PM

i saw the pbs special a while back and was thoroughly impressed with the band, except for stephen. i loved owlsey, pills and hash

way back when, but i was unimpressed with his playing and singing on the special. kenny wayne shepard was fantastic as was the band.

i don't believe they made a tweed concert. if it was ancient, it may have been a twin or bassman.

play music!

6L6 · #3 08-03-2015, 05:03 PM

Thanks for the review!

Bill

terrapin · #4 08-03-2015, 05:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by muscmp

i saw the pbs special a while back and was thoroughly impressed with the band, except for stephen. i loved owlsey, pills and hash

way back when, but i was unimpressed with his playing and singing on the special. kenny wayne shepard was fantastic as was the band.

i don't believe they made a tweed concert. if it was ancient, it may have been a twin or bassman.

play music!

Well, this was a Stephen Stills show, not a Rides show, and he played and sang wonderfully. Yes, he has lost a bit of vocal range, but, he is not a young man anymore!

Tomm Williams · #5 08-03-2015, 05:18 PM

Nice to hear as the two times I saw him .......it was not impressive.

terrapin · #6 08-03-2015, 05:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tomm Williams

Nice to hear as the two times I saw him .......it was not impressive.

Yes, like I said, I was a bit nervous as to how he would do based on my experiences, but was very pleasantly surprised.

jpd · #7 08-03-2015, 05:22 PM

If he was on top of the monster, you saw a great show. Thru the years I've also seen him live...at times you could have argued that point! Glad to hear he was focused....."been a long time coming".....and what a volume of material he has!

cyclistbrian · #8 08-03-2015, 05:46 PM

..........

TJNies · #9 08-03-2015, 07:05 PM

I'm a fan of Stills' work throughout his career. Except the 90-00 years where his acoustic seemed over-processed. Too much chorus and reverb for my taste.

Compare any of those years to the Woodstock video (admittedly poorly-recorded) and the Woodstock sounds far more acoustic than the later shows.

jseth · #10 08-03-2015, 09:28 PM

REALLY GOOD to hear that Stephen put on a great show! I have seen him several times, once with the Buffalo Springfield, back in the day, at the Carousel on the 'Strip, and then 4 nights in a row when CSNY played the Greek Theatre in LA, one week after Woodstock in '69! Joni Mitchell opened; they played 5 or 6 nights... I went on the third night, and EVERY night thereafter... then I saw CSNY for the last time at the Forum in L.A., around the "4-Way Streets" period...

I've been really dismayed by his lack of control with all his drinking and drugs... I'm not a teetotaler by any means, but one of the rules of the game is: You HAVE TO HANDLE IT! And he's been out of control for far too long... just my opinion... but the work he's put his name on in the past couple decades has been very spotty for a man of his talents...

One of my heroes, as a songwriter and a singer, and ESPECIALLY as an acoustic guitarist!

Glennwillow · #11 08-03-2015, 09:47 PM

Hi Terrapin,

What, that sounds like a great evening. I am thoroughly envious! Good for you!

- Glenn

terrapin · #12 08-03-2015, 09:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Glennwillow

Hi Terrapin,

What, that sounds like a great evening. I am thoroughly envious! Good for you!

- Glenn

It was a very fun evening. I have so much admiration for Stills' talent. He is one of my favorite guitarists bot acoustically and electric. And, he has written so many great songs. I hope he can hold on to this new season of sobriety. Otherwise he is done, if not dead!

syrynx · #13 08-03-2015, 11:06 PM

I've seen Stills only once in concert, with Manassas. (Wow, how did 40+ years go by so quickly?)

The show was advertised as starting at 8:00 PM. At 8:00 PM, Stills and the band were on stage; there was no opening act, no building tension by being fashionably late.

At about 9:30, Stills announced, "We're gonna take a 15 minute break, and we'll be back with some acoustic stuff." Fifteen minutes later, Stills took the stage alone, and did a few songs solo and one or two duets with Chris Hillman. Then they started "Love the One You're With." The rest of the band joined at intervals, and by the final chorus the whole band was playing.

They were still playing at 11:30 when I had to leave, not for any obligation elsewhere, but because I was supersaturated. I just couldn't soak up any more music.

I vowed to myself that night that if I were ever to play music in public and get paid for it, I'd do my best to be as prompt as Stills and Manassas, and to give the audience everything I had. While I'm sure there were lapses, I never forgot that show or that vow during the 15 years when I depended solely upon playing music for what I laughingly called my living. I think that determination is largely what enabled me to survive for so long despite being only a mediocre performer on my best nights. :oops:

The guitars Stills played that night included an Esquire, a White Falcon, and a D-45; there may have been others.

Gasworker · #14 08-04-2015, 06:50 AM

I've seen him live and with various bands and have never been disappointed. Granted he is not the best solo act and he is not alone there but hearing him play his own songs is amazing.
I think he would be a big hit on the AGF as he is well known for chasing tone with various experiments. Soaking strings in BBQ sauce is just one of his ideas. I wonder if Sous Chef BBQ sauce is better than mass produced BBQ sauce?

paulp1960 · #15 08-04-2015, 06:59 AM

I saw Crosby, Stills and Nash in the UK about 17 years ago.

They sung like angels and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.

I thought they were brilliant.