I’ve seen James Taylor many times but Madison Square Garden is always special and I was looking forward to going to see him at Madison Square Garden on December 5th, especially coming exactly one day after Cat Stevens, it would be an interesting comparison between the two. Then I discovered my sister would be in Orlando that weekend, visiting from Scotland with her son, so I gave my tix to a friend and went to see her. The weather was great, my great niece was dancing in a parade and I had dinner with the family at Steve Aoki’s place and when I got back to nyc I asked my friend how she liked it and she said too much new stuff…
Eh?
James hasn’t released new music in thirteen years… though the album in question, October Roads, is one of his best. So I checked out the setlist and lo and behold, three new songs from what is promising to be a 2015 release. Alright with me and then I made a playlist of the 22 songs I did know and really, it managed to be both obvious, five tracks off Sweet Baby James, and oblique, “Mona”, “Copperline” and very lovely, very comforting in a manner not too dissimilar from Cat Stevens.
It is really an oblique story, Taylor was a mentally disturbed, introverted formerly institutionalized guy barely past his teens, who hit it big and became a suicidal junkie and now? Now he is a caustic wit nostalgia MOR trip, maybe the best in the business. I’m sorry I missed it.
Set 1
Something in the Way She Moves
Today, Today, Today
Lo and Behold
Mona
Copperline
Everyday
(Buddy Holly cover)
Country Road
Millworker
Carolina in My Mind
One More Go Round
Sweet Baby James
Shower the People
(with Kim Taylor and Henry … more)
Set 2
Stretch of the Highway
You and I Again
Raised Up Family
Handy Man
(Sparks of Rhythm cover)
Steamroller
Only One
Fire and Rain
Up on the Roof
(The Drifters cover)
Mexico
Your Smiling Face
Encore:
How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)
(Marvin Gaye cover)
Shed a Little Light
(with Kim Taylor and Henry … more)
You’ve Got a Friend
(Carole King cover)
