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In past years, Bluesfest has established itself as the most reliable festival in Australia, to deliver an annual serving of legendary performers and musicians. Bringing lauded shows from Bob Dylan and B.B King to our shores in 2011, the festival set a tough precedent to top this year. That said, with Crosby, Stills, and Nash, they might just have done it. While there are few artists of the same age that still tour, there are significantly less that do it with the professionalism and energy that Crosby, Stills and Nash harness, defying their age.

Their performance at the Hordern Pavilion reaffirmed the festival’s decision to bring out the band, featuring hits, newer songs, and tracks from the band member’s many side-projects. The show’s audience was in itself indicative of the nature of the performance – as a chance for fans and band alike to revel and relive the times, in which the majority of the music of the night, was first played. There were few faces younger than fifty in the crowd, and frankly, it would have felt wrong for it to be any other way.

Opening the set with an extended jam of Carry On, the band musically assured the audience that they were still as skilful as ever, with trademark rich harmonies accompanied by Stephen Stills’ acclaimed guitar skills. Both Carry On and the following track, Marrakesh Express, were punctuated by the faint voices of audience members singing along, echoing its importance as something both historical and personal for the majority in attendance. Graham Nash introduced Military Madness with the sombre statement “We hate playing this song… we wrote it over 40 years ago, and we still haven’t fucking learned it” reaffirming the strong political undercurrents which play an integral role in the music of the band. In newer music, however, this same political fervency was as potent as ever, with Almost Gone (The Ballad of Bradley Manning) critiquing a more modern injustice.

Rather than embarking on a simple reunion tour and playing the exact songs the audience wanted to hear, the band frequently opted for newer material with David Crosby surmising “we like to play a few new songs; we have to keep writing material. It’s what keeps us alive. It’s what stops us from being the Eagles.” Mixing older and new material is frequently an issue with reunion tours, however, there was a consistent, undeniable quality to the newer music, that saw an audience respond with almost as much enthusiasm as they did for the band’s greatest hits. Moving through a cover of Buffalo Springfield’s Bluebird, the title track of their most famous record Déjà vu, and the audience favourite Wooden Ships; the band ended the first half of their set after ninety minutes- a length that would suffice most others their age, however after a short break, Crosby, Stills and Nash, returned to the stage.

Moving through quieter material, including Helplessly Hoping, Johnny’s Garden, and a cover of the Bob Dylan song Girl from the North Country, the band demonstrated the diversity that defined their sound; a unique ability to transition from psychedelic freak outs, to soft and melancholic acoustically driven song. Graham Nash’s political activism punctuated the show with the band’s strong protest influence as prominent as ever, typified in newer songs such as In Your Name, a plea against religiously-justified murder. The set was extensive with over two hours of material clearly resounding with the audience, who had been assured there money had not gone to waste. Woodstock, and Love the One You’re With got equally raucous appeal, but one of the key highlights of the night was the defining song Our House. Crosby’s introduction, “80% of people who lost their virginity in the 70’s… lost it to this song”, although comedic, enforced the track as a timeless love song. Throughout the song, the importance of the band’s music was affirmed by a brief audience glance revealing multitudes of teary attendees.

After multiple encores, and applause, Crosby, Stills and Nash ended their lengthy set with a cover of the seminal Buffalo Springfield track For What It’s Worth. Featuring every aspect of the group from their powerful harmonies, to the inimitable guitar-work of Stephen Stills, the track served as a more than apt closer, to a concert that served as a reminiscent event for both audience and band. David Crosby, who had a cold on the night, gave a humble statement “I’m sorry for not singing that well. I’ll come back and do it better next time” which epitomised the band’s show. Far from a self-gratuitous money-grab, Crosby, Stills and Nash, proved that their focus is still the fans they’ve had for over fourty years. It’s definitely going to be a hard year for Bluesfest to top this one.

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