After a wonderful run of shows in the U.S. and Japan celebrating 50 years of performing live Jackson Browne finally arrived in Perth to kick off the Australian leg of his Australia & New Zealand Tour with this one off ‘Day on the Green’ show in Perth’s wonderful Kings Park after warming up at Byron Bay Bluesfest last week. Few singer songwriters are as revered as Jackson Browne or as synonymous with the California music scene of the late 60’s and early 70’s. Tonight he showcased just a snatch of that memorable career as well as providing proof that some voices never seem to diminish in stature and some songs are simply timeless.
We sadly missed opening act Helen Shanahan but the Waifs who hail from Albany in the South of W.A. did a wonderful job leading into the main event with a set of wonderfully evocative favourites, and as we learned later even lent Jackson some of their gear. In a set that encompassed their own fine 31 year history they showed why their own songs are so enduring with perhaps the highlight being ‘Black Dirt Track’ which tells the tale of the salmon fishing camp the sisters Vikki and Donna grew up around. There’s the mildest of drizzle as they close their set and dark clouds loom ominously.
After what initially looked like some issues with the keyboards delaying Jackson’s start slightly, his band finally take to the Kings park stage in front of a packed house and launch into the title track from Jackson’s most recent album from 2021 ‘Downhill From Everywhere’. It’s a great way to open – laying out your latest work and even if not immediately familiar with everyone that voice is unmistakable! Jackson takes centre stage with his trademark white telecaster, tuned down a step for the song, and you are immediately taken by how tight the band is – replate with bass, drums, keys and two guitarists to complement Jackson’s own instrument.
Jackson switches to an acoustic and almost on cue the rain starts just before 1990’s ‘I’m Alive’ cuts through the dark and damp night air, it’s a track I remember hearing travelling across the U.S. when it was released, never a huge hit at the time but one that sounds wonderful tonight despite continued sound issues that lead to the unplugging of guitarist Greg Leisz’s pedal steel which rings out an unearthly shrill tone towards the end of the song. As Jackson noodles acoustically as things are plugged, unplugged and re-plugged again he jokes about the extraterrestrial sound. Even though ‘The Long Way Around’ lacks some texture due to the missing third guitar and you can sense the frustration in the band no one on this side of the stage seems to care and indeed Jackson’s extended acoustic fills and stage banter add an extra dimension. As the guitar tech crawls about the stage Browne tells us that his regular tech is down with covid. You have to feel for the poor guy doing the scrambling around on what might be his first night on the job!
‘The Barricades of Heaven’ is beautiful, and ‘Fountain of Sorrow’ which sees Jackson take to the piano for the first time and which has been long-rumoured to be about his short affair with Joni Mitchell, both suffer a little from the continued problems but no one seems to mind as Jackson riffs on Western Australia not being at all like California and telling us what a wonderful unique home we have. And as the rain falls ‘Rock Me on the Water’ from the 1972 debut stirs up more than a few memories in the audience. It’s hard to believe that song has hit its 51st year this year, and just as we wee starting to think the pedal steel and slide might be absent for the evening it finally bursts to life towards the end of the song.
‘Until Justice Is Real’ another from his latest record shows that Browne the activist is very much alive with a sharp focus on racial justice and well and works wonderfully well up against ‘The Dreamer’ from the same album that echoes the activism that has always been in his canon and looks at the plight of immigrants. With the sound problem identified as the volume pedal there’s a little more on stage banter as the next set of leads are wired in with Jackson offering Greg the option of plugging into his amps and taking the audience for attending ‘the soundcheck’!
‘Your Bright Baby Blues’ from 1976’s ‘The Pretender’ sadly for me means we don’t get the wonderful ‘Lady Paloma’ from that same album but it’s still a classic. But the biggest reaction from the damp crowd of the night so far comes with ‘Doctor My Eyes’ when Jackson returns to the piano and opens the song. What can you say about the song that hasn’t been said before and it’s almost as if the technical issues, that I must say have been mitigated wonderfully, are swept aside just in time for this song.
‘Late for the Sky’ the opening track from his third record of the same name is up next and is as wonderfully emotional and beautifully orchestrated as you could have hoped for. The set closes as perfectly as possible with ‘Running on Empty’ which sees singing and dancing raised to a new level in the crowd. It’s the perfect way to end the evening and with the band introduced and the Waifs thanked Jackson and the band leave the stage.
It’s not long before they are back and Jackson remarks that he hadn’t realised that it was raining until they went off. The band launches into the song that Brown wrote with Glen Frey for The Eagles ‘Take It Easy’ always one of my favourite songs as a kid especially for one line that always resonated “We may lose and we may win, Though we will never be here again” it’s a line so simple yet so true. The extended song features what has been a wonderful part of the night – the guitar and with the crowd singing at the top of their voices we seamlessly move into ‘Our Lady of the Well’ from ‘For Everyman’ his pivotal second album (that also featured ‘Take it Easy’ The Eagles first single the previous year). Put together those two songs work perfectly and the delicate piano added by Crosby after the lilting guitars of Leisz. The songs closes with wonderful spotlights on each of the players. It’s perfect and the applause is thunderous as the band leave the stage a second time.
“This is a love song to my crew” is Browne’s introduction to ‘The Load-Out’ the prefect closer for the evening and not often one he ends the set with. It’s sheer joy, but rather than end in a subdues manner the band segue into the classic Maurice Williams and the Zodiac’s number ‘Stay’ to end the evening with the crowd on their feet and dancing. It’s a blissful night in the rain.
There are so many songs I would have loved to have heard tonight – from ‘These Days’ to ‘Jamaica, Say You Will’ or ‘Everyman’ but that’s the joy of an artist like Jackson Browne – such a career and so many memorable songs. Despite the technical issues, despite the rain, it’s a perfect night in Perth under these cloudy skies. 50 years and a million miles in the rear-view mirror Jackson Browne is far from running on empty.
Jackson Browne Setlist:
Encore:
