Neil Young and Stephen Stills performed publicly together for the first time in five years at Stills’ Light Up the Blues concert, a fundraising event to benefit Autism Speaks, held at Los Angeles’ Greek Theatre.
Additionally, Graham Nash appeared by video during the show to pay tribute to David Crosby. “David was my best friend for almost 50 years. I’m going to miss him terribly in my life. I think about him every day,” Nash said, before footage played of Crosby and Nash performing “Guinnevere” in 2013 at Lincoln Center.
In further tribute, Stills performed “Wooden Ships” – the song he co-wrote with Crosby and Paul Kantner – alongside his son Chris Stills and James Raymond, Crosby’s son and longtime musical collaborator.
“Wooden Ships”
After sets from Joe Walsh and Willie Nelson, the evening climaxed with an 11-song set form Young and Stills, backed by Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real. It began with three solo Neil cuts “From Hank To Hendrix“, “Comes A Time” and “Heart Of Gold” – before Stills joined on piano for CSNY’s “Helpless” and together they played five Buffalo Springfield songs: “On The Way Home“, “Everybody’s Wrong“, “For What It’s Worth“, “Bluebird” and “Mr. Soul“. The evening concluded with the Stills-Young Band track, “Long May You Run“.
The setlist:
Young solo:
From Hank To Hendrix
Comes A Time
Heart Of Gold
With Stills:
Helpless
On The Way Home
Everybody’s Wrong (vocals by Stephen Stills)
Human Highway
For What It’s Worth (vocals by Stephen Stills)
Bluebird (vocals by Stephen Stills)
Mr. Soul
Long May You Run
And here’s some clips from the show:
“For What It’s Worth”
“Bluebird”
“Mr Soul”
“Long May You Run”