REVIEW: No false notes as James Taylor brings his trademark warmth to Toronto

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James Taylor

Friday night

Budweiser Stage

***1/2 (3.5 out of four)
—
How sweet it is to be serenaded by Sweet Baby James on a sultry summer night.

That would be legendary singer-songwriter James Taylor, now 77, who brought his 11-piece All-Starr band – including his son, Henry, 24, as one of four backing vocalists – to Budweiser Stage on Friday night for the only Canadian date of his summer trek.

Not only was it the start of the weekend, but the long weekend at that, so the packed crowd was ready to sit back and enjoy the warm, soothing tones and classic songs that have made Taylor a favourite live performer for over half a century.

Coming out dressed in a blue blazer, blue top, black pants and a black cap, the long, lean and lanky Taylor opened the two-hour performance with a series of four travelling songs starting with the folk cover, Wandering.

But it song number five, Mexico, that really stirred the audience up.

Especially after Taylor removed his blazer causing some in the crowd to wolf-whistle.

“You people are really starved for entertainment,” he joked. “You gotta get out more! I might take out my teeth next! No, they’re all mine – bought and paid for. Okay, enough of the old timer jokes.”

From there Taylor hit another musical high note with Carolina On My Mind followed by Up On The Roof, written by his longtime buddy Carole King, “in 1830 for the Drifters,” as he joked.

Taylor would also revisit another King song, You’ve Got A Friend, which he said he first heard about 12 hours after she wrote it as a response to his Fire and Rain lyrics: “I’ve seen lonely times when I could not find a friend.”

That performance got him his first standing ovation of the night – and he kept getting better and better with Sweet Baby James and Fire and Rain (the latter earning him his second standing ovation of the evening).

The sweet-sounding harmonies of Shed A Little Light got people up on their feet and dancing, as did Shower The People  – with backing vocalist Dorian Holley’s solo wowing the audience – and Your Smiling Face before the encore.

When they returned to the stage for Steamroller, Taylor generously allowed his talented musicians – keyboardist Larry Goldings, horn player Lou Marini (of SNL fame), guitarist Michael Landau and Cuban percussionist Luis Conte – to have their solos.

Then it was time to cover Marvin Gaye’s How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) before Taylor and his son Henry showed off their shared DNA by harmonizing on the closing number, You Can Close Your Eyes, where they were joined by opening act Tiny Habits.

Equally deserving of shout-outs were backing vocalists Kate Markowitz and Andrea Zonn, also on fiddle, with not one false note between them – or anybody else on the stage for that matter – all night long.

jstevenson@postmedia.com

SET LIST

Wandering

(I’m a) Road Runner (Jr. Walker & the All Stars cover)

Walking Man

Stretch of the Highway

Mexico

My Traveling Star

Blossom

Carolina in My Mind

Up on the Roof (Carole King cover)

The Frozen Man

You’ve Got a Friend (Carole King cover)

Sweet Baby James

Fire and Rain

(I’ve Got to) Stop Thinkin’ ‘Bout That

Shed a Little Light

Shower the People

Your Smiling Face

ENCORE

Steamroller

How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You) (Marvin Gaye cover)

You Can Close Your Eyes

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