One Man Band Tour Review

James Taylor couldn't have been more at home Friday night with the sold-out crowd at the Beacon Theater in NYC.
He shared snapshots of family and friends on a big screen to the left of the stool where he sat with his lanky frame in the pose familiar to all: acoustic guitar resting on his right thigh.
He rolled up the long sleeves on his plain button-down shirt while singing Mean Old Man and straightened the collar so an audience member could take a photo of him. He made fun of his growing lack of hair, said middle verses in his Line Em Up song are about as valuable as Styrofoam peanuts, and put on a baseball cap tossed onstage. And to top it all off, he sang such 30-year-old hits as Fire and Rain, Sweet Baby James, Country Road and Carolina in My Mind with all the richness and clarity everyone remembers from back in the day. Taylor, 58, who has sold more than 35 million records, played 19 songs in the two-hour show that was split by a planned 20-minute break. He returned to the stage for two encores. He wore jeans and was accompanied only by pianist Larry Goldings.
Some of the photos Taylor had flashing on the screen were laugh-out-loud funny. One was of a man who reportedly had been found mostly intact after being frozen for 100 years. He said it could have been his dad, Dr. Isaac Taylor, who went on an expedition to Antarctica in 1955, leaving his wife and five kids at home. Taylor then sang his The Frozen Man ballad.
Audience members looked adoringly at photos of singer Carole King with Taylor around the time she said he should record her song. Then he sang it: Youve Got A Friend. The crowd clapped and whooped when Taylor got into a bluesy rhythm with Slap Leather and Steamroller.

We went and saw James Taylor last night at the Beacon Theater in NYC. It was a great show. Above is review from another concert he did but the concert we saw was very similar.
We also went to this great place for dinner.
Also, check out my Blog Videos on the side link. I posted two songs that I shot using Dana's camera. The quality isn't great but hey, what do you want?
:-)

I Shoulda Saved the Ticket Stubs

At the Clapton show, my brother Larry (who is 2-3 years older) were reminiscing about concerts we went to in our youth. One thing we both suffered from was not remember much about them. We were born in the mid to late 50's and both embraced the culture of the 60's (in other words, we did drugs). I think the first show I went to was a Frank Zappa Halloween show. I had a friend who always got tickets for the early and late show at the Capitol Theater in NJ for the Zappa shows. We never had seats that were past the 10th row center. The great thing about Zappa was that he traveled with a big band (10 or more musicians) and his shows were never the same and the band was tighter than a gnats asshole (I don't know where that came from but my point is that they were VERY tight)

Another great concert I was was the Band. The venue was horrible, too crowed, no seating yet it was one of the best shows I've seen. I also saw Bob Dylan at the Garden in 1975 (?), Genesis in the 80's (with Nina), Bonnie Raitt at Tanglewood MA, George Benson and other jazz guys in the city. Sonny Rollins (jazz again) and Chick Corea (more jazz - I like jazz). I was fortunate to see Les Pauls 90th Birthday Bash at Carnegie Hall last summer and saw a ton of people. Somewhere on my blog I have a post about it.

I also enjoyed seeing David Bromberg (Dana and my first date way back in 1985 (?) and we saw him again in 2004) and I saw John Hartford. I saw him in a small venue in NJ. I also saw Elvin Bishop, Matt (Guitar) Murphy from the Blues Brothers fame, Dr John and another all time great, Albert Collins. He put on a great show too. He'd play these small clubs and walk outside while playing and stop traffic in the street while his band played on inside the joint. I also saw Jonny Winter and Hot Tuna play at a place called TG's. I do enjoy seeing musicians in small venues for sure. They tended to play longer and take requests. Sure, Clapton was great, he is a guitar God for sure but he was at work and it showed a little. I guess of people were shouting out more XML Phil it would be a drag for me too. I do wish I saved my ticket stubs though, I'm sure I've forgotten more than I've remembered.
All in all, I do remember having fun...
Any got any Oero's???

The Show

Last night was The Show. It was the first time I saw Clapton perform in person. He is one of my, if not my favorite, guitarist. The show was the last of a 3 night stay at Madison Square Garden (NYC), our seat were good, we had a great view of the stage but if they did not have the giant screens there it may not have been the same. Robert Cray opened the show and gave a great performance. He also came out later and did a song or two with Clapton's band. A friend of mine who has seem Clapton a number of times said that he usually does the same show. The NY Times had a review which basically said the same thing. That's cool, I never saw him so it was new to me. I felt that although it's a performance and a staged show, he played as good as ever. I was hoping for a longer show with more spontaneity but as Dana said to me, "Phil, the 60's are over".

She's right. It is a business and he was at work. Gone are the days of the 4 hour shows with people showing up on stage that are not on the bill, and multiple encores. He didn't do any encores which was a bummer but he did do a lot of great songs. Derek Trucks was with him too and he plays like a a maniac. He's so good on slide. the did the original version of Layla which was great. I love the acoustic one, but the original was real good. My brother brought his iPod with a mic and recorded it. I don't know how it turned out but if there are any good cuts, I'll post them. All in all, it was a fantastic show. I have seen one of my guitar heros.
One other thing, I am getting old. I found it too loud but even when I was younger that was always a complaint of mine. It gets distorted a bit. I think if I see another shoe, I will have ot bring the foam ear plugs. Also, there was a lot of pot smoking going on whcih is fine with me but there were also cigarettes being smoked which sucked. I can't stand the smell of those. a real nasty habit that I'm so glad I don't do anymore...

Here's another review plus a playlist of the set.
This review is more accurate