Pop Reviews : Hallowed Harmonies,<i> Deja Vu</i> From CSN

“We have all been here before . . . We have all been here before.” That refrain from Crosby, Stills & Nash’s “Deja Vu” pretty much set the tone of the trio’s 2 1/2-hour show at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre on Sunday. While highly musical and at times even lively, the performance also showed why the ‘60s icons are an ideal sponsor band for VH1, the retro-video network whose current motto is “For when you’ve seen it all.”

Though they waited until the second half of the show before plunging into the hallowed harmonies of their 1969 debut album, a smug stasis overhung much of the proceedings. Several of their contemporaries--one notable example being their old crony Neil Young--continue to make music that challenges and prods, and properly regards art as a lifelong odyssey, but CSN seems more akin to the self-satisfied lotus eaters who have given up the quest.

Granted, they do some fine grazing. On Sunday their timeworn voices harmonized far better than they did in concert in their glory days (check out the old CSN bootlegs for some really off-key action). And with a fine band pumped by longtime drummer Joe Vitale and bassist Jorge Calderon, the music really kicked on “Woodstock,” Stephen Stills’ “Love the One You’re With” and several other tunes.

Only one song from the current “Live It Up” album actually displayed much life: “Yours and Mine,” a moving piece about how children are raised to participate in a violent world. Accompanied by projections of harrowing news photos of armed young fanatics, it was a chilling moment in an otherwise nostalgia-laden set.

While trio and band put a surprising enthusiasm into the ever-present “Wooden Ships” and “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes,” some of the “classics” that dominated the show’s second half--such as the closing encore of the insufferable “Teach Your Children”--had the air of a liturgy that has been repeated into meaninglessness.

CSN also appears on Friday at the Greek Theatre and on Saturday at the Open Air Theatre in San Diego.