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Excerpts from 2 Fenway Park reviews……..
James Taylor, Jackson Browne collab a home run
Last night, James Taylor returned to Fenway Park, this time with Jackson Browne in tow. Both performed sets full of deep cuts and songs everybody knows by heart with crack bands. But the night’s most musical, joyous moments came when the two shared the stage.Browne invited Taylor to join him on “For a Rocker” and Eagles hit “Take It Easy,” which Browne wrote with Glenn Frey. Taylor may be the bigger star, but he spent the two tunes grinning ear to ear — eternal nice guy, he even tried to help the guitar tech swap Browne’s instruments.
All night long JT held the park in his hand only to defer to his buddy during the encore. And he was right to — the hot band cracked and popped as the two friends dueted through the minor masterpiece.
JT constantly champions his musicians — he made sure to hug or shake hands with each band member after he introduced them. But the icon probably could have wowed the crowd alone with his guitar.
As well-worn as his catalog is, Taylor’s classics rang bright and true. The simple picking of “Walking Man” turned a stadium into a temple. The opening harmonies of “Carolina in My Mind” echoed around the grandstands. The sloppy, sweaty, funky blues of “Steamroller” proved the man doesn’t only do AM gold nuggets.
During a maddening and divisive political season, Taylor detoured from his best-known stuff to celebrate the nation and promote unity. He followed a tender rendering of “America the Beautiful” with his own “Shed A Little Light,” a tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. and his teachings.
Taylor told the Herald he’d be interested in making summer Fenway shows a tradition. Boston clearly likes the idea. How about bring Carole King along in 2017?
James Taylor’s intimate songs find a home at Fenway
James Taylor’s debut Fenway Park performance last year served effectively as proof of concept, showing that a fairly non-demonstrative singer known for working in a quieter mode could pull off a stadium concert without difficulty. So his return Wednesday night was an easygoing, low-pressure affair that found him in good spirits even on his saddest material.Of course, that’s always been part and parcel of Taylor’s appeal, with the singer-songwriter’s unique brand of bittersweet folk-rock wrapping around his listeners like a cozy, minutely scratchy sweater on a brisk autumn day. And it stayed that way even when his most intimate material was writ ballpark-huge. “Fire and Rain” remained a breath determined not to turn into a sob, with drummer Steve Gadd shining by pushing in unexpected places as he nonetheless kept moving the song forward. And Taylor’s voice and acoustic guitar were more than enough for “Carolina in My Mind,” even as other instruments joined in one by one with each verse.
When he brought opener Jackson Browne out for an encore duet on “Doctor My Eyes,” the two created a joyous energy together, and he closed with nothing but acoustic fingerpicking and group vocals on the lovely “You Can Close Your Eyes.” Even when he goes too far afield, Taylor always knows when to come home.
Proving once again (after Bonnie Raitt last year) that Taylor does not fool around with his opening acts, Browne kicked things off with an hour-long performance that eschewed a greatest-hits set in favor of a somewhat idiosyncratic hop across his career, playing major hits such as “Running on Empty” and the inherently ’80s “Somebody’s Baby” alongside quality material with a smaller popular footprint. He didn’t set fire to his best songs, such as “For a Rocker” (with its three-guitar showdown at the end) and the stately “For Everyman,” so much as dig in with his unassuming but curious voice that didn’t seem substantially diminished by age.
NOTE – This article also has 2 videos of James and Jackson performing together
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