Long Time Comin'

This is a response to a recent concert that stirred up a lot of history.
It could have been as long as a year ago that I heard a rumour that Crosby and Nash would be touring soon.
Back in April I saw that they were on at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester in early September. My good friend Keith and I decided we had to go and see them whilst we had the chance.
I liked the idea of seeing Graham Nash on home ground, so tickets were booked, and every so often there would be a flutter of excitement as we talked about the concert. I'm sure some people thought we were just a pair of old hippies off to see another pair of even older hippies. There's always the danger of disappointment, when musical heroes age. I had seen the Byrds at Bath in 1970, but I hadn't seen the Hollies or any combination of Crosby Stills and Nash when I was younger.
I read a good review of their recent concerts, but we didn't do a lot of homework or research - just going with the flow.
When the band walked on stage and launched into 'Eight Miles High' we were up there, giddy with excitement! Astoundingly powerful. Then Graham Nash introduced 'Bus Stop' the old Graham Gouldman Hollies' song, for his sister in the audience.
The set went from strength to strength - all the old favourites you could hope for, and some newer songs I recognised from their 2004 album. There was no sense of nostalgia. these were familiar and unfamiliar songs, played by a band at the top of their game.
The banter, the affection, the sense of respect filled the hall, audience to performers, band member to band member. It just kept getting better, and yet there was a sense that the musicians could still go further.
Harmony all around. Graham Nash had old friends and family in the audience. He had received an honorary doctorate that day from Salford University - cue jokes about prescribing for Crosby.
They played for an incredible three hours, with a short, less than 15 minute break.
Emotions flooded back - many of those songs and their lyrics seem to be hard wired in my brain. We talked about how we used to listen. Was it the intensity of youth, or the intensity of the experience of listening to a favourite album again and again in candle lit rooms?
Their political and environmental message - as well as the very personal messages in songs like Our House and Teach Your Children,became the template for our lives and attitudes - romantic and realistic - full of loving kindness and affection.
There was David Crosby's son, adopted and then reunited with him, James Raymond, who had inherited his father's talent for music and song writing, playing in the band.
There were some strange connections for me. My boyfriend of those far off days, Derek Taylor, introduced me to Crosby Stills and Nash's music. He played in a band called Dhyani with a member of Greasy Bear, Steve Whalley. Other members of Greasy Bear included Ian Wilson ( later of Sad Cafe) and Chris Lee ( C P Lee of Salford University among other claims to fame). Who should I bump into on the way out but Ian. And then Chris posted a fabulous photo of Graham Nash in his doctor's robes on facebook.
Keith and I couldn't resist trying to work out how old Crosby and Nash are, though age had nothing to do with the power of their performance, unless it was down to experience and constant practice. Nash is 68 and Crosby 70. It feels like someone has moved the goalposts yet again on what possibilities for creativity the years might bring. Have no fear.
Ironically, outside Bridgewater Hall was a seething mass of fluorescent jacketed policemen, road blocks, closed roads and car parks, all in preparation for the Conservative party conference, and the trouble expected in response to the policies of the present government.