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2008 Tanglewood reviews

James Taylor and Yo Yo Ma video – Sweet Baby James

For more about James Taylor, please see our review of the big surprise 60th birthday celebration that was embedded into the July 4, 2008 James Taylor and his Band of Legends concert at Tanglewood.

Reviews of James Taylor concerts at Tanglewood and the Colonial Theatre, Pittsfield:

  • Review of James Taylor, Sheryl Crow, Yo Yo Ma, Boston Pops, John Williams Tanglewood Aug. 26-30, 2009
  • James Taylor and his Band of Legends – July 4, 2008 – 60th birthday party
  • Review of James Taylor’s One Man Band show at Tanglewood – August 24, 2007
  • Review of James Taylor’s “One Man Band” at Pittsfield’s Colonial Theatre – July 19, 2007
  • James Taylor and Band – Tanglewood – August 21, 2006
  • James Taylor and Band – Tanglewood – July 4, 2005
  • James Taylor and Band – Tanglewood – June 24, 2003
  • James Taylor and the Boston Pops – Tanglewood – July 17, 2002
  • James Taylor and special guest Yo Yo Ma – Tanglewood – July 4, 2001

Video clips of James Taylor and Yo Yo MA on Good Morning America’s live broadcast from the Red Lion Inn, Stockbridge, Sept. 15, 2008

  • James Taylor says hello, Chris Cuomo chats with audience
  • James Taylor and Yo Yo Ma play “Sweet Baby James”
  • James Taylor sings “Shower the People”
  • James Taylor sings “Wichita Lineman”
  • James Taylor welcomes Diane Sawyer and Good Morning America crew to the Berkshires

James Taylor video – Shower the People

For more about James Taylor, please see our review of the big surprise 60th birthday celebration that was embedded into the July 4, 2008 James Taylor and his Band of Legends concert at Tanglewood.

Reviews of James Taylor concerts at Tanglewood and the Colonial Theatre, Pittsfield:

  • Review of James Taylor, Sheryl Crow, Yo Yo Ma, Boston Pops, John Williams Tanglewood Aug. 26-30, 2009
  • James Taylor and his Band of Legends – July 4, 2008 – 60th birthday party
  • Review of James Taylor’s One Man Band show at Tanglewood – August 24, 2007
  • Review of James Taylor’s “One Man Band” at Pittsfield’s Colonial Theatre – July 19, 2007
  • James Taylor and Band – Tanglewood – August 21, 2006
  • James Taylor and Band – Tanglewood – July 4, 2005
  • James Taylor and Band – Tanglewood – June 24, 2003
  • James Taylor and the Boston Pops – Tanglewood – July 17, 2002
  • James Taylor and special guest Yo Yo Ma – Tanglewood – July 4, 2001

Video clips of James Taylor and Yo Yo MA on Good Morning America’s live broadcast from the Red Lion Inn, Stockbridge, Sept. 15, 2008

  • James Taylor says hello, Chris Cuomo chats with audience
  • James Taylor and Yo Yo Ma play “Sweet Baby James”
  • James Taylor sings “Shower the People”
  • James Taylor sings “Wichita Lineman”
  • James Taylor welcomes Diane Sawyer and Good Morning America crew to the Berkshires

James Taylor video – Wichita Lineman

Reviews of James Taylor concerts at Tanglewood and the Colonial Theatre, Pittsfield:

  • Review of James Taylor, Sheryl Crow, Yo Yo Ma, Boston Pops, John Williams Tanglewood Aug. 26-30, 2009
  • James Taylor and his Band of Legends – July 4, 2008 – 60th birthday party
  • Review of James Taylor’s One Man Band show at Tanglewood – August 24, 2007
  • Review of James Taylor’s “One Man Band” at Pittsfield’s Colonial Theatre – July 19, 2007
  • James Taylor and Band – Tanglewood – August 21, 2006
  • James Taylor and Band – Tanglewood – July 4, 2005
  • James Taylor and Band – Tanglewood – June 24, 2003
  • James Taylor and the Boston Pops – Tanglewood – July 17, 2002
  • James Taylor and special guest Yo Yo Ma – Tanglewood – July 4, 2001

