Fotos International/Getty Images
Fotos International/Getty Images
This week marks the 50th anniversary of the original Woodstock festival, which took place from August 15 to the morning of August 18, 1969, in Bethel, New York. Among the many famous artists that played historic event were Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, whose performance at 3 a.m. on the 18th marked the quartet’s second concert ever.
CSNY’s full performance, which featured acoustic and electric sets, was recently released in its entirety for the first time ever as part of the massive Woodstock: Back to the Garden box set.
Graham Nash tells ABC Radio that he wasn’t happy about the whole show being released because he didn’t think the band played well during its electric set.
“Acoustically, with ‘Suite: Judy Blue Eyes’ and ‘Marrakesh Express,” we were right on it,” Nash maintains, “but electrically, when Neil [Young] joined us, it didn’t sound great to me.”
Graham says one of his favorite memories from the performance was when he and his now-estranged friend David Crosby teamed up for an acoustic duet.
“It was just me and David doing ‘Guinnevere’ with one guitar and two voices…and a half a million people,” Nash recalls. “That moment I remember incredibly clearly. It was kind of overwhelming.”
In the famous 1970 Woodstock documentary, Young isn’t shown performing with Crosby, Stephen Stills and Nash, and that’s because, according to interviews with Neil, he was annoyed by the cameramen being onstage with the group and demanded that they not film him.
“We didn’t know until afterwards that he had said…’Don’t ever film one frame of me,'” Graham tells ABC Radio. “I had no idea, and neither did Stephen and neither did David. But, it’s Neil.”
Asked whether he watched any others acts’ performances, Nash admits, “No, we were just too busy getting high in [John] Sebastian‘s tent.”
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