Cloaca Melodia

My life in concerts, by Mike Sauter.

8/13/1996

Jackson Browne/Shawn Colvin

Garden State Arts Center/PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel, NJ

I wrote about this show for injersey.com when I was a music and movie writer for them. Here's my review.

post continues....



Jackson Brown made a triumphant and nostalgic return to New Jersey with a show at the PNC Bank Arts Center. And Browne's fans were out in force to see the man responsible for beloved '70s hits like "Doctor My Eyes" and "Running On Empty." Despite rain earlier in the day, even the lawn area was thick with concertgoers.

You have to give a guy like Browne a lot of credit. Even though most of the audience was coming for his classics, Browne wasn't about to turn his show into a greatest-hits parade. He put out a new album earlier this year, Looking East, which combines the personal committment and mellow charm of his '70s output with a high-tech, '90s feel (the CD of Looking East is available with flashy enhancements of interactive text, words, and pictures for your computer).

And yet, Browne is no cranky Bob Dylan--he's not stingy with the popular tunes that people came to hear.

The only period of his history that Browne gave short-shrift to was the '80s. Out of the twenty-one song set list, the only song he performed from his four albums of that decade was "Tender Is the Night."

But the songs which he did play sounded good. His band was quite effective, easily flowing between Browne's mellow ballads and the uptempo rockers. Playing with Browne are most of the same musicians who played with him on his Looking East album (as well as the 1993 I'm Alive record): Mark Goldenberg on (mostly lead) guitar, Jeff Young on the Hammond B3 organ, Mauricio Lewak on drums, Kevin McCormick on bass, and Scott Thurston on guitar and keyboards.

Browne kicked off the evening slyly with the title cut from the I'm Alive album, which begins with the line "It's been a long time since I watched these lights alone." He began the show playing his acoustic guitar and then switched as needed by each song between the acoustic, an electric guitar, and his piano.

After "I'm Alive," Browne asked the audience, "What should I call you? Should I call you Holmdel?" before launching into the reggae-flavored "Everywhere I Go." The song featured nicely-rendered three-part harmonies, but one of the problems with the concert was that nearly everything was a little too nicely-rendered. The music was well-played and the lighting smoothly directed your attention from one part of the stage to attention, but it all had an aura of perhaps a little too much rehearsal. If Browne was filming the show for a television broadcast, the timed-down-to-the-minute feel would have been okay, but for the Arts Center show? It had very little spontaneity or edge to it. And that's always an uncomplimentary remark about rock 'n' roll.

After next playing his lone '80s cut for the night ("Tender Is the Night"), Browne went into the first of two blocks of newer material. He did "Some Bridges," "The Barricades of Heaven," and "I'm the Cat" from the current Looking East release (with a quick detour to 1974 for "Fountain of Sorrow" to energize the crowd). He introduced "The Barricades of Heaven" by noting the connection between New Jersey and his own home state: "When I first came to New Jersey, it was something like Southern California. You even surf here, right? This is a song about growing up in southern California," he explained.

Browne then unleashed what the crowd was waiting for--a whole series of songs from his '70s heyday. "Your Bright Baby Blues," "For Everyman," "Something Fine," "Late For the Sky," and "Rosie" brought people progressively further into a state of excitement. He revisited the new album briefly in the middle of these songs with "Alive In the World" and the album's title cut. But Browne finished the set (and brought the audience to their feet) with the one-two-three punch of "Doctor My Eyes" (by far, the show's highlight), "The Pretender," and "Running On Empty."

For an encore, Browne came back with "The Load-Out" from 1977's Running On Empty album, which he personalized for the occasion. On the line "We've got to drive all night and do a show in Chicago," Browne paused at the city name as the audience went ahead and sung "Chicago," but instead he sang "Wilkes-Barre" (the next night of his own tour). Someone from the audience shouted out "Where's Wilkes-Barre?" during the next pause in the lyrics, and Browne--without missing a beat--explained, "It's in Pennsylvania."

Browne brought out opening act Shawn Colvin to join him in singing the rest of the encore selections, "Stay," "Tenderness on the Block," (which Browne hand a hand in writing, but Warren Zevon actually recorded it for his Excitable Boy album, and Colvin later covered it on her second album), and they concluded the night with a rollicking version of "Take It Easy," the Eagles hit which Browne co-wrote with Glenn Frey.

Colvin was, in theory, an effective opening act, both complementing Browne's style and adding her own considerable skills to the evening. But since much of the crowd seemed unfamiliar and uninterested with her, Colvin showed plucky courage for her brief set, just strumming her guitar and singing her songs completely solo.

Colvin began with "Twilight," her cover of The Band which she recorded on her last album Cover Girl. She also played several songs which will be available on her next record (due out in the fall), including "Trouble" and "The Witchita Skyline."

The large size of the Arts Center, combined with the inattentiveness for the audience, made for an inappropriate venue for Colvin. Her music is spare and intimate, and it's rare when a show at a large setting can overcome the obstacles. Colvin tried her best, though, running through favorites of hers like "Poloroids," "Get Out of This House," and her set's finale, "Round of Blues." Her fans will have to wait until after her own album comes out to see her in a better environment.

Jackson Browne setlist: "I'm Alive," "Everywhere I Go," "Tender Is the Night," "Some Bridges," "The Barricades of Heaven," "Fountain of Sorrow," "I'm the Cat," "Your Bright Baby Blues," "For Everyman," "Something Fine," "Late For the Sky," "Rosie," "Alive in the World," "Looking East," "Doctor My Eyes," "The Pretender," "Running On Empty," "The Load Out," "Stay," "Tenderness on the Block," "Take It Easy"

External links:
  • fan review (which also has a slightly different setlist)

Labels: , , , ,

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home