So I called my good friend (the only other 20-something JT appreciator in a 50 mile radius) and we committed to enjoy a wonderful evening with our life-long accompanist, even if it meant a 2 hour drive in rush hour and seventy bucks for nose-bleeds. She picked me up after work and we began the long drive. I entertained her with my Nacho Libre accent and we passed the time debating the merits of JT's later FM100 sound against his more acoustic, folk beginnings.
We arrived and took our seats next to a nice couple that easily slid into the 85% majority demographic of 50+ year-olds (that concert was the only time I'd ever had to stand in line to use the men's room). JT took the stage with his usual self-effacing manner and I couldn't help but want to run up and give him a big hug. I just wanted to thank him for all that his music has meant to me over the years. It's just amazing to me to think of how much of my life has been lived against the backdrop of that tenor voice (if this is sounding shmarmy at all, just know that I fully recognize and accept that if I were a 60 year-old woman, I would be in love with the man).
The set list was pretty standard with very little innovation or variation of song interpretation (which just shows that perfection of orchestration lasts for generations). Some were a little over-blown, others spot on. If I'd closed my eyes, I could easily have thought I was listening to the live album in my living room. Don't get me wrong, I was eating up every falsetto and guitar lick (his rendition of "Steamroller" was especially entertaining), as was the rest of the crowd. However, for the majority of the show, it was just another JT concert: wonderful, but nothing unexpected. Which is what made the following so great:
While playing a particularly jazzy version of "Whenever I See Your Smiling Face," suddenly several fans rushed the stage. As soon as I saw it my friend and I jumped out of our nose-bleed seats and dashed down the precarious arena stairs as fast as we could without incuring bodily harm. We got right up to the side of the stage but were held up (along with several others) by security. Then James looked over and said "let 'em go!" The security guy stepped aside and we all rushed up to within 10 feet of the man. The concert suddenly took on a whole new flavor. We were all singing along which got JT even more into the music.
The song ended and they began their first exit off the stage but then the drummer and bass player, apparantly caught up in the energy of the crowd, started up a groovy funk beat thing. The backup singers and James came back and started singing this groovy gospel song. They then took their leave and we all screamed for the expected encore. They came back and did another song and then took a bow and started off stage again. We were all still screaming and James looked at us, whispered something to the bass player and drummer then ran back to the mic to do a great version of "Shower the People." They started off stage again but again we kept screaming so he went back and brought the backup singers back on to sing something that I forget. They all took a bow again and began to exit but we just kept screaming and so JT huddled with the singers and came back to thank us and then left us finally with what is the end-all of JT's songs "You Can Close Your Eyes." And there I was 5 feet away. As he put the guitar down I couldn't help it and found myself yelling "thank you James!" He turned, looked at me and smiled, and left the stage.
It was awesome...
3 comments:
It is time I got in on this and confirm (if there be any question) that all my children posses ten-fold the humor genes that were their inheritance from me. With that out front, I will hesitantly comment:
You ought to build on the story, grandma style, and have him taking the missionary lessons in your apartment.
So if I weren't jealous before, I am now. According to Lincoln I had an affair with Mr. JT a couple days ago, who knew Linc was so secretly jealous of the one and only James, and it would someday comeout in his dreams? I totally hear ya on the soundtrack of your life idea, I think we can thank Holly for that. Love you, Chuck!
Sounds like a great evening, described by an obviously rabid JT fan. When you talked about the gray hair I realized how old James Taylor would have be now, and marveled that you would be so enjoying music coming from someone who's got to be only a few years younger than I am. Your description of everything also took me back to all those years we had JT's music sounding through the house, as each successive kid came to their own "hey, this guy's music is pretty cool" moment. Every once in a while I'll play some JT from my iTunes library while working on projects.
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