Member Review: acoustic Jackson Browne

Member PammyP writes:

Jackson Browne is a renowned pop-folk-rock singer-songwriter whose hits have been recorded by himself and other artists of note, including The Eagles (Take It Easy, co-written with Glenn Frey) and Nico (These Days), over the last 45 years.

He was also responsible for producing the early albums of the late, great Warren Zevon.

So a solo acoustic evening with the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, who was signed to a publishing deal when he was a mere 17 years old, held great promise as the still shaggy-haired and lean Browne - now 62 - casually sauntered on stage in black shirt and jeans.

But if Browne's obvious strength was the songs and his confidence and charisma on stage, his unadorned singing was a bit rusty at times, along with his ability to remember lyrics, and when he wasn't talking, it sometimes became a pretty static performance.

He didn't do himself any favours by staying seated and hunched over for the entire show - save for rising to his feet a couple of times during Take It Easy - even remarking at one point: "It's much cooler to stand."

And without the accompaniment of a band, many of Jackson's tunes came across more somber than perhaps he originally had intended them although he did comment: "I don't have many happy songs."

To be fair, the format of the two-and-a-half hour show, plus a half-hour intermission, was loose and laid-back as Browne worked without a set list or teleprompter, letting the rowdy crowd - who never stopped shouting out song titles - often guide him to what he was going to play next.

Backstage, he confided that he had no set list. "I enjoy going out and winging it. But, I don't want you to think I'm going to do whatever they want me to do," he joked at one point. "I do have an idea."

During the show, sometimes he would literally be seated in front of the piano, like the request he heard and change his mind, and then move over to another chair to play guitar or vice versa.

SET LIST:

The Barricades of Heaven

Farther On

Rosie

Doctor My Eyes

These Days

Giving That Heaven Away

Something Fine

The Naked Ride Home

I'm Alive

Fountain of Sorrow

Somebody's Baby

Rock Me On the Water

INTERMISSION

For Everyman

Don't Let Us Get Sick (Warren Zevon song)

Life'll Kill Ya (Warren Zevon song)

Running on Empty

Love Needs a Heart

Your Bright Baby Blues

The Pretender

Sky Blue And Black

Shaky Town

Redneck Friend

The Load-Out/Stay

Going Down to Cuba

Take it Easy

ENCORE:

Before the Deluge