"Boulevard"

The opening number.  From Jackson’s victory lap, "Hold Out".  After the unforeseen stratospheric success known as "Running On Empty", after "No Nukes".

The key lines are:

Down at the golden cup
They set the young ones up

This was a reference to the Gold Cup, a dive on the south side of Hollywood Boulevard, long before the nightclub renaissance, when you held on to your wallet when you walked the sidewalk, if you ventured down to deepest Hollywood at all.

If you fire up "Hold Out", be sure to listen to "Of Missing Persons", Jackson’s tribute to Lowell George.  And too bad the opening number is saddled with the title "Disco Apocalypse", dating it.  Because it’s got a jauntiness that makes me feel confident every time I play it.  And I still do.

This was the opening number.  Not obvious.  But a direct SoCal reference.

"The Barricades Of Heaven"

Running down around the towns along the shore
When I was sixteen and on my own
No, I couldn’t tell you what the hell those brakes were for
I was just trying to hear my song

Thursday Jackson Browne is going to be sixty.  I’m sure he doesn’t feel it.  None of us do.  Those choices we made way back when…  They seemed insignificant.  We didn’t know we were casting the die for the rest of our lives.

I think this was the second number.  Maybe it was the third.  I was going to do this in order, to the degree I could remember.  But I’m going to give that up.  I’ll just say it was an incredible surprise to hear this track from "Looking East" so early in the set.  Jackson’s rescued the title track by recording a rearrangement on his recent live album, but this album seems to have been completely forgotten.  But fans know every lick.

"Some Bridges"

While we’re on "Looking East", I seem to remember Jackson doing this too.  There’ll probably be a boot in the future, and I’ll find out for sure.  But, I hear it in my brain.  The great change of the chorus.

Some bridges are falling down
Some bridges are still around

What did Fareed Zakaria say?  With the money we spent in Iraq, we could have given everybody in the U.S. health care and repaved all of our roads?

"Baby How Long"

Jackson intro’d this with a reference to his girlfriend.  How it had been ten years, but he didn’t want to say "forever".  "Forever" was scary.  I don’t know if this helped me make points with Felice or lose them.

Meanwhile, sitting in front of me was this octogenarian.  Tiny and white-haired.  Jackson’s Dianna came up to see if she was all right.  Must’ve been either her or Jackson’s mom. What does a mother think about a successful rock and roller child?  Someone who took the path less traveled and succeeded?

"Culver Moon"

Also from "Looking East".  All about a Culver City of the mind.  With references to the real Culver City.  Everything from Fedco to the Lakers and the Forum.  Even Cuban restaurant Versailles.

In the twelve years since this song was released, a lot of the landmarks have disappeared, and stunningly, Culver City is suddenly hip, the residence of Peter Sellars and the location of Harrison Ford’s son’s eatery.

"About My Imagination"

Maybe Jackson talked about his "Stunning Mystery Companion" girlfriend before this number, one of my two favorites from 2002’s "Naked Ride Home".

Jeff Young’s organ notes enrapture you.  It was about music, not layers of crap production that touched our souls, had us hooked.

"The Night Inside Me"

Jackson played this from "The Naked Ride Home" too.  But he didn’t play my absolute favorite from that collection, "Never Stop".  Oh, the twisting, turning changes at the end.  Nor did he play my favorite from "Looking East", "I’m The Cat".

"Lives In The Balance"

It was that kind of night.  Jackson played the title track from this 1986 collection, not the hit, "In The Shape Of A Heart".

Pundits tell us Jackson sings too much about politics.  But this number about Central America got a standing ovation.

"Lawyers In Love"

Jackson played nothing from this 1983 disc.  There are three killers for those scoring at home, "Downtown, "For A Rocker" and "Cut It Away".  If you’ve ever been in a relationship but didn’t feel it as much as you should have…listen to "Cut It Away".

"Running On Empty"

An album cut live on tour, comprised entirely of originals, should stiff.  But "Running On Empty" was truly Jackson’s commercial breakthrough.

