Stills & Collins
23 September 2018
Paramount Theatre, Denver, CO
Stephen Stills & Judy Collins were in love with each other in the late 1960s, and though in part their respective careers as singers/songwriters created some distance between the two, Stephen and Judy remained good friends ever since. In 2016, when the likelihood of a Crosby Stills & Nash reunion faded due to a rift between Crosby & Nash, a door opened for Stills to connect with Collins in a way previously unexplored -- musically as a recording/performing duo.
One year ago this week Stills/Collins released their first CD Everybody Knows, and the duo have been touring on/off ever since. Tonight they opened the show with the opening track on their debut CD, their cover of the Traveling Wilburys hit "Handle With Care", followed by what Stills described as the first song he ever wrote about Judy, "You Don't Have To Cry".
After two more tracks from their debut, "River Of Gold" and "Questions", Stills introduced a track he recorded a couple years earlier with his band the Rides, "Virtual World" by describing how he tends to refuse to socialize with people who refuse to afford full attention (away from portable electronic devices). Then, two more tracks from their debut, namely the title track by Leonard Cohen, and the Bob Dylan cover "Girl From The North Country".
As a tribute to the late Tom Petty, Stills covered "I Won't Back Down".
Judy performed a magnificent version of a Joni Mitchell song for which Judy deserves the most credit for popularizing, "Both Sides Now", as well as an equally impressive a cappella version of "Dreamers", followed by a surprise cover of Jimmy Webb's "Highwayman".
In Storytellers form, Stills introduced "another sailing song", his CSN classic "Southern Cross".
Judy continued to impress with "Who Knows Where The Time Goes", and "Chelsea Morning" after which Hillary & Bill Clinton named their only daughter.
Stills then shined with his Buffalo Springfield classics "For What It's Worth" and "Bluebird".
In all Judy was in unbelievably impressive vocal and visual form, Stephen slightly struggled with keeping pitch and remembering vocals, but reliably rocked the Paramount Theatre with his blistering guitar work.
For their encore Stills/Collins performed Collins' song about Stills, called "Houses", as well as the latter half of Stephen's anthem about Judy, the CSN classic "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes".
Inspired by each other -- full circle.
[****] - Steven T.
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