Old Rocker Jackson Browne Still Has Touch For New Music
Jackson Browne Saturday, Feb. 24, Opera House
Saturday night’s crowd at the Opera House was a little surprised when Jackson Browne wandered onto the stage unannounced to introduce his opening act, Vonda Shepard.
When he reappeared for his own set just 45 minutes later, Browne was dressed in the same black T-shirt and jeans. Looking as if he had just stepped out of a 20 year-old album cover - and sounding like it, too - the California folk-rocker launched into a two-hour show that meshed great hits from the past with a batch of new songs good enough to stand with the classics.
A funky, swamp-bound version of “Culver Moon,” featuring bubbling percussion and a searing Mark Goldenburg guitar solo, was the standout of the new material. In it, Browne turned a Los Angeles community into a metaphor for a new love: “Baby, I’m going to love you till the stars come down/Till they park their limos and they walk to town.”
The Afro-Cuban “Nino” spits in the face of California’s anti-immigration movement by welcoming Hispanic immigrants - “Nino, walking around in LA/Nino, this will be your town some day” - and in “Looking East,” Browne laments the spiritual void he perceives in America.
Of course, the crowd saved its biggest response for hits like “Doctor My Eyes,” “The Pretender” and “The Load Out”/”Stay.” But the best of the old songs was the cinematic “Fountain of Sorrow.” Never a hit, it was, nonetheless, a staple of FM radio, and its imagery and emotions still ring true.
Browne enjoyed a large cult following until a string of hits pushed him onto the arena circuit, where he seemed to lose his way. But he has regained his footing: He was relaxed and friendly Saturday night, his band was tight and inventive, and he sang with confidence. He even took a page from the alternative rockers, shunning fancy lighting and spots that would focus attention on him for subdued lights that highlighted the band.
It’s clear Browne has no interest in becoming a dinosaur: This stripped-down show found an old rocker making new music well.
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