Jackson Browne (Community Theatre - Morristown, N.J. 11-03-09)
There
were a lot of people in front of the venue asking if anyone had a spare
ticket. It was a sold-out event. After entering I made my way to the
balcony and talked to an usher I knew and was introduced to several
others as “Jersey Joe”. My usher friend told me he had sat in on the
soundcheck and Jackson had worked on “freebird”(electric guitar). When
the doors were opened one of the ushers went in to look at the stage.
There were 15 acoustic guitars all lined up (in like a bicycle rack
thing) and one was on a stand. Jackson came on stage a bit past 8pm. He
was clean shaven. That scraggly bears did make him look like an
old man. He appeared youthful. He performed a set which was pretty much
just non-stop music. A bit of talking here and there. He alternated
between guitars(acoustic) and piano. His voice was slightly tattered
but it actually added a bit of dimension to his songs. I appreciated
the fact that he did not rearrange any of the songs to a lower
register. He was faithful to the original and hit the higher notes.
Obviously he has a great catalog to pick from. After about 4 songs he
played “Running On Empty” (acoustic). He then waved his hands and said
“goodnight…thanks for coming”. The crowd roared with laughter. He said
he normally does that at the end of his shows. There was no setlist.
The crowd was filled with fans. They yelled out songs (loudly) after
each performance. He played from a bit past 8 to 9:15…20 minute break
and then til almost 11. At one point he picked out a guitar and sat
down. The crowd finally quieted making its requests and a woman yelled
out a heartfelt request. He got up and picked another guitar and said
he would do that song. Halfway through he forgot the lyrics and just
stopped. The crowd roared with applause. He looked at the girl in the
4th row that made the request and said “I bet YOU know the rest of the
words”. The crowd got more bolsterous as the evening progressed. He
finally had enough and said something to the effect “I hear you making
those requests but I know there are people out there sitting quietly
hoping I will play their favorite song and besides I want to play some
things I normally don’t”. The crowd quieted down with song requests a
little after that. Musical highlights for me were “Rock Me On The
Water(piano) followed immediately with “For Everyman”(acoustic guitar).
I also enjoyed “The Pretender “(piano). The crowd pleaser was “Sky Blue
& Black”(piano). The only speech he gave was about plastic water
bottles and he pitched metal ones. He said you didn’t have to buy his
on sale in the lobby “although they were a great deal”. Apparently
there is a spot in the ocean near Hawaii where it is like a toilet bowl
effect and all the garbage from the ocean ends up there. When he said
it was twice the size of Texas the crowd gasped.//After the show I was
walking to my truck and started talking to this huge guy. I said to him
“gee we have no clue what happened with the election”. He said he was
surprised Jackson did not do “I am a patriot” considering it was
election day. This guy told me he really wanted to see the show and
left the wife and kids at home. He had no ticket. He said he had never
did this before but held up a small sign near the venue entrance “I
need a ticket”. Some woman tried to sell him one for $90 (they were
around $75 originally). He only had $80 and someone beat him to the
punch. He said a total stranger walked up to him a few minutes later
and handed him a ticket and said “here…enjoy the show” and gave him a
FREE ticket. That was certainly a fan being nice to another fan.