Review: Our House delivered vintage CSN&Y and more at the Garde on Thursday

A few thousand folks looking for the Lost Fountain of Youth instinctively gathered at the Garde Arts Center in New London Thursday evening. By 7 p.m., the jammed lobby resembled a casting call for a crowd scene in an arthritis meds commercial.

What could lure so many of us Oldsters out after dark on a weeknight?

Why, a concert by Our House, a band performing the songs of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. But this was no mere tribute act. Each of the musicians has musical and/or familial/friendship ties to CSNY. So, yes, there was a happy air of anticipation that these eight players/vocalists could replicate timeless hits and loyal-fan-deep-tracks, providing not just a fine listening experience but a genuine magic carpet ride into the past.

Did Our House pull it off?

Without question. They delivered the precision and passion demanded by a wealth of material that perhaps, and for many reasons, wasn’t always possible with the source artists. For about 130 minutes, to multiple standing ovations over a pair of sets, Our House delivered almost two dozen tunes that exquisitely spanned the catalogs of CSN, CSNY and the solo careers.

The setlist included “Sugar Mountain,” “Long Time Gone” “Southern Cross,” “The Lee Shore,” “Carry On,” “4 + 20,” “Southern Man” (stunning southern gospel arrangement by Pierce), “Guinnevere,” “Deja Vu,” “Helpless,” “Love the One You’re With,” “Helplessly Hoping,” “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes,” “Almost Cut My Hair,” “Harvest Moon,” “Wooden Ships,” “Teach Your Children,” “Woodstock,” “Our House” and “Ohio.”

The sorcerers onstage were guitarist/pedal steel/vocalist Jeff Pevar (a Connecticut native who got more than a few home-state call-outs from the crowd), keyboardists/vocalists Michelle Willis and James Raymond (Crosby’s biological son), guitarist/vocalist Steve Postell, drummer/vocalist Steve DiStanislao, multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Chris Pierce, bassist Elijah Thompson and show opener/vocalist/guitarist Astrid Young (Neil’s sister), who appeared off and on during the course of the evening.

One thing about Thursday’s show and the set list was the reminder that, for their reputation as folk-rock pioneers, Crosby, Stills & Nash (and during Young’s off/on stints) were a damned good hard rock band ― and songs like “Déjà Vu” and “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” could be even called proto-prog songs. And for both the quieter material and the more electric and complex stuff, the Our House musicianship was tight and featured plenty of dexterity and empathy.

Another fascinating thing to see and hear was the intricate close-harmony vocal clusters. Crosby, Stills and Nash have/had very distinctive voices and deliveries and that’s part of what made their blend so magical. To that end, the Our House folks — sometimes employing six singers to capture the depth and architecture of the originals — wisely chose to not try to mimic the nuances of, in particular, Stills’ or Young’s deliveries. Instead, they just nailed the specific lines.

And that’s another issue. For all their gifts as melodists who sang wonderfully together, CSN&Y were not schooled vocalists. They had no conservatory-style idea of how to properly structure blocks of harmony. Instead, they sorta just made up parts that, on paper, might not have pleased choral instructors as the Royal College of Music — but, for CSN&Y, they WORKED indelibly.

Some of those songs must have been, for Our House, almost counterintuitive to learn — but they freakin’ nailed it. A few bad notes here and there? Yes. And that’s allowed. I can assure you it happened in performance with the original dudes, as well.

It’s also worth noting that no one Our House member was “assigned” a particular role to play. There wasn’t a “Stills” Houser or a “Nash” Houser. Whatever demands a particular tune may have had was handled by whichever Houser was best suited.

Background visuals included iconic and lesser known photos and album covers as well as thematic and properly psychedelic images, most of which enhanced the material in low key fashion. Most importantly, the members of Our House were clearly jazzed and honored to have the chance to bring their formidable skills to an honorable mission.

When it was all sung and done, I left the Garde feeling as though I was stardust. I was golden. And I was damned glad I’d gotten back to the Garde(n).

r.koster@theday.com