somberg's setlist.fm

I'm always glad to provide any info I can when it comes to music. About three years ago, I was able to contribute concert photos, ticket stubs, newspaper articles, newspaper ads and my personal memories to a book called "A Long, Long Time Ago: Major Rock and Roll Concerts in Southern Maine 1955 - 1977" by Ford S. Reiche.
A friend in Maine had referred him to me, knowing that I had my extensive music memorabilia collection and detailed recall of anything in my past that was related to my collection and concert experiences.
I do have to thank OneDrop for pointing out my error in remembering the correct date of the Jimi Hendrix concert at Boston Garden on June 30, 1970.
I should have remembered it, since I didn't go to that show, but eventually was able to get an audience recording of his set.
I had been hearing conflicting reviews of his 1970 tour, with some reviewers raving about some shows, but being disappointed with others.
I had heard that he would be starting another tour in September, so I thought I'd have a chance to see him when he returned to Boston.
Waiting was my big mistake, so I never got to see Jimi in concert. But I learned a valued lesson! Go see your favorite bands when you get a chance, because you didn't know if they would be there tomorrow!

Since you asked about the reaction to the "Ohio" performance, I went back to my recording of the show to listen for the details and this is what I heard:
Graham Nash did the introduction to the song by saying, "We have a single out already, called "Teach Your Children, but we released another single yesterday, purely because the song says so much and you can help us out here.
We're going to repeat four words at the end, four very important words, so when we get to the end of the song, and you know what the four words are, I want everybody in the place to sing it, because when you sing it you'll hear the words, and when you hear the words, you'll remember them, OK? This is Neil's song, called "Ohio"."
After a couple of minutes of tuning their guitars, they launched into the song, bringing back the images of that shameful incident at Kent State University, which had only happened 25 days before this concert.
As "Ohio" was coming to an end, the audience joined in with the band to repeat those four fateful words, "Four dead in Ohio", over and over, until the conclusion of the song.
It was one of those magical moments in time when we were all one!

...i was 16 @ the time & took the train from Woburn to North Station to the Garden that night. i had really good floor seats pretty close to the stage for that show, slightly to the right of center. my memories are pretty dim also, however there are two things i seem to remember that aren't mentioned in the other comments. 1) Stephen Stills wearing a black tux or something similar with a red rose on the lapel? and playing one of his songs on the black grand piano in the center of the stage during the acoustic set. 2) Neil switching to his trusty Gretsch White Falcon electric to play "Ohio" ...on another note, bestyear1966, i was at that Hendrix show on Sat. June 27th , not the 30th, with openers The Illusion and Cactus...that was a good one too!

My memories of the CSNY concert are still pretty vivid, starting with seeing a large advertisement for the upcoming June 30th Jimi Hendrix concert at Boston Garden, attached to a plywood wall at a construction area, just before I drove into the Garden parking lot.
The weather was pretty warm, so the Garden was as "stuffy" as it usually was, since there was no air-conditioning.
I had seats in Row 22, on the Floor and since the first set was Acoustic, the audience stayed seated, was quiet and intent on listening, which made it great for me, since I was recording the show with my little RCA reel to reel recorder and attempting to get a few photos, too.
Fortunately, even with the annoying and challenging acoustic conditions of the Garden, I was fortunate to get a good quality recording of the show, which pops up online every once in a while.
The show was as good as we had expected, with each member of the band having a solo spot to do a couple of their own songs, in addition to the CSNY material.
After the intermission, the Electric set got everyone energized and up on their chairs.
"Ohio" was a highlight of the set, as were "Southern Man" and "Carry On".
As the crowd cheered the band back on stage for their encore, just about everyone expected to hear "Woodstock, especially since most of us had already seen the Woodstock film in our local theaters.
As the band gathered on stage for their last song, I could hear someone towards the front of the stage shout out, "WOODSTOCK!".
As a response, David Crosby came to the mic and said, "Yeah, that was a pretty cool movie!"
Then, just as the Director's Cut of the movie now concludes, we heard them do a chilling acapella version of "Find the Cost of Freedom"!
It was a thought-provoking ending to an excellent concert.

Hi, My memories of the CSNY concert at the old Boston Garden are a bit dim now, as you might expect, but for what it's worth, here goes...my friend and I had seats way up in an upper balcony and we had to turn our heads to the right to see the stage. By the end of the concert I had a stiff neck. I remember Neil was wearing his trademark jeans with dozens of sewed-on patches. I think it was Stills who introduced "Ohio", but it might have been Croz. He said something to the effect that here's a new song just written by Neil and we were going to be the first to hear it. It was just a few weeks after Kent State and the song hadn't even been released yet as a single. I don't remember anyone in the band saying anything more about what the actual subject of the song was beforehand; I think they just started playing. The sound quality in the old Garden wasn't great, especially up where we were sitting, so it took a bit of time to make out the lyrics. By the end of the song though, the audience was singing along with the "Four dead in Ohio" chant. I wish I could tell you more, but any other memories I might have had about that show have faded into the mists of time. Good luck with your writing!