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music: concert review

Jackson Browne performs in Tucson, Ariz., last month.Cheryl Evans/The Associated Press

Jackson Browne At Massey Hall in Toronto on Tuesday

They shouted at him with the best words and in the best ways a songwriter could ever hear. "These are all my songs," the troubadour Jackson Browne said, as his audience called out their suggestions for a set list. It was a half-question that he raised with a smile, as if he had suddenly realized the full breadth of his career, though surely the stubbornly boyish 62-year-old Californian is very aware of what he's done.

Later he would play The Load-Out/Stay, with the line "people, you've got the power over what we do." To a degree, his fans at Massey Hall - and at all the venues of Browne's current Canadian tour - did have clout. The casually dressed solo performer appeared to act on song requests that were bellowed and chirped, as he extemporaneously switched between an electric piano and one of the 18 or so acoustic guitars behind him. More than once he moved to the piano, only to change his mind and go back to his guitar. But there was certain material he was going to do regardless - sooner or later he would hear the request for what he already had in mind.

And so he sang (always while seated) sombrely but assertively about love, about mortality, about the road and about loosening loads. He reflected on singing itself, and he offered Running on Empty of course. But then, with Browne, it's so often about running - sometimes to and sometimes fro, but always seemingly behind. A full house relished the time spent catching up with him, and with themselves too. Here are a few highlights.

The Barricades of Heaven "No, I couldn't tell you what the hell those brakes were for/ I was just trying to hear my song." A story song about beginnings and pages turned opened the concert. It set the tone for the show to come, presented in spare and thoughtful form, subdued yet determined, solemn but never depressive.

Rosie A yahoo yelled out for Browne to "play something dirty." On piano now, he obliged with an ode to sexual self-satisfaction: "When you turn out the light, I've got to hand it to me." It missed the sweet harmonies from 1977's Running on Empty album, but, given the subject matter, the solo version was fitting.

These Days Fluidly picked on an acoustic guitar and with a poignant glumness that must have seemed odd when he first sang this as a 16-year-old, Browne revisits himself - "Now if I seem to be afraid, to live the life I have made in song" - in a voice that is now grainier. He sings with a jutted jaw, from the back of his mouth, with less enunciation than before.

Somebody's Baby Browne was back at the piano for his bounciest presentation, a soundtrack hit from 1982. He chuckled to himself at one point, the possible memories behind his smile worth speculating on.

Don't Let Us Get Sick and Life'll Kill Ya On the second of these two Warren Zevon covers, Browne struggled with the guitar licks. As an excuse, he explained that he happened to know that the late Zevon hadn't sang and played guitar simultaneously (as Browne himself was attempting to do) on Life'll Kill Ya. The audience laughed; fallibility gets applause.

Take It Easy Blue Rodeo's Jim Cuddy was in the house, and you'd have to think this wasn't the first time he'd heard the Eagles hit about girls in flatbed Fords and a sweet love that just might save. "We oughta take it easy," Browne advised. And who would disagree?

Jackson Browne plays Kingston Friday; Montreal Saturday; Moncton April 11; Halifax, April 12; St. John's, April 14; Ottawa, April 17; London, Ont., April 18.

THE SET LIST

The Barricades of Heaven

Farther On

Rosie

Doctor My Eyes

These Days

Giving That Heaven Away

Something Fine

The Naked Ride Home

I'm Alive

Fountain of Sorrow

Somebody's Baby

Rock Me On the Water

INTERMISSION

For Everyman

Don't Let Us Get Sick (Warren Zevon cover)

Life'll Kill Ya (Warren Zevon cover)

Running on Empty

Love Needs a Heart

Your Bright Baby Blues

The Pretender

Sky Blue And Black

Shaky Town

Redneck Friend

The Load Out/Stay

Going Down to Cuba

Take It Easy

ENCORE

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