Review: James Taylor at Kings Park and Botanic Garden

James Taylor at Kings Park and Botanic Garden
w/ Josh Pyke
Friday, April 12, 2024

After what felt like an endless summer, the downpour finally came on Friday, April 12, and the open-air venue of Kings Park and Botanic Gardens certainly wasn’t spared as the stormfront washed through. Undeterred, the sold-out crowd grew early, cloaked in ponchos and various wet weather gear, to experience an intimate and polished performance from a much-anticipated legend of folk and classic rock. Some performances just naturally resonate with you poetically, and on a wet night in Perth, James Taylor brought the fire while the city brought the rain.

It has been seven years since Taylor’s last trip to our shores, and the sold-out show, being his first of two, brought out the dedicated, life-long fan base of boomers and music lovers alike, although the vast majority of which was certainly the former. With the lawn chair seating of the outer section in various states of damp and wet, if not pooled with water, make-shift garbage bags, towels, and blankets were put to good use early in the wait for Taylor and his insanely talented backing band to brace the stage, which he did to rapturous applause and love from the Perth audience.

Known for being the consummate storyteller, Taylor took his audience on a journeyed musical career spanning decades the only way a legend of his vintage could. Taking to the stage somewhat unassumingly underneath the heavy clouds lingering over the city skyline “Mr. Pyke said you were a friendly bunch. I’m here at last,” referring to his Australian support act, Josh Pyke, as he immediately broke into his classic Something in the Way She Moves.

Although his vocals were notably not harbouring the same resonance, clarity, and tone you may have expected, his performance proved to be genuine, charming, and warm with no trace of ego as he casually slotted in “I sang that song for Paul McCartney and George Harrison in 1968, and it pretty much started everything for me,” quickly moving on to That’s Why I’m Here, a song inspired by the death of good friend and comedy legend John Belushi.

Although the night was Taylor’s and the crowd was not shy about expressing it, shouting their love for the legend from the front sections of the stage, he seemed to shrug it off, almost embarrassed, albeit appreciative of the audible bouts of adoration.

A superbly talented guitarist in his own right, the strength of the performance was aided by the incredible backing band he had brought out with him. Dean Parks on electric and pedal steel guitars, Andrea Zonn on fiddle and backing strings, Kevin Hays mastering the keys, Jimmy Johnson on bass with Katy Markowitz, and Dorian Holley on backing vocals sporting a combined resume of collaborative music royalty such as Michael Jackson, Joni Mitchell, Joe Cocker, and Carole King, to name a few.

Taylor kept rolling through the hits as the night settled in and wine continued to flow amongst the crowd. With poignant and sombre renditions of the classics Country Road, Sweet Baby James, and Carolina in My Mind, he conveyed an image of being effortlessly comfortable, perched on a stool front of stage, whilst continuing to pepper the audience with tales of a lifetime of classic rock banter and how proud he was to be sporting his RM Williams boots.

After decades of touring, performing, and recording, he could be hard-pressed for choice as to what to slot into a set of 19 songs. Sometimes it’s the simpler songs that seem to resonate with you most—a chord or a lyric that just seems to land with you and linger for awhile in your subconscious—and Taylor is a master of this.

Initially coming to fame in an era of revered songwriters, he has always been able to hold his own distinct brand, and with the audience predominately made up of people from the boomer generation, he knew full well what they were really wanting to hear, with personal favourites of the night being the rolling beat of Steamroller Blues followed by crowd favourite and arguably his most famous song, Fire and Rain, a rich, harmonious, and humble rendition that perfectly blended into the bleak skyline of a wet April night in Kings Park.

The skies cleared, and a perfectly curated encore of familiar favourites capped the show. Some of Taylor’s best-known songs were covers, and on the night he included a superb rendition of Carole King’s You’ve Got a Friend, followed by his beloved rendition of Marvin Gaye’s How Sweet It Is, which really pushed audience participation into the highest gear before finally closing out the 19-song set with You Can Close Your Eyes.

An Evening with James Taylor proved to be an unforgettable night full of masterful musicianship, a cathartic mix of bittersweet folk and blues classic rock with traces of bubble-gum pop, a collaborative retrospective of a near 60-year career on the charts from a true legend of the music business. How sweet it was!

ZAC NICHOLS

Photos by Linda Dunjey