CSNY 1974 Tour Box Set: Release Now Set for 2013

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
Wembley Stadium, London, 1974-09-14
Photo by smartsetpix | Flickr
(click photo to enlarge)

As we've reported over the years, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young have been working on a CSNY 1974 Tour Box Set. At the rate they've been going, they just might have it ready for the 40th anniversary of the tour!?

Now comes word from 4 Way Site that the CSNY 1974 Concert DVD is due to be released in the first quarter of 2013.

In an interview with CBS This Morning Crosby, Stills, and Nash discussed their current tour and how the dynamics of the group are better than ever before. "Were really good this year, people are responding well." Nash said.

The group also mentioned the release of their new concert DVD in July. But perhaps the biggest news of all was an announcement about the long-awaited 1974 reunion box set. "When Neil joins us, its different, its a darker edge, more mysterious, he brings a different kind of music to us." Nash said.

The box set is tentatively set to be released in the first quarter of 2013.

Graham Nash left fans will one final hopefully comment about the possible status of an incoming CSNY tour." If you have a new record, don't you have to go and perform it?

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's 1974 summer tour was unprecedented in many ways -- not the least of which was a pioneering mega huge sound system able to blast tens of thousands at outdoor stadiums. The Bill Graham produced spectacle went on to usher in the massive rock and roll extravaganzas that so many other acts would later follow.



Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
1974-08-23, Stadium, Tampa, Florida
Photo Gallery by John Gellman Photography

Planned as a three CD and a DVD set, the box is being put together by Joel Bernstein and Stanley Johnston from eight full shows from that tour.


Stephen Stills and Neil Young
CSNY Concert: 1974-08-23, Stadium, Tampa, Florida
Photo Gallery by John Gellman Photography

A comment by Yardbird:

I saw them on their reunion tour at the Capital Center in DC and it was one of the best concerts I've been to.

The DC crowd was attentive and appreciated their wooden music as much as their electric. It was like attending several concerts in one as they played together, then split up to play individually or as a duo (Crosby & Nash) and then finished together. It was a long concert, but awesome. As stated by an earlier poster, Neil Young was clearly the star of that night, when he played a solo set near the show's end. I hope they include something from the DC show.

I am definitely looking forward to this release!

Crosby Stills Nash Young & Mitchell - Helpless (1974)

Nick Dagan | MySpace Video
CSNY w/ Joni Mitchell - "Helpless", 1974-09-14, Wembley Stadium, London, England

From Stephen Stills: As I Come of Age by Bill DeYoung:

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young attempted a studio reunion in the fall of '73, but the old bitterness reappeared and it failed. By the following spring, however, they were rehearsing at Young's ranch for what turned out to be the first all–stadium rock 'n' roll tour.

"We did this wonderful, monstrous tour, but no album came out of it," Stills said of the summer '74 jaunt, which had many fans bitching that the foursome been brought back together—remember that guy at Big Sur? — for the money.

Stills has an answer. "We grossed $11 million," he said. "But we were getting away with a profit margin of less than 20 percent. They were spending so much money on this grandiose shit, and the parties, and the backstage, and taking care of all of their friends.

"We didn't do enough press; we were not doing the right things because everybody was too hip for that or something. I found that a little disconcerting. There's such a thing as too cool."

He tried to get the band to rehearse a proper set. "The rehearsals were like jam sessions. I was the burr under the saddle, and the irritating force that kept telling them 'could we please get a cogent arrangement together here?'

"And the potheads were all about 'oh, just let it happen.' This is my perspective—please take it in context—we've got this enormous opportunity to get up there on the tall dogs' level. So I'm of a mind that there's a certain amount of discipline that should be exercised."

Today, the stadium tour is remembered for the unruly crowds, drowning out the acoustic sets; and for the more–fiery–than–ever electric guitar interchanges between Stills and Young.

"By this time, I'd played with Hendrix, I'd been playing lead guitar in my own band for a while, and I didn't suck," Stills said. "Like I did before.

"There was a lot of manic energy around. The same kind of stuff that used to have the Who beating the shit out of each other, the same kind of stuff that broke up a lot of other bands. We kind of steeled ourselves to it.

"But I was angry a lot. There was one time after a show where I thought I'd really played good, and we walk off the stage. On the stage I'd gotten a lot of stink–eye from David, and Neil said 'You played all over everything.'

"There was this 'CSNY' made in ice backstage. There's a picture somewhere, and I've got an expression on my face that says this guy is ready for a fight.

"They start giving me shit, and the show blew. We were playing too loud and the harmonies weren't together, we weren't using any methodology to get ourselves singing correctly. There was too much of everything around, including old girlfriends, every sycophant you could possibly imagine—each camp had its own set of sycophants. We were just buying into the whole act.

"I walked backstage and I was so frustrated, I took this thing apart with backfists and knuckle punches and karate. I took it apart right in front of them. This thing had to be 10 inches deep and four inches wide. I went through the 'N' with one punch, and it just shattered.

"Because I knew they were going to come after me about something that I'd done wrong on the stage, and I just put an end to it."

Rolling Stone - August 15th, 1974
More on the reunion tour of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young in 1974.

(Thanks Matt!)

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