Jon Brion‘s monthly residency at Largo at the Coronet in Los Angeles was in celebratory mode on December 20, 2019 with Christmas decorations adorning the stage, some surprise special guests, and Guinness on call for the maestro. Largo owner Mark Flanagan welcomed everyone while musician Bobb Bruno made a cameo appearance, popping on the stage and sitting through the introduction, but leaving without playing anything.
Being a little tired from the previous night’s visit to Largo and wanting to soak in the show without too much self distraction, my notes were more sparse than usual. However, I am able to report most of the set list, though with less detailed commentary on style and production than usual.
- As usual, Jon started off improvising on the piano, though briefly, before he settled into Fats Waller’s “Alligator Crawl.”
- Jon switched the piano to tack for his song “Knock Yourself Out” from I Heart Huckabees. On conclusion, he noted “This evening is going to require Guinness and duct tape.” He had come on the stage with a half full glass of Guinness and was already calling for a replacement.
- Making use of the synthesizer along with the piano he continued with another song from the I Heart Huckabees soundtrack, “Over Our Heads.”
- Next he turned to the audience for requests and two quick responses were “We Need a Little Christmas” and David Bowie’s “Moonage Daydream.” Jon combined the two together to create a piece he called “Christmas-age Daydream.” He played a festive accompaniment on the mini celesta to go over the top of the piano, which was grounded in the chords of “Moonage Daydream.” Jon sang that song as well, though with some verse confusion (he regularly seems to bust up his brains for the words of the second verse). Here’s a reminder:
“Don’t fake it, baby; lay the real thing on me
The church of man, love; is such a holy place to be
Make me, baby; make me know you really care
Make me jump into the air…”
The solo guitar part heard at the end of the recording of “Moonage Daydream” was played by Jon on mini celesta. Jon artfully added in the synthesizer and the tune morphed into Bowie’s “Ashes to Ashes.” He concluded that song by playing the “Carol of the Bells” motif on the mini celesta. - The following musicians were then welcomed to the stage: Largo regular Sebastian Steinberg on double bass, Neil Finn of Crowded House fame on guitar, and the legendary Mick Fleetwood (Fleetwood Mac, FFS!) on drums. The quartet kicked off with the song “I Got You” off the True Colours album from Neil’s earlier band, Split Enz.
- The extemporaneous group then performed a touching song written by Peter Green and recorded by Fleetwood Mac back in 1969, “Man of the World.” I’m grateful to these gentleman for introducing me to this song, which I’ve become fascinated with following the show. After this song, Neil and Mick exited the stage, leaving Jon and Sebastian together to jam.
- After another ask for requests, the duo began playing Ellington’s “Caravan,” while Mick quietly sneaked back on stage to not-so-quietly join in on drums.
- The trio then began playing some sort of old jazz tune I can’t name or maybe it was improvisation. I’m not clear if there was another song following here or if it was a continuation of the earlier theme. Mick and Sebastian exited on its conclusion.
- John remained on the piano and played through a long instrumental build up to his song, “Please Stay Away from Me.”
- Revisiting a Jon Brion show standard, Jon worked the AV equipment and showed Segovia playing guitar up on the screens at the back of the stage. Then, Jon began playing tack piano and eased into his song “Strings That Tie to You” from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. As the song neared its end he progressed into the well-known classic “Over the Rainbow” from The Wizard of Oz. Jon left Segovia on the screen for the next few songs.
- Neil returned to the stage along with his son Liam Finn and after some shuffling around with guitars, a mini set of Neil Young songs commenced. The makeshift group started off with “After the Gold Rush.”
- Neil then seemed inspired to play “Only Love Can Break Your Heart.”
- Next up was a highlight of the night, where the group broke out Neil Young’s “Southern Man.” Mick and Sebastian once again joined in. I’ve included a couple video clips shared by Largo at the end of the post that show the jam at the end of the song.
- Neil asked for some requests from the audience and ended up playing a pair of songs from Crowded House. First up was “Chocolate Cake” from the album Woodface.
- “Private Universe” from the Crowded House album Together Alone was next. I’ve used a lyric from this song for the title of this post. I’ve chosen this particular lyric, because once the Largo theatre doors close on the audience and the musicians take the stage, it feels like we (audience and performers) are in our own private universe. For at least a couple hours, nothing matters at all except what is happening in that room. It is truly a great escape.
- Another audience request, this time for jazz standard “Moon River.” The request didn’t come from me, though it is one of my favorite songs, and I get a warm feeling whenever Jon plays it. Making this song even more special for me, is that my son recently started learning it in his middle school band, and has also fallen in love with the song. We had just been talking about it the day before the show! It was wonderful to hear Neil interpret the vocals, with Sebastian on bass, and Jon joining in on celesta (the regular one positioned near center stage). I had a big dopey smile on my face the whole way through the performance.
- One last song led by Neil before he exited the stage; we heard “Four Seasons in One Day” also from the album Woodface.
- To conclude the show, Jon turned on the beat box, and played piano, with Sebastian still on bass, and one final guest, Paul Cartwright, joined in on violin for another common cover — Roxy Music’s “More Than This.”
A couple video clips below of “Southern Man,” recorded and shared by Largo, follow for your enjoyment.
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