Okee dokee folks… Legendary musician, Graham Nash, of Hollies and CSN/CSNY fame performed a memorable, sold out concert last Friday night at Plymouth Memorial Hall in Plymouth, MA.
Nash hobbled to a seat on the stage with the assist of a cane and exclaimed, “I’m 83 years old and evidently I don’t know how to walk in NYC”. His leg was in a brace from surgery that he mentioned he had had two weeks prior. His band of 3 musicians joined him and they went right into the CSN hit, “Wasted on the Way”.
He followed this with a story and a song about a train ride and what he experienced. The song was “Marrakesh Express”. “Military Madness” gave Nash an opportunity to voice his concern about the state of things in this country during the song’s introduction and to chant “No War” during through the ending of the song. There was a bit of irony in the fact that this was performed in a venue that has military items on display in the lobby.
He continued with his songs and stories about his life, time with CSN/Y and the Hollies, and Joni Mitchell. Nash has a lot of great stories and these are just as enjoyable as hearing his songs. His voice is still very strong and he effortlessly sang through his 18 song set.
What made the concert even more amazing was Nash’s backing band. Members Zach Djanikian, Adam Minkoff, Todd Caldwell were a powerhouse of instrumentation and vocals! Zach and Adam rounded out the CSN harmonies and rotated from guitar, to bass, to drums throughout the evening. Djanikian also added saxophone and mandolin. At one point during the night Minkoff played drums AND bass at the same time. Todd Caldwell was not to be left out of the mix and added tasty keys throughout.
His 18 song set included songs from Stephen Stills, The Hollies, CSN, Crosby-Nash, Joni Mitchell and was quite a satisfactory selection of songs. “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” was a very surprising encore that they claimed they had only played a couple of times. It sounded just as good as any CSN version.
If I could have I would have caught more than one show on this tour. I have seen Graham both solo and with CSN many times and Nash has never failed to give his all and deliver an astounding performance.
I recorded a podcast with Graham a couple of months ago and photographed the show as well. You can find the links for both below. Also, it was a delightful surprise when Graham mentioned that he had a friend in the audience, mentioned me by name and thanked me!
That’s it for now. You can listen to my podcasts at motifri.com/rootsreportpodcast and find my Farm Aid concert photographs at motifri.com/fuzeksfotos. Thanks for reading and listening. johnfuzek.com
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