I was watching bits of the Glastonbury Festival over the weekend, particularly Bruce Springsteen on Saturday night. Before he was on though, another band who I used to listen to many years ago appeared - Crosby, Stills and Nash.

Glastonbury was last weekend - it was amazing!

Now many of you might never have heard of this American folk-rock trio before, but 40 years ago they were big news. Dave Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash had left their existing, already successful bands, namely the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield and the Hollies, to form one of the first so-called ‘supergroups’. They released their first album in 1969 and were soon joined by Neil Young, to become Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. (They were once parodied as Crosby, Stills, Nash, Young, Gifted and Black, but that’s another story.)
One of the first concerts they played – it might have even been the first – was the legendary Woodstock Festival in the US. Their folksy harmonising seemed to epitomise the ‘free-love-for-all’ hippyness of the times. It was easy music to chill to, although the term had yet to be invented.

Hippies

Watching them play at Glastonbury it occurred to me that there can’t be many bands who played at Woodstock who were still going now, let alone playing to a festival-sized crowd such as Glastonbury. The only other one I can think of is The Who, but someone might correct me on that. Their appearance seemed to bookend the last 40 years neatly. We’ve gone from the mud and disorganisation of Woodstock (so many people turned up and broke down the perimeter fences that they had to give in and declare it a free festival) to the mud and superb organisation of Glastonbury. At Woodstock, the place was eventually declared a disaster area and food and water had to be shipped in. Glastonbury is like a five star camp site in comparison.

The boss. Wasn’t bossing the stage around.

Sadly, C,S&N didn’t really live up to expectations. With the exception of Graham Nash, the passing of time hasn’t been kind to the band members and the performance lacked a little something. Sometimes it’s better to stick with your memories than try to re-visit something.
The previous evening though, their one-time collaborator, Neil Young, had headlined at the festival and brought the house down. Nature has not been kind to Young either, but after years of ravaging him, it has obviously given up and just left him to get on with it. There was something almost primeval in Young’s performance. He snarled and prowled about the stage, almost daring anyone to challenge him. His rendition of ‘Keep on Rocking in the Free World’ was nothing short of magnificent and the crowd responded accordingly.

Neil Young was amazing

So some people can pass the test of time, others can’t. I looked up some of the other events of 1969 to remind myself what else was going on in that so-called ‘summer of love’. Man, of course, landed on the Moon, which was the most significant achievement of the year, or of any year for that matter. The Apollo program was curtailed a few years later and no one has set foot on our nearest celestial neighbour since 1972. Happily, there are finally plans to return by about 2010.

The Boeing 747 made its maiden flight that year as well. Monty Python’s Flying Circus was first broadcast and television transmissions in colour started in the UK. On the automotive front, we had the birth of the Ford Capri, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year.

The Ford Capri is younger than Bruce,,,

There was one other performer who could have appeared at both Woodstock and Glastonbury this year if history had taken a different  turn. Bruce Springsteen was just starting out in his career and passed up the opportunity to play the festival, instead choosing to perform in his home town of New Jersey. Just think of it - from Woodstock ’69 to headlining Glastonbury ’09. Now that would have been a journey.