He’s a trouper – trans-Atlantic music superstar Graham Nash will turn 82 a month before his New Zealand tour in March, 2024. What's Hot New Zealand spoke to him at home in New York during his only five-day break since kicking off a tour in January, 2023.
The schedule has been gruelling – 100 shows in nine countries and 42 states of America. There are a few more comforts than in the early days of touring as part of the Hollies or Crosby Stills & Nash but the tedium remains – “I love being on the road but I hate the travelling.”
The tour, which includes songs from his 2023 album Now, reaches our shores in March. Graham Nash performs in Auckland on 1 March, and Christchurch on 3 March, 2024.
With so many songs to choose from, how did you come up with a setlist? It’s a bit of a dance. A lot of people want to hear ‘Our House’ or ‘Teach Your Children’. And there’s a lot of songs that I want to play, songs that I need to play, including from my new album. We’ll figure it out. I’ve just finished my 4th tour this year of the US and Europe and we changed the setlist throughout. Basically there’s a skeleton of a setlist and that includes songs the audience won’t have heard yet. For one concert we opened with [Hollies 1966 hit] ‘Bus Stop’. And there are songs from the Hollies, Crosby Stills & Nash, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, and my solo albums.
For many people in New Zealand, their most recent exposure to your music would be through ‘Our House’ being used in a bank ad. How do you feel about that? I want my music to go around the world and I don’t care how it gets there. If an ad turns it into a worldwide thing, I don’t mind at all.
Do you get a say in what your songs are used for? Yes I do, a very strong say. It won’t be for the military, it won’t be for religion and it won’t be for politics.
You have a new album out and are touring hard – no thoughts of slowing down? I have to do this. I want to be writing every day. I want to be in my apartment here in New York and write about what I see, that’s what I want to do. I’m always writing for the next generation – I want my music to last longer than I do. I have to feel something very deeply before I can write about it. I’ve always felt like that. On my new record there are five love songs to my wife Amy. And one called ‘Stars and Stripes’ about the Republicans and Trump destroying the truth [‘Stars and Stripes are out there waving goodbye to all that's true’].
So the rage still burns? Absolutely, there’s a lot to be angry about.
What are you looking forward to about returning to New Zealand? I think New Zealand is an incredibly beautiful country and I want to see as much of that beauty as I can while I’m there.
Any particular memories of your earlier visits? Yes, the Māori welcome we got – that was a wonderful experience for me.
You are playing at smaller venues when you could fill an arena if you wanted. Why is that? I want to see people. I want to look in their eyes. I want to reach the very back. I want to make sure everyone hears, that I’m actually communicating with them.