James Taylor had only been onstage a few moments on Tuesday (May 30) when a loud cry of “I love you” from a crowd member rang out across beautiful Frost Amphitheater at Stanford University.
“Well, that’s an excellent turn of events,” the 75-year-old Rock and Roll Hall of Famer responded. “I can’t explain it, but I love you too.”
That drew one of what seemed like dozens of full-throttle laughs from the large crowd, as the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer — who also happens to be the genre’s funniest man in concert — took centerstage for a wonderful two-set show at Frost Amphitheater at Stanford University.
Taylor, who remarked more than once about the beauty of the open-air venue, was in fine voice throughout the night as he rolled, mostly gently, through two dozen songs in a little more than two hours of stage time (not counting the 20-minute set break).
The show began with a video montage of James Taylor playing “Something in the Way She Moves” through the years, kicking off in the early days of his remarkable career and moving steadily toward the present day. Then James Taylor — circa May 30, 2023 — appeared in the flesh before our eyes to finish the song in memorable fashion.
He went on to provide some background about the exquisite song, which he said was the number he played as an audition for Beatles Paul McCartney and George Harrison. It ended up doing the trick and Taylor was quickly signed to the band’s Apple Records, which released the artist’s eponymous debut in 1968.
“George liked it so much that he went home and wrote it himself,” Taylor said in what was an apparent (but lighthearted) reference to the well-noted similarities between his song and Harrison’s “Something” — which opens with lyric “Something in the way she moves.”
“Everything is recycled anyway,” reasoned Taylor, closing the topic with a smile.
He then got the crowd momentarily excited by announcing that the next selection would be a number about North Carolina.”
“Probably not the one you’re thinking about,” deadpanned Taylor, pulling the rug out from under our collective feet with great comic timing. “We’ll do that one later — in the second set. This is another song about North Carolina.”
Instead of the beloved “Carolina in My Mind,” he’d mine the very same parent album (“James Taylor”) and offer up a nice version of “Rainy Day Man.”
The star of the show shared the stage with as many as 12 musicians, who were accurately billed as Taylor’s “All-Star Band.” The roll call for the evening was drummer Steve Gadd, pianist Larry Goldings, vocalist-fiddler Andrea Zonn, backing vocalists Kate Markowitz, Dorian Holley and Henry (son of James) Taylor, horn player Lou Marini, keyboardist/horn player Walt Fowler, guitarist Michael Landau, percussionist Luis Conte and bassist-bandleader Jimmy Johnson. (Taylor’s wife Kim also appeared later in the show and added some backing vocals.)
Basically all of those band members would get the chance to shine as the group moved through such selections as “Copperline” (featuring superb fiddle work from Zonn), “Country Road” (one of many drum highlights from Gadd) and “Steamroller (with plenty of fretboard fireworks from Landau — who Taylor dubbed as “perhaps the best in the business”).
All along the ride, Taylor added commentary that proved to be incredibly effective even when (or, maybe, especially when) he went out on a limb to talk about some less-than-PC topics. Such was the case with “Mona,” the song about his pet pig, whose story — spoiler alert! — doesn’t end well.
“People have been requesting that song,” Taylor said at the conclusion of “Mona” (literally and figuratively). “Perhaps that will put an end to that.”
Of course, Taylor was on acoustic guitar for most of the evening. For “Steamroller,” however,” he would grab an electric guitar, an instrument he championed as “a great improvement over the gas-and-steam guitars.”
“Actually, we just played a show in Pennsylvania and we were surprised how many horse-drawn guitars are still in service,” he joked.
The show’s best moment may well have been the fantastic version of “Fire and Rain” performed in the second set, which drew a standing ovation from the crowd. Taylor carried that momentum over to the sing-along of “Shower the People” and then closed with “Your Smiling Face.”
The star returned for an encore, which he kept right on extending despite initially giving the impression that he might end it early.
“That looked pretty spontaneous,” he said of the band’s decision to return for another song. “We’re practicing our spontaneous.”
Setlist
Set 1:
1. “Something in the Way She Moves”
2. “Rainy Day Man”
3. “Copperline”
4. “Everybody Has the Blues”
5. “Mona”
6. “Some Days You Gotta Dance”
7. “Sweet Baby James”
8. “Country Road”
9. “Steamroller”
10. “Mexico”
11. “Up on the Roof”
Set 2:
12. “Jump Up Behind Me”
13. “You Make It Easy”
14. “You’ve Got a Friend”
15. “Carolina in My Mind”
16. “Raised Up Family”
17. “Handy Man”
18. “Fire and Rain”
19, “Shower the People”
20, “Your Smiling Face”
Encore:
21. “Summertime Blues”
22. “Shed a Little Light”
23. “Secret o’ Life”
24. “You Can Close Your Eyes”
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