JACKSON BROWNE
Beacon Theater
New York, NY
August 29, 2023

Audio Technica U853 cardioid mics (4.7k mod) > Church Audio ugly battery box > Sony PCM-A10 > WAV (24/48) > Sound Studio (very light dynamic compression for stray transients) > WAV (16/44.1)

Recorded and mastered by neil d

01 Don't Let Us Get Sick [Warren Zevon]
02 Downhill From Everywhere
03 Until Justice Is Real
04 For Everyman
05 My Opening Farewell
06 Time the Conqueror
07 The Long Way Around
08 Call It a Loan
09 The Indifference of Heaven [Warren Zevon]
10 Sky Blue and Black
11 Doctor My Eyes
12 These Days
13 The Barricades of Heaven
14 Farther On
15 The Naked Ride Home
16 Too Many Angels
17 I'm Alive
18 Fountain of Sorrow
19 For a Dancer
20 Love Needs a Heart
21 Boulevard
22 Somebody's Baby
23 Your Bright Baby Blues
24 Sleep's Dark and Silent Gate
25 Running on Empty
26 Take It Easy / Our Lady of the Well
27 The Load Out / Stay

I'm not the hugest Jackson Browne fan, but I do appreciate his songwriting, and a four-night run at the Beacon seemed like an ideal place to see him for the first time. Unfortunately, a lot of his other fans seemed unprepared for things like "listening" and "not talking constantly" and "being aware that there are other humans in the world other than you," which made the show a bit of a challenge to enjoy - my +1 and I both relocated to different seats a couple of times during the show to try to escape yammerers and people loudly crunching ice in our ears.

Fortunately, not much of that made it onto this recording, which as a a result I find more enjoyable to listen to than the actual concert was. There are all (or at least most of) the hits here, plus more recent songs and deeper cuts, with Browne alternating on guitar and piano and accompanied by a skillful band. Plus lots of interesting banter from the man himself, something else that comes across better in the recording thanks to the directional mics.