Freedom of Speech Tour:
A Review of CSN&Y at Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia

August 11, 2006

A few short months ago Emily and I sat in a movie theater and watched Neil Young's concert movie Heart of Gold. Recorded live at the Ryman in Nashville, Tennessee, the video encompassed one important facet of Young's work: the country-influenced "Harvest" songs. That movie followed hard upon the release of Prairie Wind, his latest installment in this line of albums. Given the autobiographical references and the album's release following his recovery from a brain aneurysm, it was tempting to watch Heart of Gold and to see it as something of a career summary.

The new Living with War album demonstrates that while Heart of Gold might be a summary of one line of albums, it is nowhere close to a summary of his work.. it defiantly leaps out of the bonds of country and embraces the kind of rock protest that is best represented by his song "Ohio", recorded for a Crosby Stills Nash & Young album. Although Living with War was not recorded in the studio with that group, it is with them that Young has chosen to tour in support of the album. That choice works for two reasons: first, the harmonic capability of the vocal quartet works well for these new songs; but second, their presence allows for a summary of a different line of albums, which we could call "activist rock."

Young's solo albums are not without social commitment.. but many of them come from resolutely personal space. They have the feel of private musings. From these albums we get such lines as "better to burn out than to fade away" or "the needle and the damage done.." The mega-group status of CSNY appears to allow Young a chance to speak with a more public voice. In the presence of three other stars the call is not to voice the personal, but to speak with a more public voice: to sing lines that four voices can harmonize with.

The concert in support of Living with War was entitled the "Freedom of Speech Tour".. and the call for each member of the group appears to have been to select songs that reflect political activism. That is not too difficult a demand for members whose work includes: "Something's Happening Now" and "Chicago" and "Woodstock" and "Ohio." Only the last of that cluster is actually by Young, but their inclusion in this concert, with Young singing and playing guitar in support of them, reminds that his commitment to activist songs is deeper even than his own songbook.. it is a commitment rooted in a stage he shares with David Crosby, Stephen Stills, and Graham Nash.

It was a shared stage last night. In the early 1970s, looking at a stage occupied by these four, it would have been difficult to decide who was the dominant talent. Looking at them now, it is Young who towers over the others, encouraging them but also blazing ahead in terms of energy and the unending quality of his material. Still it was not Young's concert, it was a group concert. It was CSN&Y. It was a particular stage from which Young has always spoken in a public way.