I’ve been exceptionally lucky in my life in so many ways. I was thinking about this yesterday after hearing the news that David Crosby had died, at age 81.
I spent the morning listening to some of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s biggest hits: “Carry On,” “Woodstock,” “Teach Your Children,” “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes,” “Ohio.” I was thinking about how amazing it would’ve been to have seen them live.
And that’s when I remembered: Two decades ago, I had.
It was my sophomore year of college. CSNY had reunited and was doing a tour full of protest songs about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. St. Louis was the second-to-last stop on the tour, and since I was just two hours down the road in Columbia, MO, my roommate and I drove out to see them.
I remember they did two sets — the first full of newer protest songs (“Let’s Impeach the President,” “Military Madness”), and the second full of hits (“Southern Cross,” “Rockin’ in the Free World”). They were men of the ‘60s who also happened to be, at that moment, in their 60s. I remember talking through the first set, and loving the second one. I remember that it was a beautiful fall night in St. Louis.
It was a great night of music, but there have been a lot of those over the last twenty years: Springsteen, McCartney, U2, Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell.
I know how lucky I’ve been. I’ve gotten the chance to see great artists, to go amazing places, to meet incredible people.
Is there more out there? Sure, I hope so.
But I’ve been lucky, a thousand times over. I don’t think I could ask for more.
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At top, that’s a video of David Crosby performing “Ohio” at Newport Folk Festival in 2018. I wasn’t there that year, but true to the title of this post, I’m a lucky guy — I got to go in 2022.