James Taylor and Bonnie Raitt
Frank Erwin Center, Austin, Texas, February 13, 2019
Written by Stacey Lovett, Photographed by Danny Matson
The night was filled with love – love lost, love found, life loved, and love in remembrance – and on this eve of Valentine’s Day no better duo could have graced the stage at the Frank Erwin Center to share so much emotion thank Bonnie Raitt and James Taylor.
As she said herself this show was a “double bill made in heaven” and the musical chemistry between Raitt and Taylor kicked off the show as they opened her set together with “Unintended Consequence of Love” with pure intent to guide the audience on a full range of emotions through the rest of the night. And in the audience sat a handful of fellow revered musicians like Christopher Cross, Ray Benson, and Ruthie Foster to enjoy the musical beauty of love & life intertwined. Following a cover of Inxs’ “I Need You Tonight,” Raitt sang a loving dedication to the late Oliver “Tuku” Mtukudai of “One Belief Away” in which he co-wrote with her. She’s such a loving flame of truth onstage; her songs written from a raw though shielded heart. Her words coming from, as she put it, an early life of bringing in as much pain as she could until she dropped to her knees and studied. The strength she built carried through to her guitar and battle stance presence to the world. Dedicating many of her songs to musician friends here and gone, she mirrors the musical inspiration in them that she too has graced the world with. With a haunting remembrance to Delta Bluesman Skip Jones she led a beautifully deep rendition of “Devil Got My Woman” toasting the blues and Austin for keeping them alive. Arnold McCuller joined her onstage as she took the keys for “Nick of Time,” another tune performed in honor of lost friends but always loved, and this love remained throughout the heaviness of the set yet broken up with witty bridges of transition. Stopping the band, Raitt paused to apply her lipstick, telling them to “not be in a hurry to have a heartbreak baby, take it from someone who knows,” then proceeded with her powerful performance of “I Can’t Make You Love Me.” Alongside the heartache, her fierce spirit shown through breaking into Chaka Khan’s “You Got the Love” with her own little sample stuck in as James Taylor joined her in finishing her set with “Thing Called Love,” passing the torch of wisdom, life, & love to him for the rest of the night.
James Taylor’s set in the grand space of the Erwin Center was nonetheless intimate, while not in size but the reach. The reach inside to raw feelings and truths and the dichotomies in this landscape of life we all feel. And landscape is what he stated was his biggest connection to in life, undoubtedly coming through in all of his music, where in turn the physical and mental terrain absorbs the soul of his music. He introduced his set sharing a projection of his childhood home in North Carolina, sharing memories & photos, stories, and home movie clips that were the fodder of his written word and accompanied those very songs. “It’s about the music & the band & the joy of my life to travel and play my music” – no truer words could you believe than these from Taylor as he connected his life that night. The retrospective he shared set the scene for his artistry and legacy, an enhanced ‘Storytellers’ giving a visual to the audio and undoubtedly sharing the feelings as he went. From “Walking Man’s” autumn inspiration to the comical account of his father’s contribution to “First of May” Taylor wove the seasons of his life into his show, sharing the inspiration and personal ties to each of his songs. And that is what is so special about James Taylor, he has always remained true to his feelings in his songs and been an authentic artist throughout the ups and downs of his life. “Steamroller,” he joked however, was the only unmeaningful one which took longer to perform than it did to write but nonetheless he blew the crowd away with his powerful performance before tuning it back down with “Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight” – “just as if that never happened.” With the laughs he always captures the soul along with it – fitting in his Carole King cover of “Up on the Roof,” the soul of the city and life connection itself felt by everyone downtown Austin that night from the upbeat dance of “Mexico,” the gentle sentiment of “Sweet Baby James,” or the shadowy depths celebrated through song for what they are and unifying what we all feel and experience whether we like it or not; and many eyes upon him didn’t stay dry through “Fire and Rain” – one of the most raw and authentic compositions of all time. James Taylor is undoubtedly enlightened through his music, playing the beauty of life in its pleasures and pain but also unifying us all through it – it’s feel and feel good music. Hope, love, and unity spread thicker with his homage to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. – shedding a little light on the importance of showering everyone in life with love, and it flowed as that song brought much dancing, kissing, and embrace throughout the audience. He coupled back up with Bonnie Raitt onstage for an encore of “Johnny B. Goode” for the late, great Chuck Berry before he took another King cover solo in “You’ve Got a Friend.” On a sad note, the duo teamed back up for the final song in honor of a friend lost that day, the somber beauty of “You Can Close Your Eyes” in remembrance thereof.
The night of emotion, of love, ended with a beautifully tender moment – a gaze of loving respect between these two genuine artists who not only crossed deep paths and found love through life but have written the soundtrack to many others to do the same.
JAMES TAYLOR PHOTO GALLERY
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JAMES TAYLOR SETLIST: Carolina on my Mind; Country Road; Sunny Skies; Walking Man; First of May; Handy Man; Streamroller; Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight; Up on the Roof; Mexico; Something in the Way She Moves; Sweet Baby James; Fire and Rain; Your Smiling Face; Shower the People; How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You); ENCORE: Johnny B. Goode; You’ve Got a Friend; You Can Close Your Eyes;
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BONNIE RAITT SETLIST: Unintended Consequence of Love; Need You Tonight; One Belief Away; Spit of Love; Devil Got my Woman; Something to Talk About; Have a Heart; Nick of Time; I Can’t Make You Love Me; You Got the Love/Love Seaking Up on You; THing Called Love
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