James Taylor ★★★★

Kings Park, April 12 & 13

First, a confession – before joining the boomer army who descended on Kings Park for the first concert in James Taylor’s reported final Australian tour I had a nanna nap.

No, I wasn’t worried the subdued superstar of soft rock would have us dancing in the aisles the way Tom Jones and Chris Isaak did in the past two in-the-park performances.

My concern is that many of Taylor’s most cherished songs are virtual lullabies, which after a few wines under the stars is a dangerous cocktail for boomers.

I had visions of myself nodding off as Taylor slid into his melancholy masterpiece Fire and Rain, dreaming of my upcoming US holiday during Carolina In My Mind or totally embarrassing myself and snoring through Sweet Baby James.

What snapped me to attention and kept me smiling and rocking gently for the entire show was the passion with which Taylor attacked each of the numbers, the astute and generous way he brought his breathtakingly good band and backing singers into the show and his surprisingly offbeat sense of humour.

Amusingly, the cry of “We love you, James!” at the beginning of the show came not from an excited woman but an older bloke, which gives us insight into laid-back libido of older Aussie men.

“How sweet it is to be loved by you!” sang out another of his adoring older male fans (what is it with male boomers and James Taylor?), to which he responded by peeling the surprisingly large set list off the floor, pointing out his beloved version of the Marvin Gaye classic in the line-up and telling the guy that he’ll get around to it in his own time.