Indiana Welcomes a Hawaiian Native

Going to sleep this past Thursday night was a challenge. Jack Johnson was slated to kick off the much anticipated world concert tour for his newest album "Sleep Through the Static" on Friday, June 13th at 7pm. So needless to say I didn’t get much rest as I lay in bed revisiting the first time I attended his concert 3 years back. There is something about his live shows that sets him apart from any of the 30 or so musicians I have seen in my short lifetime. As Friday morning dawned, it was not the usual routine of, Alarm goes off, I hit snooze… alarm goes off, again, I hit snooze, again. And this repeats 4 or 5 times, I have never claimed to be a morning person. Instead, I was quick to get out of bed, rush to the office, and wrap a few things up at work to get ready for my long weekend.

After almost 5 days straight of perfect 80-degree sunshine the Friday morning skies were flooded with clouds and the rain was coming down steadily. Talk about “raining on my parade.” So as I was leaving work I checked the satellite radar and as I suspected…. 90% chance of severe thunderstorms loomed on the forecast. My spirit was not broken, I survived last weekends Eric Clapton concert in which we had a major down pour and I was ready to do it again for Jack.

Around Noon the first of my family and friends who were arriving from out of town arrived, and the rest followed shortly after. No one was thrilled about standing in the rain for the rest of the evening but we headed to the venue with high hopes.

Upon arriving we set up camp and started pouring the drinks. There was a steady rain and we still had 2 hours before Jack took stage, still, we opted not to set up the rain tents. Around 6:45 the rain stopped and as it lifted, so did our spirits. We proceeded into the venue, rain ponchos in hand, and found our seats on the lawn (front row by the way, hehe). As the opening act took stage I took a second to look around Verizon Wireless Music Center, there was not an empty space in sight. Around 8:30pm Jack took Stage. I won’t carry on in detail but I will say he did not disappoint, from his good mixture of new and old, to his mellow cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love” he brought the house down without breaking a sweat. And for those of you still wondering, no rain… not a drop, the whole concert! I think it’s safe to say that he “parted the clouds” for those in attendance.

As the night came to a close, he took the stage one last time, for a 3 song solo encore. After satisfying an amazing crowd, he shared a few words with Noblesville, Indiana. He brought to our attention that he was well aware of devastation that was occurring to our state due to the severe flooding of the recent weeks. For those of you reading this who are not aware of the condition of Indiana as of the past week, our government declared one third of our state a National Disaster Zone. The southern counties have suffered from extreme flooding, collapsed levees, and broken dams.

Being the avid environmentalist that he is, Jack Johnson announced to the crowd that he was donating all of the profits and proceeds of that night’s event to the Red Cross to help with the flood relief! His generosity inspired the evening's loudest ovation.

As if organizing his tour to leave as little a carbon footprint as possible by using biodiesel to fuel his tour bus, offering fans who arrive in hybrids or carpools of 4 or more Preferred Parking, prohibiting venues from printing flyers to promote his shows, purchasing his food on tour from local farmers, and only allowing “green” friendly sponsors at his shows wasn’t enough, he surrendered approximately $500,000-$750,000 to help those in need.



At the beginning of this blog I commented that there was something that set Jack Johnson’s concerts apart from the rest I have been fortunate enough to attend, after Friday night’s show I realized exactly what that “something” was. Jack truly enjoys what he does and it is very apparent while he is on stage. At any given point in the night you can look up at the stage and see someone who is in a state of joy that many of us strive for but seldom attain. That night as he sang “Good People” he asked in his lyrics “where’d all the good people go?” I looked around myself and saw my friends and my family, I was surrounded by good people, he, is a good people.

I wonder if he sees the same thing his fans do when he looks in the mirror.

On behalf of Indiana, USA Thank you Jack!

For more on Jack Johnson please visit his site http://www.jackjohnson.com