James Taylor was only joking when he told a sold-out Wrigley Field crowd Thursday night that the ballpark reminded him of his living room. His kidding aside, the iconic singer-songwriter proceeded to turn the Friendly Confines into a cozy setting in which the stage doubled as the world’s largest front porch. Perched on a stool and picking an acoustic guitar for a majority of the two-hour concert, Taylor shrank the venue’s dimensions by serenading the audience with tunes that often took the form of folk-pop lullabies.
Even-keeled and easygoing, the music matched Taylor’s mood and the ideal summer weather — the latter just one of the reasons why the vocalist appeared to be so joyous. Earlier in the week, he was named as a Kennedy Center honoree. The Massachusetts native also continues to tour behind last year’s “Before This World,” his first No. 1 album. For Taylor, who famously battled depression, endured divorces and survived drug addiction, life is good.
MOST READ ENTERTAINMENT NEWS THIS HOUR
Warmth came across not only in Taylor’s relaxed body language and recurrent smiles, but poured out as sentiments in covers of R&B classics like “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You),” “Knock on Wood” and his own hits “Shower the People,” “Your Smiling Face”. Backed by an ace ensemble that swelled to as many as ten members, the 68-year-old centered on themes related to home, nature and togetherness. Songs stood out for their use of restraint, patience and steadiness. At odds with today’s distraction-prone culture, the calming attributes suggested the need for reflection and espoused tranquility.
So did Taylor’s shea-butter salve of a voice. Soothing, and colored with soulfulness and sadness, it balanced restlessness and peacefulness, yearning and contentment, regret and hopefulness while seldom becoming maudlin. The finesse with which Taylor sang extended to the arrangements and orderly placement of horns, percussion, fiddle and piano. No matter the style — upbeat Latin rhythms on “Mexico,” finger-snapping jazz lines for “Stretch of the Highway” or backwoods twang on “Country Road” — every instrument served the melody and the narrative.
Aptly, Taylor’s storytelling extended to baseball on “Angels of Fenway.” Cubs fans doubtlessly related to the Red Sox-based tale of curses and generations-spanning disappointment. Yet the underlying message concerned unity and tradition, subjects Taylor honored in song and via collaboration with opener Jackson Browne. Having already guested on Browne’s set, the headliner returned the favor. The kindred spirits closed the show with “You Can Close Your Eyes,” the mellow tenor of their voices melting away the commotion of the city and, if only briefly, replacing it with the sound of reassurance.
Bob Gendron is a freelance critic.
Twitter @chitribent
RELATED STORIES:
The improbable life of James Taylor
Summer music preview: Top 10 rock shows and festivals
Paul Simon still restless after all these years on ‘Stranger to Stranger’
.galleries:after {
content: ”;
display: block;
background-color: #144A7C;
margin: 16px auto 0;
height: 5px;
width: 100px;
}
.galleries:before {
content: “Entertainment Photos and Video”;
display: block;
font: 700 20px Georgia,serif;
text-align: center;
color: #1e1e1e;
var playlist = ‘chi_ent_movie_trailers’,
layout = ‘autoblurb’,
iu = ‘%2F4011%2Ftrb.chicagotribune%2Fent’;
Watch the latest movie trailers.
