WILKES-BARRE — Armed with little more than an acoustic guitar and his stellar songbook, legendary singer-songwriter Jackson Browne wowed an F.M. Kirby Center crowd on Thursday with one classic tune after another.Without a new album to support, the tour that brought Browne to Wilkes-Barre was a laid-back affair that made the audience feel like it was just hanging out and listening to some tunes with an old friend.
And for most of the evening, that’s exactly what it was.
Alternating between a black grand piano and an array of acoustic guitars lined up on the side of the stage, Browne, an inductee of both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame, tried his best to placate the many rowdy fans who incessantly yelled out requests before every song.
After one lengthy and loud exchange, the now 64-year-old singer-songwriter who first rose to prominence in the early 1970s seemed to become agitated with the raucous crowd.
“There’s always a point on every tour where I snap and don’t want to do what everybody tells me to do,” he said, and then launched into a rocking version of one of his most famous songs, “Doctor My Eyes.”
He followed that with another song from his 1972 debut, “Rock Me on the Water,” and maybe even caught himself a little off guard.
“Actually, I am playing a lot of really old songs tonight,” he said to a hearty round of applause.
Early in the show he introduced a new song about the earthquake in Haiti, “Standing in the Breach,” which showed he hasn’t lost a step when it comes to writing topical songs that both inform and entertain his listeners.
Practically every song was a highlight as he took to the piano for a gorgeous “Late for the Sky” and an equally fine “The Pretender,” before moving back to acoustic guitar for “In the Shape of a Heart.”
Sara Watkins, the singer-songwriter and fiddler from Nickel Creek, dazzled the audience earlier in the evening with an impassioned, 10-song set. Highlights included her solo turn on the ukulele on “Where Will You Be,” and a full band version of “When It Pleases You.”
Watkins was joined by her brother (and Nickel Creek band mate) Sean, who added some tasty guitar and harmony vocals to just about every song, as did bass player Tyler Chester.
Late in her set, Browne joined her to sing harmony on “Take Up Your Spade,” a song from Watkins’ second solo album “Sun Midnight Sun,” and a nifty cover of Willie Nelson’s “I’m a Memory.”
