Its been a few years since James Taylor & His All Star Band have played the Western New York Area (December of 2021 to be exact.) Taylor is still one of the most revered artists of his generation so its always a treat when he comes to town. This show was no different. The only thing that was slightly different was who was in his all start band this time around. The 2024 All Star Band consisted of Luis Conte on percussion, Jimmy Johnson on bass, Michael Landau on guitar, Walt Fowler on keyboards & horns, Lou Marini on horns, Larry Goldings on piano, Andrea Zonn on vocals & fiddle, Dorian Holley on vocals, Kate Markowitz on vocals, Henry Taylor (James’ son) on vocals, and Rochester native Steve Gadd on drums.
Taylor took to the stage at 8:10pm and the band went into “Something in the Way She Moves.” This song was one of the songs Taylor played when he auditioned for Paul McCartney and George Harrison to be on their Apple Records label. Taylor went on to say, “that he was flattered to see a short time later that Harrison penned “Something,” more than likely getting the idea from his song. He said “that’s ok because I stole everything I know from the Beatles anyway.” Taylor’s candid humor was shown throughout both sets. He even joked after taking his coat off to get more comfortable before “Country Road.” Some women were hooting and hollering and he seemed taking back by it. He then smiled and said “he can take out his teeth too if you want.” Which then she subsequently joked and said “no, no.. my teeth are still all mine.” The band took a 20 minute intermission between each set. The set included some classic covers that Taylor is known for making his own in “Everyday” by Buddy Holly and the last song before the encores in “How Sweet It Is (To be Loved by You) by Marvin Gaye. He also dusted off a never heard before track in “Music” off of the 1975’s ‘Gorilla’ album. For “Steamroller,” he played an electric guitar which he knew seemed strange to everyone as he is known primarily for his acoustic playing. He fingerpicked through the song and it sounded great. Afterwards, he laid down the guitar and put his hat over his heart to wish it goodbye! It was a funny moment for sure. It was so ironic that when Taylor started to play “Fire & Rain,” it actually started to sprinkle some. In the midst of everything that was going on, about halfway through his1st set he stopped and signed stuff for people for about 5 minutes.
Overall, Taylor and His All Star band were terrific! With that amount of talent on stage the sound was top notch. Even though the ticket sales were less than ideal (lawn was closed and around 5,000 total estimated) It goes to show that regardless of the amount in attendance, Taylor is professional enough to still deliver a quality show.
Setlist:
Set 1:
Something in the Way She Moves
Everyday (Buddy Holly cover)
Anywhere Like Heaven
October Road
Secret O’ Life
Copperline
Country Road
Fiddle Drum (fiddle and drums only)
Sweet Baby James
Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight
Sun on the Moon
Set 2
Music
Coalinga on my Mind
Mexico
Steamroller
Fire & Rain
Up on the Roof (Carole King cover)
You’ve Got a Friend (Carole King cover)
Shower the People
How Sweet It Is (To be Loved by You) (Marvin Gaye cover)
Encore:
Shed a Little Light
Your Smiling Face
That Lonesome Road
We would like to thank Ron Perks from Livenation for the credentials to review the show.
