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Crosby, Stills & Nash (and Young)
CS&N01
From left to right: David Crosby, Graham Nash, Stephen Stills
Performed on Day 3
Started at 3.00 am, Monday, 18th
Played for 60 min.
Further Information
  • Official CSNY link
  • Official Crosby, Stills & Nash link
  • All Music Guide link
  • Wikipedia link
Festival Day Chronology
Prev. artist Blood, Sweat & Tears at 1.30 am
Next artist Paul Butterfield Blues Band at 6.00 am

David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash formed a loose group in 1968 after the demise of their former bands. After their first album was released in May 1969 (simply called Crosby, Stills & Nash) Neil Young joined them, too. Though the quartet was incredibly successful, the musicians rather paid attention to their individual solo careers.

Luckily the formation of CSN&Y made it to Woodstock, too. It was only their second gig[1] and they were quite nervous on stage. Stephen Stills remarked: "This is the second time we've ever played in front of people, man. We're scared shitless."

The group played separate acoustic and electric sets. Neil Young joined them in the middle of the acoustic set. They performed in the night from Sunday to Monday, the start time is supposed to be 3:00 am.



Musicians[]

  • Stephen Stills - guitar, vocals, organ, piano, percussion
  • David Crosby - guitar, vocals
  • Graham Nash - guitar, vocals, organ, percussion
  • Neil Young - guitar, vocals, organ, piano
  • Greg Reeves - bass
  • Dallas Taylor - drums

Setlist[]

Acoustic Set[]

  1. Suite: Judy Blue Eyes
  2. Blackbird
  3. Helplessly Hoping
  4. Guinnevere
  5. Marrakesh Express
  6. 4 + 20
  7. Mr. Soul
  8. I'm Wonderin'
  9. You Don't Have to Cry

Electric Set[]

  1. Pre-Road Downs
  2. Long Time Gone
  3. Bluebird Revisited
  4. Sea of Madness
  5. Wooden Ships

Acoustic Encores[]

  1. Find the Cost of Freedom
  2. 49 Bye-Byes


Details[]

The mellow and soft acoustic set with Crosby, Stills & Nash opens with a very long "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes", a love song written by Stephen Stills. It is notable for the great vocal harmonies by the three singers. "Blackbird" is a Beatles original. It's getting more interesting again with the next three songs which originate from their first album. In "Helplessly Hoping", another Stills composition, the vocal harmony is again dominant. "Guinnevere" is a ballad by David Crosby which takes a bit of a Jazz touch. And "Marrakesh Express" hits the eastern vibes as the trio keeps the train rolling. The next song, "4 + 20", was yet an unknown song for the audience. It can be found on their second album Déjà Vu released in March 1970.

After that, Neil Young came on stage. He and Stephen Stills played two songs as a duo: "Mr. Soul" and "I'm Wonderin'." They were announced as The Buffalo Springfield, their former band. Then, the whole group returned for "You Don't Have To Cry." For the electric set, drums, a bass guitar, and, for some songs, an organ (played by Neil Young) were added.

They played one acoustic song and one electric song as the encore: "Find the Cost of Freedom" (acoustic) and "49 Bye-Byes" (electric).

While Neil Young played with the group at Woodstock, he thought the performance was less than satisfactory, and wanted his name removed from the soundtrack and the film[citation needed].

Miscellaneous[]

David Crosby and Stephen Stills appeared the day after Woodstock on The Dick Cavett Show, still wearing their mud-besotted outfits seen in the film. Stephen Stills performed "4+20". The entire Woodstock-themed episode, which also featured Jefferson Airplane, is available on the Dick Cavett Show: Rock Icons DVD set.

Availability[]

Parts of their sets, as well as their full set, were released officially (see below). "Blackbird", "Helplessly Hoping", "Mr. Soul" and "Long Time Gone" can be found on film outtakes.

Audio[]

Video[]

Recording Notes[]

Though "Sea of Madness" can be found on Woodstock I and as well on Woodstock - Three Days of Peace and Music, it wasn't recorded in Woodstock! The genuine Woodstock recording was finally released in 2019 as part of the box set Woodstock - Back To The Garden.

Images[]

Please upload any picture of Neil Young that were taken at Woodstock! There are currently too few in the gallery.

References[]

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