strangepulse.com

I don’t know where to start!

OK. At the beginning…All I knew going into this show was that we had tickets way up in the balcony, it started at 7:30, and there were no opening bands.

Daniel actually came with me to this. He never goes to shows anymore, he works such long hours he can’t afford to lose sleep on being out late. But I figured this one would get out at a decent time, and it did. And he figured he’d earn huge brownie points for going with me. And he did.

We pulled into the parking lot behind the venue and could see down the alley, which was blocked off by security. Daniel said, “There’s Jackson Browne” and I didn’t believe him. I was driving so couldn’t just jump out of the car and tackle Jackson if it was true. But I looked, and he was standing outside the back door of the theater with a couple other people there who looked like venue employees or roadies.

My heart immediately started racing. Jackson Browne. Is standing RIGHT THERE! I parked and quickly got my camera ready to try to snap a few pictures as we walked by. I wasn’t about to try to talk to him—he was way too far down the alley, I’d have to seriously yell to get his attention. But mostly—what would I say? It’s Jackson Browne! I’d just fall in a heap at his feet. Then I got all panicky thinking Daniel might try yelling something at him. But he was gone by the time we walked by.

Maybe I should’ve started by mentioning this: One reason I was OK with moving to Southern Cali was that Jackson Browne lived here. It’d mean I could potentially see him live more often. And if we should run into each other, perhaps on the beach one day…? Well, a girl can dream. A rabidly fanatical if pathetic girl can dream.

OK. Maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned that.

Anyway we got there early and were one of the first people to our seats. We were literally three rows from the very back row of the balcony. It’s a nice theater venue.

Jackson came out and started with “Boulevard,” which is one I don’t think he does live too often. Doesn’t seem like I’ve heard it on any of the bootlegs I’ve got, anyway. So that was a nice surprise.

The song I was most hoping he’d do was “Barricades of Heaven.” It’s one of my absolute faves. He did it second! And I videotaped the entire thing. If the camera’s a little unsteady, it’s because I was holding it with one hand while squeezing Daniel’s arm and hand at various times in a death grip because HE WAS PLAYING BARRICADES OF HEAVEN!

Having him play it so early meant I could sit back and enjoy the rest of the show without worrying about whether he’d play it or not. Yes!

He did “Culver Moon” from the same album as “Barricades” (Looking East). This is where I need to mention his backup singers. He had two women singing backup and a couple times they’d take the lead for a verse or two. They were amazing and whenever they took lead would totally steal the show. First song they really shined on was “Culver Moon.”

Which by the way is about Culver City, an area of Los Angeles that I used to work right next to. And think about Jackson everytime I went to work and drove past Culver Blvd. He introduced it saying, “Imagine having to travel all throughout the world trying to explain to people Culver City.” He mentioned the dwarfs who starred in the Wizard of Oz all stayed in a hotel in Culver City.

The only song we got from I’m Alive was “Everywhere I Go,” which was a nice surprise. I love that song and had never heard it live. Jackson introduced it saying something about coming up with it while on a bike path but also on a mountain where people snowboard a lot. I couldn’t make out everything he was saying but I was happy he was mentioning snowboarding because that made my husband’s ears perk up a bit.

The first song he did off his new album was the title track, “Time the Conqueror.” I hadn’t heard any of the new stuff except for a song he did on the Colbert Report a few days ago, but from what I heard of the new stuff at this show, it’s really good. “Time the Conqueror” has some great lines in it:

Time may heal all wounds
But time will steal you blind
Time the wheel, time the conqueror

He mentioned seeing one of the best shows he’d ever seen in the same theater we were in not too long ago: Ben Harper. And later when he introduced “Live Nude Cabaret,” he said it was conceived when he was at the corner of Pico and Centinella in his car, stuck in traffic. He was listening to Harper’s “Power of the Gospel,” this really great spiritual-feeling song, while sitting in his car next to a big sign that said Live Nude Cabaret.

This was setting us up for a surprise later in the show.

He introduced “Off of Wonderland,” a new song, as being about a place and a time—Laurel Canyon in the 60s, which made people cheer. Then he said it was really about “the Laurel Canyon of the mind.” The song has a reference to one of his early songs in it, “For Everyman:”

It was easy for me
Up so high in my tree
Living off of Wonderland
Living with an unknown band
Waiting there for Everyman

He did a version of “Doctor, My Eyes” which turned into “About My Imagination,” a much newer song. And the backup singers were awesome.

He took a short intermission and Daniel amused himself by asking me, “What’s wrong with his eyes? Why did he have to go to the doctor?” And I kept answering, “He was unwise. He left them open for too long.” But eventually Daniel wanted to know what the song was really about so I said, “It’s about burning out emotionally from caring too much. Story of my life.”

Doctor, my eyes
Cannot see the sky
Is this the prize for having learned how not to cry?

Crazy to think that song came out in 1972, when I was two years old.

After the intermission he came out with just an acoustic and did the lovely, “Something Fine.” It’s one of those songs where I think, “This is a good one but not one of my favorites.” Then I hear it and think it’s Just. So. Good! He did another song I think is lovely, a newer one, called “For Taking the Trouble.”

A big highlight for me was during the second set when they did “Lives in the Balance.” I first got into Jackson as a teenager in 1986 when I saw him play an Amnesty International benefit show (w/U2, Sting, Peter Gabriel, etc). He performed that song there and it really made an impact on me. I bought the album and used to lay on the couch listening to it all the time. It was fantastic at this show with the two back up singers taking most of the lead vocals.

Another new song was “Just Say Yeah.” He introduced it by saying it was about his girlfriend. I was sitting there thinking what a stupid word “girlfriend” is when he said, “That word is coming back into fashion, you know—girlfriend.” I was hoping at first he meant he was going to do “My Stunning Mystery Companion,” but he didn’t.

Most of the second set was new songs, then he invited Scott Thurston out (who I believe used to be a regular in Jackson’s band, but has been touring with Tom Petty now) to play keyboards for “The Pretender.” The crowd was on their feet by the end and stayed on their feet for most if not all of the next song, “Running on Empty.”

Then the band left the stage for the encore break. When they came back out we got a surprise—Ben Harper joined them for “I Am A Patriot” on lap steel guitar. I don’t know why I was surprised—I just tend to forget that this is LA and everyone lives in LA. There’s always a possibility for a guest to come out.

It was really great. I was hoping they’d do “Patriot” for the encore. I love the song. (It’s written by Lil’ Steven but IMO, Jackson owns it.) It got a little hokey when the bass player started rapping about Obama, but it was fun and a great way to end the show. Jackson took a mic at the end and twisted it over so Ben could join in on vocals. And I videoed the whole thing:

Here is the entire set list:

1. Boulevard
2. Barricades of Heaven
3. Everywhere I Go
4. Fountain of Sorrow
5. Time the Conqueror
6. Off of Wonderland
7. Live Nude Cabaret
8. Culver Moon
9. Giving That Heaven Away
10. Doctor, My Eyes/About My Imagination

Intermission

11. Something Fine
12. For Taking the Trouble
13. Lives in the Balance
14. Going Down to Cuba
15. Just Say Yeah
16. The Drums of War
17. Far From the Arms of Hunger
18. The Pretender
19. Running on Empty

–

20. I Am A Patriot (w/Ben Harper)

All of the above links go to my youtube videos. Here’s a few more pics.