Jack Johnson is currently in the midst of his extended Surfilmusic tour. For the past two nights, the singer-songwriter has been in the Bay Area for performances at Berkeley, CA’s William Randolph Hearst Greek Theatre, and he used the occasion to welcome some old friends to the stage at both concerts.
On Wednesday, early on in the evening, Johnson brought out ALO’s Dan Lebowitz and Steve Adams for “Breakdown” and “Flake,” the latter of which moved into Mungo Jerry’s “In the Summertime.” Then, later in the night, opening act G. Love joined Johnson for his own “Willow Tree” and “F-Stop Blues” and returned deeper into the concert for “Rodeo Clowns,” the Johnson original he included on his 1999 set Philadelphonic, and a medley of érgio Mendes’ “Mas que nada,” Johnson’s “Staple It Together” and Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky.” He also emerged a third time for his own “Rainbow.”
The collaborations continued yesterday as well. First, Lebo and Adams appeared on a take on “Bubble Toes” that moved into the Grateful Dead’s “Franklin’s Tower” and then Johnson and the members of ALO were joined by Anna Moss and John Craigie for Tom Petty’s “You Don’t Know How It Feels.” Later on, G. Love sat in as well for another swirl of “Mas que nada,” “Staple It Together” and “Get Lucky” and, a bit later, “Rainbow.”
Johnson has a long history with the members of ALO. He first crossed paths with them in college University of California, Santa Barbara, and struck up a close friendship with keyboardist Zach Gill in particular. He later had the group play his wedding, signed them to his Brushfire records and recruited Gill to play keys in his band, a post he holds to this day.
Speaking of his college days, Johnson will perform at Santa Barbara’s Santa Barbara Bowl this evening.
