There are two significant rock milestones occuring this week. Tomorrow, August 14th is David Crosby's 68th birthday. And then August 15th is the 40th anniversary of the music festival to end all music festivals: Woodstock. How do the two connect? Woodstock was Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young's second-ever live performance and launched the supergroup on an extraordinary career into the 1970s and beyond.
Crosby, a former member of the Byrds, joined up with the Hollies' Graham Nash and former Buffalo Springfield member Stephen Stills to create some of the sweetest harmonies I have ever heard. They were joined by Stills' former Springfield cohort Neil Young on an on-and-off basis. This augmented participation actually began at Woodstock as Young sat out the group's acoustic set and refused to be filmed participating in their electric set. They've come together from time to time over the years. Their most recent outing was in 2006 as all 4 toured to support Young's Living With War CD.
Here's CSNY's performance of Blackbird at Woodstock, minus Y.
