As a Scottish fan I count myself lucky in that Jackson always plays Glasgow. I count myself especially lucky as he seemed to try out his acoustic tour first with us. He appeared a couple of years back with the full band then re-appeared about 4 months later on his own then in November last year he was back as part of the official tour.

Anyways the point of this e-mail is to ask if anyone knows if Jackson is going to bring out an acoustic album (preferably live). I could not believe how well most of his songs worked acoustically and how different and fresh they sounded. Only complaint was that "In the shape of a heart " in Glasgow at least just did not work mainly due to his inability to play the guitar part of it. Perhaps a rethink on how he performs it. But hey that is a small complaint because the whole show was amazing and yeah the guy can still make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up with his voice.

Definitely think we should put pressure on the record company and Jackson to release an acoustic/unplugged type of album.

you can tell the fan who wrote about
jackson/bonnie covering warren zevon
* jackson/bonnie together on
"the times you've come" (for everyman)
"here come those tears again" (pretender)
"my opening farewell" (bonnie's road-tested; live)
also, jackson got zevon his record deal with warner
and produced/plays on/sings on
his major-label debut (warren zevon)
and plays/sings/co-produces on the next couple
also, "poor poor pitiful me" was a song that zevon
wrote about/for jackson, poking fun at
* how he got so many chicks
* and his introspection (self-pity? at times)
finally, doonesbury had a great cartoon about
(listening to) jackson: "when a sigh becomes a whine"
and, p.s: trivia: what jackson song plays
while robert deniro arms himself
in taxi driver?

A live CD would be awesome - but a live video or dvd would be even better!!!!!

I was lucky enough to hear about the Charity show Jackson was performing at last Saturday afternoon March 5th. I arrived about 1 hour before Jackson arrived and there was a large crowd already there, but mostly they seemed to be there for the cause and not the music. It took about half an hour in line to get in to the tented area, even though you could watch from the street. We finally got in about 20 minutes before he was scheduled to perform and to my surprise, as we were walking in the celebrity children reading was ending and the parents and kids in the front were leaving so we just walked right up to the stage and stood there. After a brief live auction, Jackson and his full band took the stage.

My only personal disappointment of the day and a slight one being that close, about 6 feet from him was that I have always admired his look and the fact his hair and overall look has always been the same and he never ages and I always comment that he still has that young boyish look that gives me inspiration that you can still look young as we grow up, but the gray beard and mustache he has recently grown makes that illusion sort of go away!

For the show, he was excellent as usual and seemed very into playing the music and didn't look bored on stage at all. Having seen him perform over 100 times now, I do prefer when he performs solo as I personally fell you get a better set of songs and not just the hits. That's not to say he doesn't have a very good band that backs him up and they are very enjoyable to watch. In this show, he played a variety of the hits and a couple not so widely known songs to the general public. Although it looked like half the crowd I estimated was about 1000 people were just there for the cause and stayed for a free concert and did not know his music, the rest of us seemed to be die hard fans.

Here is the set list but for the life of me, I can't remember a song in the middle of the set, even though I thought I memorized it.

Everywhere I Go
Barricades Of Heaven
Lives In The Balance
My Imagination
Culver Moon
The Pretender
Running On Empty
-----------------
Take it Easy
(With Victoria Williams & Jesse Malin)

Doctor My Eye's was on the set list but Take it easy was played in that spot.

The total show was about 1 hour and a few minutes but in such an intimate setting it was well worth going to see and hear, as always Jackson didn't disappoint!

One a cute note, after the second song or so, he said he was glad to be asked to play and hinted to the owner of the shop that he was late for the clothing fitting and really liked the suede jackets in the store, he was given a black one just before the end of the set! He also said he was glad to be playing for this cause and made a funny remark that he and the band are "Benefit Whores." (For the of you not familiar with the business, Jackson and several others that play benefits frequently do get paid for playing these shows in most cases and some of them make a good living doing this, yes there are times they donate their time for free if it is a cause dear to them or their own charity, but while there is nothing wrong with getting paid, people should not have the perception that these artists do this for nothing all the time!)

