Happy Birthday Stephen Stills: Watch Crosby, Stills & Nash Perform Live At Woodstock ‘94

Stephen Stills celebrates his birthday today. Born Stephen Arthur Stills on January 3, 1945 in Dallas, as a child from a military family, Stills moved around a lot, giving him a taste of different musical styles which would later inform his own music.

In 1966, Stills, along with Neil Young and others, formed Buffalo Springfield in Los Angeles, a group perhaps most well-known for the Stills-penned song “For What It’s Worth.” While the band was only around for a few years, they created an excellent body of work over the course of three albums with Stills’ prowess as a guitarist and singer at the forefront of Springfield’s sound. Those skills only excelled in a new group he formed with David Crosby (formerly of The Byrds) and Graham Nash (formerly of The Hollies) in 1968, the legendary supergroup Crosby, Stills & Nash.

After releasing their stellar self-titled debut album — which saw Stills playing guitar, bass, keyboards and more — CSN famously played their second show ever at Woodstock (which actually included future CSNY member Neil Young even though it was billed as CSN). The musicians would deliver now classic songs including a “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” opener, “Marakesh Express,” “Long Time Gone” and “Wooden Ships” along with a gorgeous version of The Beatles’ “Blackbird” in their signature three-part harmonies.

All of those songs (save for “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes”) and more appeared on the setlist when CSN took the stage for Woodstock ’94. The event honoring the 25th anniversary of the original Woodstock was held in Saugerties, New York about an hour and a half from Max Yasgur’s farm near Bethel, New York. Along with the aforementioned songs, the band also played CSN and CSNY classics that weren’t around for the original Woodstock including opener “Love The One You’re With,” “Deja Vu,” “Carry On,” Southern Cross,” another Beatles cover “In My Life” (dedicated to legendary concert promoter Bill Graham) and the song Joni Mitchell wrote about not being able to attend the original festival, “Woodstock,” to close out the set.

To celebrate Stephen Stills birthday, watch CSN perform at Woodstock ‘94 below via the JamBase Live Video Archive:

[Article originally published January 3, 2021]