• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
Berkshire Links

Berkshire Links

  • Tanglewood 2022
  • Tanglewood pre-2022
    • A Prairie Home Companion
    • James Taylor
    • Jazz at Tanglewood
    • Tanglewood on Parade
    • Tanglewood popular artists
  • Seiji Ozaawa
  • About the Berkshires
    • Bus & Amtrak schedules
    • Towns & cities
    • Parks & rec.
  • Contact

James Taylor’s 4th of July 2016 – photos

July 4, 2016 Tanglewood concert review by Dave Read

Over the years, whenever James Taylor introduced a new song onto his tried and true setlist, he would mollify his adoring audience by telling them that it sounds just like all the rest. This year he sounded vexed, letting his stage persona go right to the edge: “I know you didn’t come here for no goddam new songs.”

Whether he was merely freshening a stale old joke, or is feeling pinched by audience expectations, it still was every bit as good a concert as we’ve attended in the Tanglewood series going back two decades.

James Taylor 4th of July 2016 concert at Tanglewood; photo: Dave Read/BerkshireLinks.com.
James Taylor 4th of July 2016 concert at Tanglewood; photo: Dave Read/BerkshireLinks.com.
James Taylor 4th of July 2016 concert at Tanglewood; photo: Dave Read/BerkshireLinks.com.
James Taylor 4th of July 2016 concert at Tanglewood; photo: Dave Read/BerkshireLinks.com.
James Taylor 4th of July 2016 concert at Tanglewood; photo: Dave Read/BerkshireLinks.com.
James Taylor 4th of July 2016 concert at Tanglewood; photo: Dave Read/BerkshireLinks.com.
James Taylor 4th of July 2016 concert at Tanglewood; photo: Dave Read/BerkshireLinks.com.
James Taylor 4th of July 2016 concert at Tanglewood; photo: Dave Read/BerkshireLinks.com.
James Taylor 4th of July 2016 concert at Tanglewood; photo: Dave Read/BerkshireLinks.com.
James Taylor 4th of July 2016 concert at Tanglewood; photo: Dave Read/BerkshireLinks.com.

The one variation in the series was his 2002 appearance with John Williams and the Boston Pops when, after reciting Aaron Copland’s Lincoln Portrait to open the program, he returned with an ad hoc quartet of guitarist John Pizzarelli, Larry Goldings on keyboards, drummer Gregg Bissonette, and Jimmie Johnson on bass, with the Pops in an accompanying role. It was a very entertaining set and it left us thinking he was looking down the road toward shows with an emphasis on singing within a looser, jazzier setting.

Tanglewood’s popular artist series

Coming four days before the BSO’s opening night, this show was the tenth on an outstanding roster of popular artists that began June 17 with Dolly Parton and included Earth, Wind, and Fire, Brian Wilson, Jackson Browne, the penultimate broadcast ever of A Prairie Home Companion, with Garrison Keillor, and Bob Dylan. This show was similar to the one Bob Dylan put on 2 nights earlier in a few respects: each fronts an awesome band, each covers songs written by others, and each crafts a setlist that leaves his fans gasping for breath!

James Taylor’s July 4, 2016 setlist

Something in the Way She Moves
Everyday
Walking Man
Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight
Today Today Today
Country Road
On the 4th of July
Copperline
Carolina in My Mind
(I’ve Got To) Stop Thinkin’ ‘Bout That
Fire and Rain
Shower the People
The Frozen Man
The Promised Land
You’ve Got a Friend
Angels of Fenway
Up on the Roof
Sweet Baby James
Steamroller
Mexico
Your Smiling Face
Encore:
In the Midnight Hour
How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)
You Can Close Your Eyes

Search BerkshireLinks

Subscribe

Keep in touch with BerkshierLinks

© 2001–2023 Dave Read WordPress by ReadWebco

  • Piretti Tennis
  • Lenox Apartments