Jack Johnson in Santa Barbara | Better Together, Better Than Ever

There are approximately 2,691 people named Jack Johnson living in the United States today — so what is it about this one that makes him so appealing? 

Seriously, this is a question I puzzle over every time I see the guy in concert. 

Sure, his music is incredibly catchy and earwormy as can be, and yes, he’s handsome and charismatic, but in a comfort food way that reminds of half the cute guys I went to high school with. And he’s not really the life of the party (that would be Zach Gill, his piano and a zillion other random instruments guy — usually found stage right). And Jack’s not dancing around the stage like a maniac, in fact half the time he’s not even wearing shoes!

And yet, when Jack Johnson’s in the house it is always guaranteed to be a good time. A great time even. And I can never quite put my finger on what makes such a chill dude such a fun one to spend time with. 

Saturday’s show at the Santa Barbara Bowl, the first of a sold-out two-night stint, was quite simply a blast. There was, not unexpectedly, a huge crowd of friends and family backstage during G.Love’s entertaining opening set. The tour itself, in support of SURFILMUSIC, a documentary about Johnson’s evolution from surfer to filmmaker to world-famous musician, and parts of the film, which we’ve seen snippets of in previous Santa Barbara engagements, featured prominently throughout the evening. They made great use of the surrounding screens throughout the night, juxtaposing surf footage with live shots of the band and crowd.  

The opening song “Mudfootball,” from 2001’s Brushfire Fairytales, set the tone for the night with the crowd singing along with those earwormy lyrics: “We used to laugh a lot / But only because we thought / That everything good always would, everything good always would remain.” A mashup of “Flake,” from that same 2001 album, with the classic ’70’s tune “In the Summertime” was up next, getting the crowd up off their feet and grooving along.

“You And Your Heart,” the lead single of 2010’s To The Sea, was up next, featuring some nice playing by Merlo Podlewski on bass. Then Jack picked up the uke and Zach played melodica for 2005’s “Breakdown,” followed by another fun mashup: Tina Turner’s “What’s Love Got To Do With It” and their own 2005 hit “Sitting, Waiting, Wishing.” 

“We’ve been out on tour for a little while with this film SURFILMUSIC,” said Jack. “But it barely needs a description here because we’ve got a lot of surfers out there.” He continued, getting a roar from the crowd as he shared that when he was a little kid, he just wanted to be Tom Curren (the world-famous professional surfer from Santa Barbara). “I was working on my UCSB film degree, and my first two albums were written on decks of boats making surfing films,” said Jack, as he introduced the 2003 song “Holes to Heaven.” 

Credit: Ingrid Bostrom

A cover of Sublime’s “Badfish/Boss D.J.” was up next, as Jack gave a shoutout to the various nonprofits spotlighted at the Bowl. “Some of the earliest shows I ever did were fundraisers for Heal the Ocean and Surfrider Foundation,” he shared, noting that the Bowl was the first venue to get on board with his proposal for having only zero waste all reusable products at his shows, and giving shoutouts to both his wife Kim Johnson and Zach’s wife Jessica Scheeter for their work on the nonprofit Johnson Ohana Foundation, that supports organizations that focus on environmental, art, and music education.

A sweet mashup of “Banana Pancakes” and Dolly Parton’s “Nine to Five” gave way to drummer Adam Topol singing lead on The Modern Lovers’s “Roadrunner,” segueing into Jack’s 2013 ode to filmmaking, “Shot Reverse Shot.” 

All of three of Jack’s kids were in the house and he told a sweet story about one of his sons dropping his guitar and leaving it tuned to the key of B Flat — which Neil Young said the universe is tuned to — so they ended up writing the song “I Got You” by noodling around together.  

“This is the first love song I ever wrote,” said Jack, sending out a lovely version of 2001’s “Bubble Toes” to his UCSB sweetheart and now wife Kim, who later brought out a cake on stage for G. Love’s birthday (which Zach saluted with a confetti canon).

Jack spoke lovingly of his wife throughout the night and shared a bit of their origin story: “Definitely don’t lock your bike to someone else’s bike — but in my case it turned out good, we got married.” That was followed by “Do You Remember,” with the new lyrics “Over 33 years have gone by / Even though it feels like the blink of an eye. We can’t rewind, we’re locked in time / But you’re still mine / Do you remember?”

I think Jack and Kim’s real life love story, combined with his dream-come-true musical career and family life which seemingly still lives up to their youthful idealism, is a big part of what makes his shows so appealing and so much fun. Here’s a guy who is living the dream and seems so completely comfortable in his own skin that the cynicism of getting older and just living in the world right now seems to have evaded him — and perhaps us — at least for that one single night of music. 

As they ended the show with the crowd singing along to yet another favorite, “Better Together,” Jack Johnson and crew really did make us feel like we are better together once again.

Goleta’s own Zach Gill, of Jack Johnson and ALO band fame, will play a special pop-up show around 1:15 p.m. on Friday, October 16, at the Independent’s sponsored Piano on State, located in front of Old Navy (1137 State Street) at the corner of State and Anapamu Streets.