All in all a great performance and venue to see him perform. Only hope this and other recent surprise appearance makes him want to tour again this year!

Last night, March 8, Jackson played at the Fairmont Hotel in Santa Monica, CA for a private event. He was phenomenal, as always. I was surprised to see him sporting a white beard! Nonetheless, he was timeless and engaging and he played for half an hour longer than scheduled. He played several of his classic songs (Late For the Sky, Fountain of Sorrow, These Days (which he played in the manner that he originally wrote the song), Running On Empty, Load Out/Stay) and some of his more recent stuff like Night in My Eyes, Culver Moon, Lives in the Balance, I'm Alive.

All in all, a great show. Let us know if you hear anything more about a tour. And thanks for the great site!

[Webmaster's Note: I received this review by email this week. The email was dated November 7, 2004, but somehow just arrived in my mailbox in mid March 2005. I can't explain that, but I thought I'd post it anyway.]

Claus and I went to Ringsted yesterday evening for Jacksons only concert in Denmark on this solo tour. Ringsted is a small town some 50 kilometres for Copenhagen and definitely not the most obvious place for a Jackson concert. The nice theater was only half filled, but it was clear, that the people, that did attend was mostly devotees, together with Jackson creating a warm and intimate atmosphere

Barricades of heaven

After this first song Jackson said "This is difficult day" he surely wanted to express himself about the result of the election but didn't; Instead he said, that the last time he was in Denmark was right after the start of the war in Irak... stopped again, and went right into

For everyman
Looking east

After this Jackson said (as usual) that he was playing without a setlist tonight, at would play whatever he felt like, and whatever favourites we'd come to hear. I called for "For America" and Jackson immediately responded "oh, thanks for asking for that" obviously again referring to the election.

Late for the sky. A very long and warm applause after this surely cheered Jackson up

Your bright baby blues

Here come those tears again (I wrote this together with my mother-in-law. She har a tremendous chrash on Willie Nelson &.)

The pretender

There was a call for a Zevon song, which Jackson happilly responded to. "I thought, you'd never ask -Okay, I really want to play this but I need the lyrics. Jackson got two pieces of paper with the lyrics, but had a lot of trouble reading them, as he went along with "Roland the headless Thompson gunner". The result was, well...somehow fragmented, but all done with a lot of ... and the audience responded with a warm applause

Too many Angels
Running on empty

-Intermission-

Lives in the balance
Before the deluge
Song for Adam
I am a patriot
Sergio Leone
For a Dancer
Redemption song

Call it a loan. Before this, Jackson talked a tot about David Lindley and the two of them cowriting songs...

These days
The naked ride home
Love needs a heart
Rosie
Don't you want to be there
Take it easy
Our lady of the well

Sky black and blue
My stunning mystery companion

A lot more could be written about Jacksons small stories between songs, but you know & I t just gets too long.

What amazed Claus and I most was
- Jackson's guitar playing. Last year, when Jackson was here with his band, some newpapers commented on why he was bringing all those guitars, because he didn't play much, between the lines questioning his abilities. I just wish these same journalists were here last night!!
- Sticking to the concept of playing what people are calling out for. At times it seems like its going to get too chaotic with a lot of shouting, but Jackson allways brings it "back home", and you end up (as many others have commented) feeling, that Jackson's here in our living room playing songs for us
- The back catalogue; what a tremendous number of lovely, powerfull and great songs just take your choice

Anyway - it was another great night with Jackson my first time seing him solo. The feeling in your stomach after such an evening just makes you a little happier &.

Thanks for coming to Denmark, Jackson

And, as always, lots of thanks to Russ for keeping this site the best available Jackson source.

...On to Hamburg sunday!!!

