Raitt, Costello, Browne, Lobos wow Paramount crowd at SEVA benefit

I was pretty much blown away by the Seva Foundation's 30th anniversary concert at Oakland's Paramount Theatre on Saturday night. 60s icon Wavy Gravy put the show together as a benefit for Seva, an international organization that raises money for cateract surgery for people in impoverished countries. It's really an amazing cause, and the Seva crew have a charming spirit of the '60s hippie vibe. The show they put together was a knockout. Bonnie Raitt kicked things off with a nice mini set, including a beautiful acoustic version of John Prine's "Angel From Montgomery". The last song of Raitt's opening set was a "Love Reign Over Me" and she was joined by Elvis Costello, David Crosby and Graham Nash. Not a bad opening.

Next, Jackson Browne tore through a nice set of tunes from his impressive new album, Time The Conqueror. He wrapped his section with an appropriate for the night version of "Doctor My Eyes."

Up next was Elvis Costello for a mini set of three acoustic tunes, including a sensational solo version of "(What's So Funny About ) Peace Love and Understanding?" David Crosby and Graham Nash followed with a nice medley of hippie harmonies, and offered plenty of political chit-chat between tunes. (Almost every artist made at least one Sarah Palin joke during the evening.)

One of my very favorite live bands, Los Lobos, closed the show with a sizzling set of rocking tunes. They were joined once by Costello and Raitt and later by Raitt for some killer slide guitar. Their set ended, at 1 a.m.,  with Jackson Browne sitting in on a smoking medley of "Not Fade Away" and "Bertha" sending the Grateful Dead-friendly fans home very happy. Quite a night.

Posted at 09:47 AM in Pete's Popcorn Picks | Permalink