In ’65 I was seventeen and running up 101
I don’t know where I’m running now, I’m just running on

That’s America’s Ventura Highway for those unclear on the road reference.  The divided road that goes from Los Angeles to San Francisco.  The boulevard of dreams.  Both broken and fulfilled.

We didn’t graduate and take jobs on Wall Street.  We put out our thumbs and journeyed across this great country of ours.

Stunningly, at this late date we truly feel like we’re running on empty, with more questions than answers.  And who knew three decades on this would be the most apropos track, describing our national situation.  John McCain might have tried to misappropriate our music, but Jackson slapped him with a writ.  For it was McCain’s support of deregulation that helped bring us to the brink.

A true anthem.  That sounds better live every time.

"The Pretender"

After Jackson’s masterpiece, "Late For The Sky", delivered limited impact, not crossing over to AM radio, it was unforeseeable that this indictment of our suddenly somnambulant generation would break through to such great success.

I was trying to sell out.  Attending law school after starving in Utah.  I passed the Bar, but I practiced law for about ten minutes.  How boring!

What got me through that first semester was music.  I went to see Jackson at the Shrine over Thanksgiving.  He brought his young son on stage.

That was 32 years ago.

Ronald Reagan became President.  The baby boomers who believed in peace and love, who were concerned with those around them, suddenly became all for me.  And still are.  If only they would listen to "The Pretender" now.

"Fountain Of Sorrow"

Looking through some photographs I found inside a drawer
I was taken by a photograph of you

Our hair was long.  We wore bell bottoms.  We never thought we’d get this old, that we’d age like our parents.  But we have.  And it’s been bittersweet, just like this song.

This number was played astoundingly early in the set.  It was the only one from "Late For The Sky".  No title track, no "For A Dancer", but it was enough.  A cut that was not a hit single, that was not tied to any movie, but is nevertheless the anthem of a generation, known by just about every baby boomer.

Listening to the couplets of "Fountain Of Sorrow" you realize why song doctors like Diane Warren and Kara DioGuardi should be shot.  They’re about platitudes, the illusion of truth, whereas a great songwriter is spot on, he or she nails the truth!

Jackson sings that that magic feeling never seems to last.  And we’ve tried to deny this.  We’ve gotten divorced, we’ve switched careers, still…we’re left with this loneliness, springing up from our lives like a fountain from a pool.  We don’t want to look back, but unlike Sarah Palin we must.  To see how we got here, how we became who we are.

"Doctor My Eyes"

Funny to think that Jackson’s initial hit was about a groove.  That’s what hooks you, that intro groove, repeated in the song.

When he launched into this and the crowd leapt to its feet it was like we were in a house of worship and were cleansed of our sins.  That’s what great music does, release you, give you the strength to plow on.

"Something Fine"

The new numbers came alive on stage.  There was more power, more edge.  But the absolute killer, the night’s keeper, was "Something Fine", the opening cut on side two of Jackson’s very first album.

And you know that I’m looking back carefully
‘Cause I know that there’s still something there for me

I expected a greatest hits set.  I expected Jackson to paint by numbers.  I wasn’t expecting to be transported back to who I used to be.

When Jackson started picking the notes on his acoustic guitar, I literally swooned.  The number took me back to those long winter days at Middlebury.  When I studied subjects irrelevant to me, when I lived to listen to my records and read "Rolling Stone".

I start to wonder.  What hooked me, is it gone?  Usually I come down on the yes side.  Songwriting isn’t an art, performing isn’t about changing people’s lives so much as charging them money.  Then you hear something unfettered, like Jackson’s guitar-playing on this number, and your whole life lays out in relief.  Not only the victories, but the losses.  You’re in touch with who you used to be.  You tell yourself if everything was this good, you’d go out every night, you’d live to go to the show.  And then you realize, at one point you did.

"I Am A Patriot"

The encore.  With Ben Harper on slide.  The rousing reaction indicated the audience was not asleep.  They’re not happy.  They want change.  Hearing another classic was not as important as singing about taking our identity and our country BACK!