A solo, acoustic Jackson Browne succeeds
By Howard Cohen
Thursday, April 13, 2000
Imagine in a time when over-produced boy bands and lip-syncing teen queens who won't go on unless they're accompanied by a coterie of dancers dominate that someone would are to perform sans the frills. But that's what '70s singer/songwriter Jackson Browne did Tuesday night, offering a solo, acoustic set before almost 2,700 people at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts.
Alternating between guitar and piano, Browne's training in coffeehouses all those years ago helped carry him through an almost three-hour set with nary a glitch. (OK, he flubbed the lyrics to Late for the Sky but covered himself well and earned a standing ovation for his effort from some enthusiastic fans.) He was splendid.
Browne's songs, succinct but long on emotion and poetry, have aged well and it seems so has he. He wears the same hairstyle he sported in the '70s (and it doesn't seem he's lost a strand; talk about the picture of Dorian Gray) and casual outfitsãblack jeans and shirt.
"This is a beautiful theater, a cut above the theaters I've been in," Browne said, quickly joking. "It made me dress up."
His voice has also held up and he covered his bases: the melancholic introspective songs for which he's revered (Fountain of Sorrow, written soon after a breakup, we learned, and "a better song than she deserved.") and his activist '80s political songs (Lives in the Balance).
Browne displayed a keen sense of humor, especially when he updates his infamous 1977 LP cut, Cocaine. "I can hear some of you out there thinking, 'he's not going to sing that,'" the repentant rocker teased. Sing it he did with the new tagline "...And I wouldn't have done coke for one more day/If I'd known I was helping turn a profit for the CIA."
The show's casual nature unfortunately allowed some boorish members of the audience to get out of hand, shouting song requests at Browne as if the artist were a DJ. But Browne was a good sport. "You're not as vocal an audience as I've had," he said.
Charm, chops and songs. It was a wonderful evening.