As you’ve probably noticed, Classic Rock artists have recently been releasing old concerts, and now Crosby Stills Nash & Young are part of the trend. Neil Young joined CSN shortly before they played four times in two days at the Fillmore East. The four-man group had performed just two shows (including Woodstock) before appearing at the New York City venue. There have been poor-quality bootlegs of this concert from September 20th of 1969, but now we have the high-quality eight-track mixing-board recordings.
Live At Fillmore East, 1969 was released October 25th, 2024. The review is below.
The 2024 mix of the album was supervised by Stephen Stills and Neil Young. As an audio buff, Young was particularly happy with the result. He said “It’s all analog. The vinyl comes out just like it would have been in 1969. It’s a beautiful thing.”
The tracks are in the same order on the records and the CD. The acoustic set is on record one, and the electric set on record two. The group was joined by drummer Dallas Taylor and bassist Greg Reeves. This was before CSNY released the album Deja Vu (which was March 11th of 1970).
That timing makes for an interesting concert that covers ground from Buffalo Springfield “On The Way Home” and Neil Young’s first album “I’ve Loved Her So long” to not-yet-released songs such as Still’s “4 + 20”, “Go Back Home” & “Find The Cost Of Freedom”, plus Graham Nash’s “Our House”. Seven of the songs are from the original Crosby Stiils & Nash album released earlier that year. The new live album features a 16-minute jam of “Down By The River”, a song from Neil Young’s 1969 Crazy Horse album, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere.
Review: Serious CSN&Y fans will consider this a must-have album. It’s historic in that it’s near the beginning of Crosby Stills Nash & Young as a touring group. They’re just figuring out how to blend Neil Young into the band. The album begins with just CSN. Stephen Stills is on guitar and lead vocal, and Crosby & Nash provide the harmonies to “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes”. They do an excellent job on the very challenging song. They then play a song that was an album cut released a year earlier, “Blackbird” off The Beatles’ White Album. Here we get the song in beautiful three-part harmony. “Helplessly Hoping” is next, and well done, although you may find the giggling in the middle either charming or annoying.
The peak of the album comes in the next two songs, “Guinevere” and “Lady Of The Island”. David Crosby and Graham Nash trade off singing harmony on each other’s songs and the results are gorgeous. Stills is excellent on two solo songs, “Go Back Home” and “4 & 20”. Neil Young joins in the acoustic set with the nicely done Buffalo Springfield song, “On The Way Home” and his own “I’ve Loved Her So Long”. Nash performs the not-yet-released “Our House”, with then girlfriend Joni Mitchell in the audience. The acoustic set is all good, and ends with a solid version of “You Don’t Have To Cry”.
The electric set is the lesser part of the concert, as Stephen Stills pretty well admits. He said… “The acoustic part of the show took care of itself, but now we had the equipment and Dallas and Greg and sizable shows to do, we just went for it. What we lacked in finesse, we made up in enthusiasm.”
The electric set’s highlights are a good version of “Wooden Ships”, and the long 16-minute jamming on Neil Young’s “Down By The River”. All in all, CSNY Live At Fillmore East is a welcome part of the band’s legacy.
Graham Nash is pleased the concert was finally released, he said… “I remember the first Fillmore East shows with great fondness. Hearing the music again after all these years, I can tell how much we loved each other and loved the music we were creating.”
One of the best aspects of this album is that old friends Stephen Stills and Neil Young are working together again. Besides mixing the live recordings, the two performed at the Harvest Moon charity event October 5th, 2024.
Stills & Young started their set with “Long May You Run”, and then played crowd-pleasing songs that went all the way back to Buffalo Springfield (including “Bluebird” & “For What It’s Worth”) from the 1960’s. There were of course CSNY songs, and some Neil Young classics. The two were supported onstage by bassist Corey McCormick and drummer Anthony Logerfo.
Bonus photo: Fillmore East
I was there. It was magical and with my best buds’. The East felt seedy walking in , but when we left the whole world felt like a better place.
Be well
John L
I was there also and still have what I guess you would call the Filmore Playbill from that concert. Slept outside the Filmore the night before those tickets went on sale.
I’m so jealous 😁
“I Loved Her So Long” was off of Neil’s self titled first album, not off of any Buffalo Springfield album. He may have written it during his tenure with the Springfield, but he released as a solo song.
Editor: Yes, thanks for catching that. The copy is adjusted.