Graham Nash – Sydney Opera House 19th March 2024
There are few better settings for a concert than the Sydney Opera House and Graham Nash delivered a performance in its’ concert hall, equal in splendour to the location. On his Sixty Years of Songs and Stories tour, the slender 82 year old Nash dressed in pencil thin blue jeans, was accompanied by multi instrumentalists, Adam Minkoff (drums, guitar, bass & vocals), Zach Djanikian (guitar, bass, drums, vocals & saxophone) and Todd Caldwell (keyboards & vocals.). Each played their part in this celebration of songs penned by Graham Nash, complemented by others borrowed from his former partners in Crosby Stills Nash & Young.
World War 11 saw Nash’s mother evacuated from industrial Salford, Lancashire in 1942 to the safer haven of Blackpool, where Graham Nash was born (“in an upstairs room”). Following his move to the USA in 1968, teaming up with David Crosby and Stephen Stills, Nash was immediately at the forefront of that country’s anti Vietnam War counterculture.
Despite this background, the Sydney Opera House performance was not that of a man still crusading constantly against the death and destruction caused by war. Yes, the show was punctuated with many references to the current state of the world and the more unseemly characters on this earth, (Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump receive mention), but above all, Graham Nash came to entertain the Sydney audience and in his kit bag he carried a string of songs comprising stimulating lyrics and delightful melodies.
The show opened with Wasted on the Way, a commentary on the lengthy period of enmity and estrangement of the CSNY band members after their initial explosion on the world music scene. This was followed by Marrakesh Express, a song that The Hollies turned down, triggering Nash’s exit from that band.
Broken relationships have been a catalyst for some of Nash’s best compositions and I Used to Be a King was written after his separation from Joni Mitchell. This was followed by Military Madness, with some nice wah wah guitar effect from Zach Djanikian, addition of Russan leader “Putin” into the lyrics and an engaged audience chanting “No More War” in the song’s outro.
Bus Stop was pre-empted by an interesting tale as to how The Hollies snared the song from its’ 15 year old songwriter and later 10CC founder Graham Gouldman. This version saw Adam Minkoff replicating Nash’s original high vocal harmony on the bridge and his more senior colleague settling comfortably into the lower melody.
One of the show’s highlights followed, To The Last Whale/Critical Mass/ Wind on the Water, a CSN song that spotlighted that band’s concern for the slaughter of whales. The lights went down and the original CSN recording provided the intro, supplemented by the band with Nash on keyboards and Zach Djanikian providing simulated whale cries on guitar.
Graham Nash gave an interesting insight into Immigration Man a personal favourite of mine, inspired by a “tiff’ with a USA immigration officer when the musician was re entering his adopted country. Better Days featured a lovely sax solo by Zach Djanikian and the set ended with Love The One You’re With, complete with audience participation in the chorus.
Announcing the 20 minute break between sets, Nash said that he had to have a pee, commenting that it can’t be avoided “when you are in your sixties”. If urinary frequency is the English American’s sole physical concern, he has done very well after hanging out with David Crosby for so many years !
The second set kicked off with another product of Nash’s failed relationship with Joni Mitchell, Simple Man with Nash solo on vocal, keyboards and harmonica. Delving into the Stephen Stills cupboard of songs, Nash then produced an lovely rendition of 4 + 20, complete with elegant and precise fingerpicking on acoustic guitar, the performance of which, the song’s writer would have been well pleased.
Wounded Bird followed, yet another result of a relationship, this time not Nash’s but Stills’, written as a warning to his bandmate during the latter’s liaison with folkie songstress, Judy (Suite Judy Blue Eyes) Collins.
Taken At All gave Zach Djanikian and Adam Minkoff the opportunity to add some nice backing vocals to a less well known CSNY song and this led into A Better Life. A recent composition, this is Nash almost basking in a sunshine of optimism, encouraging us all to leave the world in a better state than that which we have inherited from our forebears.
A story of a hallucinatory drug experience in Winchester U.K. leads into Cathedral a dramatic track with piercing vocals from Nash and then a little ditty, Just a Song Before I Go, written in Hawaii at the request of a friend who asked the departing Nash if he could write him a song, in the 15 minutes left before Nash returned to mainland USA.
By now, the source of the inspiration for Our House must be well known to all fans of CSNY (going shopping with Joni Mitchell, buying a vase, going home to a cold house, lighting a fire, putting flowers in the vase etc.). This doesn’t diminish the impact of this beautiful melody which closed the second set, with Nash and Todd Caldwell providing keyboard input with vocals and harmonies by the complete ensemble.
The audience were well aware that there were still unlocked treasures in the CSNY locker and we were treated to many gems in the encores. The brief, but marvellous lesson in vocal harmonies that is Find The Cost Of Freedom, the definitive soft rock anthem Teach Your Children complemented with lovely (in tune) backing vocals from the crowd, a song in synch with its’ composer’s A Better Life philosophy and Chicago from 1971, in which Nash reinforces his opinion that yes, we really can change the world.
To close the show, Nash borrowed Ohio from Neil Young, a song written by Young in reaction to the shooting deaths by the US National Guard of four anti war Kent State University students in 1970. This highlight was delivered with pulsating lead guitar from Zach Djanikian and searing vocals from Nash. By now, the crowd had been well and truly entertained by this 82 year old craftsman of evocative lyrics and charming melodies.
Graham Nash’s performance at the Sydney Opera House has definitely contributed to a “better life” for this long time fan and I’m sure that all those who witnessed “Sixty Years of Songs and Stories” on the night, would agree.
David Jack ©2024
David Jack 