Stephen Stills - lead vocals, guitar, piano; George "Chocolate" Perry - bass; Joe Vitale - drums
This stripped down concert appearance by Stephen Stills came in place of a much ballyhooed joint tour with Neil Young that had originally been planned. That tour was cancelled when it was reported Young developed a throat condition - although it is rumored he left in a dispute with Stills. Their joint studio LP Long May You Run, came out in September of 1976, and in order to save the summer concert season of 1976, Stills grabbed the rhythm section from CSN (drummer Joe Vitale and bassist George "Chocolate" Perry) and did the closest thing to an unplugged tour as he has ever done.
At the time, Stills was actually recording and signed to three major labels (Atlantic for CSN; Columbia for his solo career; and Reprise/Warner Brothers for his project with Neil Young), and for this tour, he offered a variety of material ranging from his new studio LPs at the time, the simply titled Stills and Illegal Stills; yet to be recorded material; CSN and Buffalo Springfield hits; and even a cover of "Taken It At All," which was a track recorded for a Crosby-Nash LP at the time, Whistle Down The Wire. Stills also offers up material from his successful first solo album (simply entitled Stephen Stills) and also from material he cut with Young for their joint Long May You Run LP.
He keeps the fans happy with a few CSN tunes, most notably "Helplessly Hoping." There is also great version of the Buffalo Springfield classic, "For What It's Worth," a memorable re-make of the classic Fred Neil (and Harry Nillson recorded hit) song, "Everybody's Talkin'," which Stills introduces as "a great song, which I wish I had written." Other highlights include "I Give You Give Blind," the Buffalo Springfield track "Four Days Gone," "Stateline Blues" and "Make Love To You."
After this tour, Stills returned to his commitment in CSN, and still managed to record and release many more solo albums. He returned to a full band lineup for his future tours, but for a brief shiny moment, we saw the real and very raw Stephen Stills.