If you ever attended a Bruce Springsteen concert back in the day, surrounded by sweaty men as far as the eye could see, you may have wondered where all the women were. Well, they were at the Jackson Browne concert being seduced by his melancholic poetry. Whereas Bruce was rough and intense, Jackson was smooth and gentle. Bruce wore denim jackets and a bandana. Jackson had beautiful hair. Indeed, if Bruce Springsteen was the musical embodiment of the east coast working class life of young men, then Jackson Browne was the yin to his yang, pulling on the sensitive heartstrings of young west coast women. However, what ultimately united them was an authenticity in their songwriting, which I think accounts for their longevity.

As with AC/DC, I discovered Jackson Browne a long time ago when I managed to get my hands on an album called Late for the Sky. I had no idea who Jackson Browne was. I didn’t even know if he was alive. How was I even supposed to look him up? I mean, he’s not in the Swedish dictionary, so where would I look? After all, I didn’t have any internet back then. Anyway, I liked the album cover, which was all it took at that age, and decided to give it a listen. Needless to say, I was enthralled and it ended up being way more than one listen. The music was completely unlike anything that played on the radio at the time. For one thing, there were actual instruments, but more than that, the songs told stories. I sometimes wonder though if, instead of Late for the Sky, I’d have heard World in Motion first. I would probably never have listened to a Jackson Browne song again. Just think of all the fantastic artists I’ve ignored because my first exposure to them was a terrible album.

Perhaps I’m being a bit harsh about some of Jackson’s music, particularly the political albums. But, as I’ve said before, that’s just not for me, even if I agree with it. I don’t listen to music to get lectured about geopolitics. I have my father for that. I want the music to take me away from all that crap. I’m not saying that artists shouldn’t write political songs. By all means, go ahead, but the melody better be good too. Otherwise, if your main priority is getting a message across, then the music will suffer. After all, a great melody can compensate for bad lyrics, but not the other way around. For example, I can listen to Rage against the machine any day, but that’s because the melodies are powerful and exciting. I assume this is because Zach de la Rocha never actually wrote a single note, but focused on lyrics instead, whereas the other musicians could write a killer track. Jackson Browne, on the other hand, wrote most of the songs himself, and if you listen to some of his political songs today they kind of fall flat, whereas his more introspective songs still resonate, which I think proves my point.

Late for the Sky is, without a doubt, Jackson Browne’s magnum opus, so it’s left a substantial mark on the setlist, but there are plenty of other great songs, particularly from I’m Alive, which came as a bit of a renaissance after his disappointing albums in the 80’s. The concert ends with These Days, a beautiful ballad written at the age of 16. Now that I think about it, considering the absolutely garbage music I wrote as a teenager, I reckon I should stop whining and just shut up.

Please enjoy what I would consider to be the perfect setlist for a concert by Jackson Browne. The last three tracks are the encore.