“Croz” was one of the members of The Byrds, an American “folk rock” band that utilized clear harmony singing. After leaving The Byrds, Croz joined with Graham Nash and Steven Stills (Neil Young was also a member for a time) and became one of the dominant rock bands of the late 60’s and early 70’s. They became best known for their beautiful harmonies in political and love songs. David has had both a blessed and cursed life. He has made it successfully to the top in his profession, but at the same time he lost his longtime girlfriend Christine Hinton in 1969 in a car accident which started his decline into hard drugs. After many years of drug abuse, David was arrested and spent time in prison. He almost died and had to have a liver transplant. During the show, David admits that in the past he was out of control and now is drug-free and enjoys performing sober.
David Crosby at the Talking Stick Resort Showroom on March 26, 2016 . The concert was a retrospective of his career, with songs from the different bands he was part of and covers of friend’s songs. He performed a 2+ hour solo acoustic 2 part show with a short 15-minute break between sets. The show reminded me of the old “MTV Unplugged” shows, where artists would come out on a small stage and tell stories about a song and then play it acoustically for the small audience, which gave you the feeling that you and Croz were simply hanging out and chatting. Throughout the show he was constantly changing guitars due to the songs being in different keys. While he would change guitars, he would talk to us either about his life or the history of the next song, including the song Guinevere which is about his long time love of the last 39 years. He also indicated that he is working on 2 new solo albums – one of which is done and should be released this summer and the other is about three quarters done.
I have been a longtime fan of CSN and their first album was one of the very first I bought as a teenager. I loved both the music and to this day, the cover photograph is one of my favorites, I even have it framed. I also thought it was a hoot that the way they were positioned on the couch and the names across the top were out of order. I first saw Croz with CSNY in the summer of 1974. It was an amazing three and a half hour show, especially when most bands then only performed for 90 minutes. This is the first time I have seen David since then. I was concerned about his voice, due to age and drugs, but I was amazed at how great his voice still is. His performance of Lee Shore was by far the highlight for me. If you like acoustic guitar and folk rock, I would highly recommend seeing Croz next time he is in town.
Review and photo by Fred Kuhlman
Photos © Fred Kuhlman 2016
The setlist included:
Set 1
- Tracks in the Dust
- Lee Shore
- Naked In The Rain
- For Free (Joni Mitchell Cover)
- Dream For Him
- Triad (Byrds Cover)
- Thousand Roads
- Where Will I Be
- Page 43
- Carry Me
Set 2
- Everybody’s Been Burned (Byrds Cover)
- Rusty And Blue
- What Are Their Names
- In My Dreams
- What Makes It So
- Somebody Home
- Laughing
- Déjà vu
- Guinevere
Encore:
- Cowboy Movie