In the 1960s, David Crosby, Stephen Stills, and Graham Nash formed a vocal trio group after leaving The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, and The Hollies respectively. Their harmonizing for the first time was officially documented in Crosby, Stills & Nash’s self-titled album released in 1969. The album went quadruple platinum, spawning two Top 40 hits with "Suite: “Judy Blue Eyes” and “Marrakesh Express” which attracted significant expectations for backing up the live performances.
It was not long before plans for touring were made for the summer of 1969. When Neil Young, a former band member of Stephen Stills’ Buffalo Springfield, joined them, the group called themselves Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. The guitarist and the songwriter came in to provide the instrumental support and the second talented songwriting mind apart from the already existing three-some geniuses. Rehearsals of the tour were initiated at Young’s ranch in Northern California’s wooded area. The laid-back and uneventful atmosphere provided the quartet with ample time to naturally bond while plotting new configurations of their collaborative and individual discographies.
Their first live concert was on the 16th of August in 1969 at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago and began extensive touring. Even though the groups had little time to rehearse, the musical compatibility of the singers was apparent from the beginning. Switching between an acoustic and electric set, they road-tested soon-to-be hits from Déjà Vu album as well as CSN&Y and older hits by The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, and The Hollies. They stretched for three hours and included as many as two dozen songs. They also rehearsed rough mixes of Neil Young’s “Cinnamon Girl,” “Down By the River,” and “Cowgirl in the Sand,” featured in Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere.
Proving to be a great live band, CSNY’s harmonies, various instruments, and showmanship made a series of Midwest dates a fan favorite. It accelerated exponentially through word-of-mouth publicity. The dynamic range of the self-produced sound from delicate complex vocal harmonies to full-band electric screams was especially breathtaking when going from one to the other. The first-round favorite cities are Chicago, Minneapolis, and Boulder, Colorado. But their performance at the legendary Woodstock Music & Art Fair on August 16 helped them increase their popularity exponentially. Despite starting at nearly 4 AM, CSNY's set of iconic anthems like "Suite: Songs such as “Judy Blue Eyes” and “Woodstock” only further cemented them as staples of counterculture icons. The exposure created an environment that prepared album sales while generating even more enthusiasm for future concert dates.
The band went to Europe in early 1970, starting the European tour with the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam on January 9th. The following dates impacted France, Denmark, England, and Germany within six weeks, showing the international appeal of CSNY’s earthy tunes. Returning home first, they next performed in popular venues such as The Forum, Berkeley Community Theatre, and Winterland Ballroom in March-April. The activity ended with a headline set at the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival on 30 August.
CSNY then proceeded with the fabled stadium and arena tour across North America during the summer of 1970. This phase saw the band performing both acoustic and electric sets including some tracks from Déjà Vu, an album that was released in March that year. The size and magnitude of these concerts were indicative of CSNY’s skyrocketing popularity, breaking records at Soldier Field in Chicago, Oakland Coliseum, and the L. A Forum. Production values increased with complicated lighting and effect schemes. The band toured on a private Boeing 720 airliner, arriving to perform dates in Atlanta, Tampa, Miami, St. Louis, and other cities. Though there was tension between the four dominant characters behind the scenes, CSNY’s stage chemistry and vocal harmony were unrivaled.
The tour was successfully running for weeks at the box office and it came to an end at the New York’s Shea Stadium on September 9-11, 1970. Promoters placed a circular platform at the second base so the band could easily switch between the acoustic and electric sides. The audience here was much larger than the hall’s baseball seating, reaching 60-70,000 people who enthusiastically sang along to songs such as “Teach Your Children,” “Our House,” “Love the One You’re With,” and “Carry On. ” The atmosphere was triumphant, symbolizing the pinnacle of CSNY’s ascendancy.
Nevertheless, the concordant mood disappeared rather shortly after that. Disputes over the organization of the live album schematics that started backstage continued to erode the relationships. Neil Young decided to leave halfway through the mixing process, which ended CSNY’s unity. They would get back together several times over the years, but the first legendary lineup disbanded prematurely, never recording studio renditions of 1970 classics like “Southern Man,” “Ohio,” and “Carry On. ”However, from the year 1969-1970 Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young introduced folk-rock as a new form of music through their exquisite vocal harmonies, versatility in musical instruments, and great performances throughout the concert tours with hit songs and multi-platinum albums. CSNY may not have lasted very long but the creativity and the power that was in this group influenced an entire counter-cultural generation of music and music makers.
