“Can’t you see that it’s just raining …” Jack Johnson crooned, opening his Tampa show with fan favorite “Banana Pancakes” while playfully addressing the inclement weather that had soaked the 1-800-Ask-Gary-Amphitheatre and continued in sporadic bursts of wet throughout most of the night. [All photos by Phil Bardi.]
The rain may have tested the loyalty of Jack's legion of fans, but it certainly didn’t keep them away; the amphitheater was packed with all sorts – beer drinking college kids, parents and children of all ages, dressed-up yuppies, neo-bohemians – despite the ugly conditions and the lawn was littered with just as many people sporting rain gear as with those soaked-through folks who decided to brave the elements unprotected.
The surf-riding, easy-rocking singer-songwriter hit the stage with little fanfare at 9 p.m., and was joined by his regular touring lineup — Zach Gill (also a full-time member of opening act, ALO) on support vocals, keys, and occasionally accordion and melodica, Merlo Podlewski on what looked to be a hollow body bass that he played holding vertically in front of him, and Adam Topol on drums and percs. The band performed against a tall and expansive widescreen video panel that hugged the stage and played colorful visuals – abstract representations of cover art from Jack's past five albums, minimalistic environmental images, footage of waves, seagulls, sand and the like, and realtime shots of the band performing with various visual effects added to the video and mimicked on the two giant screens hanging on either side of the stage.
This article appears in Aug 26 – Sep 1, 2010.