Video clips of James Taylor and Yo Yo MA on Good Morning America’s live broadcast from the Red Lion Inn, Stockbridge, Sept. 15, 2008

  • James Taylor says hello, Chris Cuomo chats with audience
  • James Taylor and Yo Yo Ma play “Sweet Baby James”
  • James Taylor sings “Shower the People”
  • James Taylor sings “Wichita Lineman”
  • James Taylor welcomes Diane Sawyer and Good Morning America crew to the Berkshires

James Taylor video – welcoming Diane Sawyer and GMA crew

For his Sept. 15, 2008 guest appearance on ABC TV’s Good Morning America, James Taylor assembled his Band of Legends to perform on the porch of the Red Lion Inn on Main St. in Stockbridge, MA. Oh, yeah, his neighbor and pal Yo Yo Ma was there, too, and the two of them delighted the audience with a lovely rendition of Sweet Baby James.

Reviews of James Taylor concerts at Tanglewood and the Colonial Theatre, Pittsfield:

  • Review of James Taylor, Sheryl Crow, Yo Yo Ma, Boston Pops, John Williams Tanglewood Aug. 26-30, 2009
  • James Taylor and his Band of Legends – July 4, 2008 – 60th birthday party
  • Review of James Taylor’s One Man Band show at Tanglewood – August 24, 2007
  • Review of James Taylor’s “One Man Band” at Pittsfield’s Colonial Theatre – July 19, 2007
  • James Taylor and Band – Tanglewood – August 21, 2006
  • James Taylor and Band – Tanglewood – July 4, 2005
  • James Taylor and Band – Tanglewood – June 24, 2003
  • James Taylor and the Boston Pops – Tanglewood – July 17, 2002
  • James Taylor and special guest Yo Yo Ma – Tanglewood – July 4, 2001

Video clips of James Taylor and Yo Yo MA on Good Morning America’s live broadcast from the Red Lion Inn, Stockbridge, Sept. 15, 2008

  • James Taylor says hello, Chris Cuomo chats with audience
  • James Taylor and Yo Yo Ma play “Sweet Baby James”
  • James Taylor sings “Shower the People”
  • James Taylor sings “Wichita Lineman”
  • James Taylor welcomes Diane Sawyer and Good Morning America crew to the Berkshires

James Taylor’s 60th Birthday party at Tanglewood, July 4, 2008

July 4, 2008 Tanglewood concert review by Dave Read

A perfectly good rock and roll show, billed as “James Taylor and his Band of Legends” got turned into an event that will go down in Berkshires‘ lore as the night of several stars; live, on video, and animated. It’ll get tagged something like “James Taylor’s 60th Birthday show,” with a variety of sub-titles depending on where else fans loiter on the entertainment scene: Yo Yo Ma, John Travolta, Paul McCartney, Carole King, Homer Simpson.

A third of the way into the second set, by which time Taylor and the Legends already had earned their keep with a nicely paced ninety-plus minutes of often dazzling music, Taylor told the audience “… from here on out, things are going to open up.” And so they did, with his pal John Travolta coming onstage during the Dixie Chicks‘ “Some Days You Gotta Dance” to MC the birthday party segment of the show. (When a rock ‘n roller hits 60, way more than the actual date, March 12, is appropriate for the celebration.)

James Taylor’s 60th birthday celebration at Tanglewood

Can this cat really have reached the threshold for being referred to with a Latin preface, a la “sexagenarian James Taylor rocks throng?”

After a big hug and a kiss, Travolta introduced cellist Yo Yo Ma, who accompanied his neighbor and friend on a poignant rendition of “Sweet Baby James.” Sublime. To the ridiculous? Next was an hilarious video greeting from Homer Simpson that closed with Simpson saying, “…from one person who has cleaned up his act, to another” and introducing the next song, “Steamroller Blues.”

