Jackson Browne puts playlist into his fans' hands
By David Lindquist, The Indianapolis Star
Jackson Browne puts playlist into his fans' hands
By David Lindquist
The Indianapolis Star
October 23, 2003
When musicians submit to an "Evening With, Solo Acoustic" format, there's a heightened chance for an anything-can-happen performance.
Jackson Browne grandly met the challenge Wednesday night at the Murat Theatre.
Swiveling from acoustic guitar to electric piano, the introspective singer-songwriter accommodated audience requests, even when they rained to the point of distraction during the concert's second half.
And if he didn't get to every song in his catalog -- in other words, accomplish the impossible -- Browne still delivered a highly rewarding program for an estimated audience of 1,800.
Early on, the West Coast icon dictated the surprises:
• Gallows humor and violent revenge from laid-back Browne? Well, it worked when the 55-year-old paid tribute to fallen friend Warren Zevon in the form of "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner."
• The 55-year-old approached the traditional tune "Man of Constant Sorrow" at face value. As opposed to a slap-happy Hollywood reading, Browne gravitated to elongated and mournful phrasing.
• When an audience member shouted a compliment regarding Browne's pants, the singer thought aloud about the flared trousers of former collaborator David Lindley. In turn, he played a song he and Lindley wrote together, "Call It a Loan."
Spontaneous moments aside, Browne performed just a small measure of political material and even less from his current album "The Naked Ride Home."
There's a perception that Browne's artistic triumphs were front-loaded in the 1970s. On Wednesday, he seemingly scoffed at this notion by performing emotional heavyweights "I'm Alive" (1993) and "In the Shape of a Heart" (1985) back-to-back.
The narrator of "I'm Alive" is girded for better days, even as he's preoccupied by a relationship's wreckage. Growth comes in a plea for men and women to reveal what's really on their minds.
"Shape of a Heart" bravely illustrates the give-and-take of love. Each verse of this extended diary represented a new wave of catharsis.
As the agenda fragmented after intermission, highlights were matched to less-serious material such as "Rosie" -- a truly solo effort fit for "Bob and Tom" sensibilities -- and "Tender is the Night."
"Tender," a mash-up of winning and losing at love further compressed into a 3-minute radio nugget, was stripped to an unplugged purity suggestive of Buddy Holly or the Everly Brothers.