David Crosby and Friends, Perfect at the Ridgefield Playhouse

How would I describe last nights' David Crosby show? It was sheer perfection.

David Crosby and his brilliant new band brought his new album, Lighthouse, along with some tunes from his first solo album and some of his classic CSN work to the next level last night at the Ridgefield Playhouse. Each member, Michael League, who heads up Snarky Puppy, Becca Stevens, and Michelle Willis are not only masterful musicians, but superb vocalists.

 As the lights dimmed, David and his band walked out on stage to 5 minutes of applause along with some hoots and hollers and launched right into "Things We Do For Love" from the new album, "Lighthouse." After that first tune, each song was wrapped around a story-like introduction. The first set featured four selections from the new album along with Laughing from his debut solo album from 1971, and finished with Deja Vu from the first CSNY album. The tunes were interwoven with Michael League's masterful guitar playing along with three and four part harmony. It was obvious that David was having one-hell-of-a-time up on stage smiling from ear-to-ear under that bushy white moustache saying, "I love my job!"

After a 20 minute intermission, David and the band launched into a couple more selections from his new release, Lighthouse, along with some Crosby classics like Orleans, Carry Me, and Guinnevere featuring luscious 4-part harmony. Crosby was so impressed with his young group of musicians, he featured a selection from each one of them which were accompanied by the rest of the band. He introduced keyboardist/singer songwriter, Michelle Willis telling the audience that her song, Persimmon is so very good, you must hear it. That song personally held me spellbound for all of its 4 minutes and 39 seconds. When she finished, David said, "See, See? Didn't I tell you?!"

As they left the stage, David said, "We had so much fun tonight and we thank you for letting us play our new stuff. I'm so proud of these incredible musicians who I'm honored to call my friends." They walked off the stage to a 5 minute standing ovation and returned with a brilliant version of Woodstock. Best concert ever!!

Listen to Ethan Carey on the Ethan & Lou Show weekdays from 5:30-10AM on 95.1 FM. You can listen online at i95rock.com/listen-live/ or by downloading the radioPup app for your mobile device.