BNB RSS

  • BNB RSS

BNB mailing list

  • BNB mailing list

Archives

Concert Review: Oakland Tribune

Review: Buffalo Springfield rides into Oakland

By Jim Harrington
Oakland Tribune
Posted: 06/02/2011 02:55:27 AM PDT

Buffalo Springfield June 1 2011

Don’t tell me you didn’t see this coming.

Buffalo Springfield’s long-awaited reunion at the 24th annual Bridge School Benefit at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View back in October — which marked the legendary 1960s group’s first public performances in 42 years — was simply too good to be a one-off event.

So it really wasn’t that big a surprise when Buffalo Springfield announced earlier this year it was planning to tour for the first time since the band split up in 1968.

Surely the promise of a big payday — a headlining set at Tennessee’s mammoth Bonnaroo festival on June 11 — factored into the decision to fire up the tour buses. But, perhaps naively, I’d like to think it also had something to do with this how meaningful the Buffalo Springfield songbook is to both the musicians and the fans.

That’s the impression I got watching the reunited Springfield — which features original members Stephen Stills, Richie Furay and the Bay Area’s own Neil Young — at the Bridge School. And I got an even stronger sense of that during the group’s performance Wednesday night at Oakland’s Fox Theater, the kickoff of a six-date California tour designed to properly prep Buffalo Springfield for its Bonnaroo set.

Wednesday’s sold-out concert — the first half of a two-night stand at the venue — was superior in many ways to what was witnessed nearly eight months ago at Shoreline. Topping the list, however, was that the band was able to “plug in” at the Fox, instead of having to adhere to the “acoustic only” Bridge School format.

As expected, that change paid huge dividends, providing Stills and Young — both of whom made Rolling Stone magazine’s much-discussed list of “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time” — with ample opportunities to light up the frets. Watching these two studs lock horns on the live stage — be it with Buffalo Springfield or with their other signature band, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young — never fails to impress.

The group, which also features Crosby, Stills and Nash drummer Joe Vitale in place of the late Dewey Martin and Young’s regular bassist Rick Rosas filling in for the late Bruce Palmer, sounded quite convincing as it filled the 90-minute show with selections from Buffalo Springfield’s three-album-strong songbook.

The quintet opened with “On the Way Home,” immediately followed with “Rock & Roll Woman,” and then proceeded to play just about every Buffalo Springfield song that a fan would want to hear, as well as a few that could’ve been easily trimmed from the set list.

The voices have changed over the last four decades, with Still’s suffering the most drastic weathering, but that couldn’t stop the wave of nostalgia that swept over the audience, a good portion of which was probably old enough to remember buying 1967’s “Buffalo Springfield Again” when it first came out.

Those seeing Buffalo Springfield for the first time might’ve been shocked to learn that it’s anything but Neil Young and a backing band. Fans, especially those living in the Bay Area, are used to seeing the Wizard of Woodside run the show. But Young, Furay and Stills come across as equals during a Buffalo Springfield concert, which is a very different vibe than what you get when you see Young perform with Crosby, Stills and Nash.

That factors into the reason why Buffalo Springfield is so interesting. The three co-leaders are dynamically different, and they each pull the band in their own directions. Furay, who would go on to form Poco after leaving Buffalo Springfield, favors smooth, sleek country-pop sounds, while Young prefers some rough edges and Stills is just looking for any excuse to blaze.

Buffalo Springfield changes its sound so drastically, moving from Furay softly crooning “Do I Have to Come Right Out and Say It” to Young and Stills trading hot licks on “Mr. Soul,” that it’s hard to believe it’s all coming from the same band.

One might wish for more Young — and, indeed, his numbers were the highlights of this show — and a little less Furay. But that would defeat the whole purpose of this reunion, which is to remember what made Buffalo Springfield so intriguing in the first place.

And, boy, did the encore ever serve as a potent reminder. It opened with the fan-favorite “Broken Arrow,” included the all-time great protest anthem “For What It’s Worth,” and ended with a stellar version of Young’s “Keep on Rocking in the Free World.”

One can only hope that the reunited Buffalo Springfield decides to take that last song’s message to heart.

__________________
thanks go to randy s.

Random Quote

shut up n play yer guitar!
by -- by Neil Young

Neil Young on Tour

  • Neil Young on Tour

Sugar Mountain setlists

Tom Hambleton provides BNB with setlists, thankfully. His website is the most comprehensive searchable archives on the Internets about anything Neil Young related setlists. Goto Sugar Mountain.

Other Neil News

  • Neil Young News

Rust Radio

  • http://www.rustradio.org/

HH-Radio + NY Info

  • http://www.neil-young.info/
  • NY-Info-Radio

Human Highway

  • http://www.human-highway.org/

Oh My Darling Clementine

BNB has 3474021 Guests, from the new start