WITH the exception of a smattering of new songs culled from his latest record, this concert could easily have been a re-run of Jackson Browne's last triumphant visit to this venue. The same hero's welcome, the same slick, polished tightness in his band, the same barrage of appeals for the song it seemed everyone wanted to hear, For A Dancer. Unlike last time, though, he departed from his set list to include a solo version of that song, a triumph of people power over planning.
Browne is the epitomy of the thinking person's rock singer-song-writer and his songs have remained strong, although with a discreet recycling of earlier themes and melodies. They are uniformly well crafted, and predictably sensitive in their emotional engagement, always a hallmark of his work, but left the lingering conviction that while he still writes good songs, he doesn't write great ones any more.
He is something of a survivor, having come through the destructive ethos of the LA rock scene and the suicide of his wife, and several songs, including I'm Alive, and Alive In The World, reflected that theme, while The Barricades of Heaven looked back to an earlier, pre-fame period of his life.
The real classics, however, came from his vintage 1970s albums, and none of the newer material matched the artistry in songs like The Pretender, For Everyman, a version of Rosie on piano with the band providing a five-part harmony vocal, or before the deluge, which rounded out the encores begun by the inevitable The Load Out/Stay, complete with a falsetto backing vocal from road crew swathed in tartan jackets.
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