Love and cheers,

Last Sat. we had a great time seeing Jackson Browne at what I would call a a wedding reception type setting. It was the easiest Jackson Browne concert I ever got into and Jackson never disappoints with his musical and vocal talents. His band is also amazing and Kevin, Mauricio and Mark were there performing with him. He said that his back up singer was pried away from David Bowie's band. I also respected the cause that John Vartano was supporting with this event.

My husband and I have seen more than several Jackson Browne concerts and enjoy his artistry. When his band finished playing we were standing outside the wall near the registration table when a lady with long curly light hair respectfully asked our family to clear the way for the band. I thought this to be a rather odd request as we were a small family of four. I told this woman, "Sure but could we also say Hi! to Jackson?" She told me, "No, he has to get back."

As I looked up, Jackson's band was passing through and my son tells me I yelled, "Jackson over here." Jackson turned around as a man with gray curly hair said, "Jackson don't stop." Jackson approached us anyway and crouched down to say hello to my young son. Jackson had an amazed look on his face as he looked into Matthew's face. My other son was a little in back and I brought him forward and explained to him that this was Jackson Browne. (They could easily associate his name with the music I always play in the car on road trips.) I think at 9 and 12 years old they were perplexed about the person standing in front of us and putting a face to the music.

It was clear that Jackson was very taken with the kids and didn't really want to talk to us. I think seeing my two young sons must have taken him back to an earlier time when his sons were their age. He seemed like he wanted to take more time in talking with them but couldn't risk having a crowd develop wanting to meet him too. Again, I understand that he was coming down from his musician's high of performing too and probably needed to rest.

Jackson shook hands with the boys as I blabbered how much I loved his music and how we listen to it all the time. I stuck out my hand, and he waited a few seconds before extending his, as if to determine exactly who he was shaking hands with. As I think back maybe he was just waiting for me to state my name which I never did. My husband did the same and he shook his hand too. I was still trying to say something to him when his manager said, "Jackson, let's go." Although he looked back with an apologetic look in his eye, they then headed out front with the band and several other people to the motor home parked on Melrose.

It was clear they were trying to avoid a "meet and greet" type situation with people wanting photos and autographs.

We felt honored to meet Jackson, an admired lyricist and musician of ours and an adept interpreter of life in So. California and the U.S., world as a whole during our lifeime. I respect that he made his own decision to acknowledge our appreciation of him. We did think he possibly had another venue to make that evening and it turned out as this site reported, that he did make an impromptu visit to McCabe's Guitar Shop in Santa Monica to sing a few songs with the group Venice at their early show.

Thanks Jackson, it was an encouragement to hear you sing and play again and to finally meet you! Your music inspired my husband to play and sing more and use his music as an educator. My husband said something during the concert that surprised me when he told me that he's finally liking Jackson's newer music more than the older songs.  We go way back as fans from his early years and have always loved his older music the best. Have to say that Jackson's music seems as relevant as it was in the past and I think he is transitioning over to a wider audience at this stage in his career. It seems that when I mention him now, more and more people know who he is.

This past week I heard his "I'm Alive," playing in Staples, "Some Bridges" being broadcast also over the intercom in Mervyn's and "Some Bridges" again in Albertson's. I read somewhere that the music they play in stores actually does something to people's pleasure pathways in the brain and causes them to spend more. I wonder who is in charge of programming Jackson's music into retail stores? Does anybody out there know how that works?

Best,

From Lisbon, I flew to Madrid to see the rare and unique concert of David Crosby and Graham Nash there on the 20th of March. It was more than excellent, it was SUPERB! And I (we all) must thank to the great Jackson Browne, at least for two things:

- one is the fact that JB had much to do with the decision of those gentlemen to play live in Spain ( I hope next time Jackson persuades David and Graham to perform in Lisbon, as well as himself ).

- the other is that the good influence of JB, his friendship and helping hand next to David, during the bad moments of his life was quite important, as David himself, explained to the audience before singing the unforgettable song Delta!

Thanks a lot Jackson!