Jackson Browne And David Lindley At The Philadelphia Folk Festival, Schwenksville, PA, August 19, 2006

Photo by Deanna Cohen courtesy of Wallyingram.com and predates the folk festival.

A huge rock festival type crowd assembled to see Jackson Browne and David Lindley, his main sideman through most of the 70s, perform live at the famous Philadelphia Folk Festival on a hot summer Saturday afternoon. The two had just returned from a European tour and this was their only stop on the way home to California.

Browne and Lindley performed an all acoustic show. The star played his usual acoustic guitar and piano while Lindley, as always, played every string instrument he could get his hands on. He even used two different violins. If they were tired and suffering from jetlag it certainly didn't show in their playing or their enthusiasm.

The set list spanned Browne's entire career. Most of the first half of the show featured later material including "I'm Alive," "Too Many Angels," and "The Barricades of Heaven." He also played "The Crow and The Cradle" from the No Nukes album. Browne tried to present Lindley as an equal by performing two of Lindley's songs from his late band El Rayo-Ex, including "Mercury Blues." They also played what may be the only Browne-Lindley collaboration, "Call It A Loan," a forgotten song from Browne's 1980 album Hold Out. Depsite his best efforts, Browne knew he was the reason the crowd had assembled. That became obvious when "Take It Easy," "For Everyman," "Late For The Sky," "For A Dancer," "The Pretender," "Lives In The Balance" and an all acoustic version of "Running On Empty," thrilled the fans. Missing were some of my favorites: "Fountain Of Sorrow," "Before The Deluge," and "The Load Out/Stay."

The sound was impeccable. The blend of voices and instruments was never less than perfect. Browne and Lindley couldn't have played and sung better and the audience went away very happy.

Comments

  1. William Kates12:21 AM, September 04, 2006

    "Call it a Loan" is one of my all time favorite songs. You are lucky to have been there to hear this. The last time I saw those two play together was a similarly acoustic set in the summer of 1975 in the last days of the Main Point in Bryn Mawr, PA. It was part of a six night stand of benefit shows trying to save the venue (one night of which was broadcast live on the radio and was widely bootlegged). I could never understood why Browne and Lindley went their separate ways for so long a time.

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