Jack Johnson

Last saturday a tidal wave of good vibes and uplifting music filled the Coliseum in Lisbon, here's how it went...

I got to the venue half an hour before schedule and like i always do when i attend a concert, i scanned the crowd. I find it interesting to see how crowds change from concert to concert. This time, i could almost smell the ocean in there. Tanned skins, bright colors and dyied hair gave away the performer. Jack Johnson was playing. Not only him, but he also brought a friend... Donovan Frankenreiter.

I had tickets for the balcony ─ they were the only ones i could find ─ but we chose not to go up and to watch the concert from down below, near the stage. Too bad we didn't stay there till the end of the show... read on.

Donovan played first, and set the tune for the whole evening. Calm, slow-paced and happy tunes echoed around the room, and they all came from the guy with the big hair and a Led Zeppelin shirt. I knew the self-titled album beforehand, but i didn't know how he was performing, and when i saw the Zepp tshirt i immediatelly knew he was more prone to rock than Jack. I was right. Donovan and the guys soon started making solos here and there, as expected, and eventhough they aren't the best musicians i've seen, they were nicely done and gave another layer to the show.

I met a friend of mine in the crowd, after standing inches away from him for over 5 minutes i knew it was him because the light flickered in his hair and i recognized him. He has red hair ;) We hung out for a while.

After Donovan ended his act, we had to go upstairs, to the balcony because my gf couldn't see very well. Lots of tall people.. and all the ax getting smoked around us was bothering her (i was enjoying that as a matter of fact :D) from up there, we could clearly see the stage, but we were further away from where all the action was. It's not as bad as i thought it would be. Although all the photos turned out prety crappy, because of the distance.

Jack Johnson then came on! He's a man of few words, he jumped straight into the first song of the evening after saying hello, amidst a loud cheer. Never Know was the first song. After this i realised he wasn't going to talk much.. people were still clapping and cheering from the first song and he was already playing the next one. The very well received by the crowd Rodeo Clowns, who immediatelly started singing along, quite louder than i expected.

This went one throughout the night; people sang the lyrics of most of the songs, and sometimes Jack would even stay silent and let the crowd sing big chunks of a song. He managed to create a great bond with every single one in the room. And one other thing... i expected him to play a lot more songs from the last album, In Between Dreams, after all this was the album promo tour. But he didn't, he managed to put together a great combination of songs from all his three albums. "Even better!" ─ i thought.

At a certain time, between songs, Jack finally spoke more than two words. He said something like "i wonder why it took us so long to get here? you guys are awesome." (the usual crowd praise) but yeah, damn right man! You should have been here ages ago! But it's all good, just keep coming in the future :) I know he was spotted surfing on a beach around Guincho on Saturday.

Also, someone threw a rolled piece of paper onstage, and jack promptly picked it up and read it.. "Could you meet me after the show?", and then on the back "I LOVE YOU".. he laughed and said "love you too". haha

Anyway, one of the highlights of the show was when the keyboardist grabbed an accordion, jack with a ukelele-ish instrument, and the drummer with some sort of a traditional percussion instrument, all gathered in the center of the stage and played the short but wonderful Belle. Great, intimate moment.

After that, Donovan came back on stage and they played the expected Free, and after that he stayed on stage to play a rearranged version of Breakdown as well. Donovan then left, only to return a couple songs later but this time with his entire band, and they all played Mudfootball.

Then they left, and the lights went down, but the crowd wasn't ready to go home just yet, they kept on cheering for quite some time, as if calling Jack by his name. He got back, just him and his guitar. Just like a whiter Ben Harper, he made a quite long acoustic encore in which he played among others Times like These and finished with the pretty popular Better Together.

He then proceeded to leave the stage with the same attitude as he got on it. "See ya guys", as if he was an old friend. Well, he is. See you soon Jack.

i still don't have all the photos we took with me now, but i'll post some of them soon

here's a bonus, check out the making of the video sitting, waiting, wishing here