People have been turning to music in times of emotional crisis for a long time. These days, though, the neurochemically confused seem to be turning more and more to pop songs that simply mirror their despair, rather than look for happier tunes to cheer themselves. My Chemical Romance’s album The Black Parade went platinum last year because they convinced anguished teens that they felt the pain, too. In the battle to claim our musical mood, optimism seemed down for the count. Luckily for us, James Taylor and his Band of Legends came to the Greek Theatre Tuesday night, to remind us that it’s a lot more fun to be happy.
James led his group of impressive musicians through more than two hours of feel-good music, splitting the time between his classic hits and a number of cover tunes from their recently recorded album. For the most part, the covers worked, the high point being Glen Campbell’s “Wichita Lineman,” which sounded positively beautiful. “Oh, What A Beautiful Morning,” the opening tune from Oklahoma, also fit surprisingly well into the James Taylor mold, and The Temptations’ “It’s Growing” started off the set like it had been in rotation for years.
The classics had not lost a bit of their magic, indicated early by a rocking performance of “Country Road,” anchored by legendary drummer Steve Gadd. “Sweet Baby James” and “Fire and Rain” were stuck unceremoniously in the middle of the second set, but nonetheless held their ground as encore-worthy material. The most memorable tune, however, was the innuendo-filled “Steamroller,” sung with hilarious exaggeration by James and accented with hot blues riffs from guitarist Michael Landau.
Even when he wasn’t singing about his “churning urn of burning funk,” James kept the mood light and humorous. He thanked the audience for coming, joking that the show “just wouldn’t be the same without you,” and at other times he demonstrated a quick wit in response to marriage proposals shouted up to the stage. It was clear that he and the Band of Legends felt intimately comfortable with one another, and the show felt perfectly at home in the outdoor comfort of the Greek Theatre.
The good feelings lasted all the way through the extended encore version of “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You),” a song that may be the antithesis of the current trend of angst-ridden tunes. James Taylor still possesses one of the most comforting voices in pop music, though - in fact, his voice seems to get better with age - and as he’s showing no signs of slowing down, it seems likely that whenever we’re ready to cheer up, we’ll always have a friend in James Taylor.
Photo courtesy of The Greek Theatre.
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