Jackson Browne: a cool, crisp concert at the Chateau

We saw Jackson Browne in concert at Chateau Ste. Michelle last night. The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and his fellow musicians gave a crisp, clean performance of many familiar songs on an unseasonably cool evening at the winery. Of all the concerts I've seen at the winery - nearly all of which are by musicians who first gained fame in the 60s and 70s - Jackson Browne, now 60, looked and sounded the strongest. The band played and sang well together, the sound was perfectly mixed (nothing was too loud or too soft), and - unlike the recent Dave Mason concert at CSM -  there was plenty of banter with the audience.

The aspect that most stood out for Amy and me - and other friends who were with us - was the outstanding vocals provided by Chavonne Morris and Alethea Mills. They were seated on stools in the background throughout most of the first set, mostly providing background vocals for the songs; at one point, Amy - always attuned to vocals and vocalists - turned to me and asked "when is he going to let them cut loose?" Well, we didn't have to wait long. In the second set, they were on their feet, and their solos during the third song, "About my imagination", really opened things up. Their solos in the next song, "Lives in the Balance", kept the momentum building throughout the set.

While the women, who joined the group fairly recently, were the standouts, the rest of the band, who have been playing with Browne since 1993 - Kevin McCormick (bass), Mark Goldenberg (guitars), Mauricio Lewak (drums) and Jeff Young (keyboards, backing vocals) - were all [also] outstanding. The bass player is also the producer, and I wondered how much his involvement on stage influenced the incredibly balanced sound mix we were treated to during the show. Another highlight was the guitarist's use of what my friend Bruce said was a 11-string fretless guitar that provided an eastern sound during "Lives in the Balance" (by the time the binoculars got back down to me, the song had ended).

Other highlights included the last song of the first set, a rocking rendition of the classic song, "Take it Easy", which [I didn't previously know] Jackson Browne co-wrote with Glenn Frey of the Eagles, the band that popularized the song, making it one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll (Browne's own performance of another song, Late for the Sky, is also on that list). And, of course, the most classic encore song of all time, Stay, was great to see live as the second and final encore.

We are very fortunate to have good friends - Bruce, Jay and others (pictured on the right) - who were willing to go to the winery early and reserve a spot in line. I've been asked not to reveal how early they got there, but it was sufficiently early that we were the first in line - at the main gate - to vie for the lawn seats. Unfortunately, they opened up the south gate a minute or so before the main gate, and so we didn't get the front "row" on the lawn, but we were right in the center in the second and third rows, which gave us a fabulous vantage point from which to watch the concert.

I've always enjoyed Jackson Browne's music, but have never owned any of his albums, and so while I recognized most of his songs, I had to use my iPhone browser to look up the names of songs based on some of the key lyrics. I also used the iPhone Notes application to keep track of the songs, which worked better than the small pad and pen I used at the Dave Mason concert (where darkness and rain compromised the legibility of my notes). The following is, I believe, a fairly accurate representation of the set lists played at the concert:

First set:

• I'm alive
• Culver moon
• I'll do anything
• Fountain of sorrow
• Time the conquerer
• Off of wonderland
• In the shape of a heart
• Too many angels
• The naked ride home
• Take it easy

Second set:

• Jamaica say you will
• Doctor my eyes
• About my imagination
• Lives in the balance
• Going down to Cuba
• Just say yeah
• The late show
• For a dancer
• Running on empty
• The pretender

Encores

• I am a patriot
• Stay

Comments

[Tricia]

Oh, I was an intense Jackson Browne fan in my youth. I had all his albums at one point (vinyl, of course). I think I stopped collecting them after "On The Boulevard". I've seen him several times, once with Alicia in Manchester. We had front row seats - I swear he smiled right at me!!
For a Dancer is one of my all time favorite songs. I especially like the line "no matter how close to yours' another's steps have grown, in the end their is one dance you'll do alone." It really hit home when I was first going through my separation.
I'm glad you, Amy, and your friends enjoyed the show. it sounds lovely. Outdoor concerts are the best!
-Tricia

[Joe McCarthy]

Hi Tricia,

I am often reminded of you whenever I hear a Jackson Browne song, and I think your appreciation of his music rubbed off on me. For some reason, I've often had difficulty in understanding some of the words he sings, and so I think the full meaning and import of many of his songs still elude me.

In his introduction to For a Dancer at the concert, he said he wrote this as a eulogy for a friend who had died, but having listened to the YouTube video of the song (in the link above) - and read the lyrics which are included in the information associated with the video - I can see how this would be a song of great consolation for anyone experiencing loss.

The lyrics remind me of some lines from Kahlil Gibran's poem On Marriage in The Prophet:

But let there be spaces in your togetherness and let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
...
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone

I'm also reminded of some of the lines from Oriah Mountain Dreamer's poem, The Dance:

I have heard enough warrior stories of heroic daring.
Tell me how you crumble when you hit the wall,
the place you cannot go beyond by the strength of your own will.
What carries you to the other side of that wall,
to the fragile beauty of your own humanness?

And after we have shown each other how we have set and kept the
clear, healthy boundaries that help us live side by side with each other,
let us risk remembering that we never stop silently loving
those we once loved out loud.

Take me to the places on the earth that teach you how to dance,
the places where you can risk letting the world break your heart.
And I will take you to the places where the earth beneath my feet
and the stars overhead make my heart whole again and again.

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to appreciate what the song means to you, and to go back and develop a greater appreciation of this song for myself.

Joe.