In that little segment, from a duet with Yo Yo Ma, to the totally nutty Homer Simpson clip (including JT’s appearance on the Simpsons in the mid-nineties), to a crazy mad blistering rendition of Taylor’s “Steamroller,” you get an inkling of Taylor’s breadth as a musician and his evolvement as a person – who else has a peer group with that span?

Next was a friend from forty years ago, Paul McCartney, via video, who recalled their meeting when Taylor was the first musician signed by the Beatles’ Apple Records in 1968, and adding that he “has no sympathy for someone turning 60, which is beginning to sound young to me.”

But the icing on this 6-decker cake of a show was the presence of Carole King, who gets refrenced anyway at every James Taylor concert.

The two old friends, who did a series of gigs late last year in celebration of the Troubador in LA, sang “Natural Woman,” “Up on the Roof,” and “You’ve Got a Friend.”

With the typically generous encore, the show went on until a little past ten, ending with the world’s most heartfelt rendition of “How Sweet It Is,” and fireworks over Stockbridge Bowl.

We’re confident nobody has taken up Taylor on his offer to “fight anyone” who disputes his claim that his Band of Legends is the “best band in the world.” They are, and you can find more about them by following the links below:

  • Michael Landau
  • Luis Conte
  • Walt Fowler
  • Andrea Zonn
  • Kate Markowitz
  • Arnold McCuller
  • David Lasley
  • Larry Goldings
  • Steve Gadd
  • Lou Marini
  • Jimmy Johnson

2008 Review of A Prairie Home Companion at Tanglewood

Article updated June 26, 2018 by Dave Conlin Read

The June 30, 2008 installment of “A Prairie Home Companion at Tanglewood, with Garrison Keillor” could be emended to read “…with Garrison Keillor and Inga Swearingen,” as the lovely Californian played a variety of roles in every segment of the show, except for the news, which only can be delivered by the lanky Minnesotan. When you consider that Keillor has been at this since the Nixon administration, it doesn’t take a genius to conjecture that he may be contemplating passing the torch to a new generation. Ms. Swearingen, for whom we’ve been carrying a torch since first seeing her on the 2004 show here, displayed the versatility and endurance that it would take to host a two hour show, partiucularly the facility to flow effortlessly between a comic and a serious persona. (Photo:copyright Denise Ofelia Mangen)

Inga Swearingen was featured on the 2008 broadcast from Tanglewood of A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor
Inga Swearingen was featured on the 2008 broadcast from Tanglewood of A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor.Photo:copyright Denise Ofelia Mangen

Of course there could be no Prairie Home Companion without the sui generis Garrison Keillor, but if there ever were to be a Regis and Kathy Lee for the smart set, we saw the model for it today.

Ms. Swearingen, with a Master’s in music to compliment Keillor’s mastery of English, radiates joy, beauty, and artistry from the stage unlike any performer we’ve ever seen. She, too, is one of a kind, and until we find a weekly show for her, you’ll have to be content with her recordings and gigs, or you could enroll in her course at Cuesta College in her hometown of San Luis Obispo.

Besides those two, this show featured the Del McCoury Band and recent Poet Laureate Donald Hall, as well as the usual funny business, with Tanglewood angles, and musical augmentation from the ad hoc Tanglewood/B.S.O. rhythm section, “Old Wood and Heavy Metal.”

McCoury and band were brilliant, crisp picking and strumming along with rich harmonizing; it was Bluegrass at its best – taut and restrained, rather than showy. Their choice of material was marked by lyrics so simple and direct that even an English major could get them.

Simple and direct characterizes also the poetry of Donald Hall, whose genius it is to embue plain language with the pathos of a life not only lived well, but with ardent attention to one’s place on earth and to one’s place in relation to another.

(More about Donald Hall and Dave Read)

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