August 1, 2021

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Blossom Music Center opened its doors for the first time since 2019 on Saturday night. 

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A throng of mostly middle aged (and older) fans, packed the lawn and pavilion to hear the sweet voices of two Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees, James Taylor and Jackson Browne.  According to a Live Nation representative, this marked the twenty-fifth time that James Taylor has graced the Blossom stage, thus making him the artist that has played there the most.

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Taylor's set started with a video montage of people from all over the world playing Taylor's music and talking about how important his music was to help them through the pandemic.  

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When Taylor finally walked on stage, his smiling face appeared on the screen and the opening notes of "Country Road" were played, it was like a big warm hug embraced the audience. 

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The nearly sold-out crowd smiled, swayed and sang along to Taylor and his All-Star Band all night long.

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Even though Taylor could tour every year on his back catalog, he is actually out promoting his latest album American Standard.  He mentioned this during the show by stating that he released the album right before the pandemic hit which was like "dropping your baby in a well."

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He played songs from throughout his career sprinkling in some deep cuts like "That's Why I'm Here," "Never Die Young" and "Chili Dog" between the hits like "Copperline" and "Mexico."

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However, the last portion of his set were the songs that most people came to hear: "Sweet Baby James," "Fire and Rain," "Carolina In My Mind" and "Shower The People."

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During the encore, opening act Jackson Browne came back on stage to duet on "Take It Easy."  The show closed with the Carole King penned song "You've Got A Friend."  Perhaps giving a hint that he may return to Cleveland in the fall for her induction into the Rock Hall.

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Jackson Browne, like his counterpart is also out supporting a new album.  Downhill From Everywhere was just released last month and Jackson played three songs from that album during his brief ten song set. 

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The first single, "My Cleveland Heart" got a great response from the crowd as did "Somebody's Baby" and "Doctor My Eyes."

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However, the other song from the new album and the deeper cuts kinda fell flat.  I believe the audience wanted to hear more of the hits, and with only ten songs to play, as the opening act, he should have played them.

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James Taylor came out to duet with Jackson on "The Pretender" then Jackson and his great backing band finished his set with a great version of "Running On Empty."

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It was a great night for some laid back rock-n-roll.

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Review and photos by Greg Drugan

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