I had the joy of seeing Jackson Browne perform at the Washington Pavilion last night as part of his solo acoustic tour. Unforgettable is an understatement.
“These Days” and “Your Bright Baby Blues” were stunningly beautiful. His renditions of previous band-only tunes, such as “Looking East,” revealed much that I never saw or heard in the original versions. Jackson, his voice, a selection of 12 acoustic guitars and a keyboard. It can’t get much better than that. The song variety and talent were so great that even the fact he didn’t play the song I perhaps most wanted to hear doesn’t affect a wonderful night of artistry.
One of the producers of Jackson’s 1994 TV special, “Jackson Browne: Going Home,” (available on DVD) was also filming on stage. Hopefully, this means some sort of documentary involving this solo acoustic tour is in the works.
To Jackson: As Joan Baez sang of Bob Dylan, “You’re a savage gift on a wayward bus/But you stepped down and sang to us.” Thank you for sharing your wonderful gift with us.
To the local newspaper guy who purports to review music: You once again established you wouldn’t know a quality performance if it bitch slapped you.
