Jack Johnson Brings His Bulked-Up Season to the Hollywood Bowl

As Tropical Storm Rachel swirled along the coastline, the musician landed at the Hollywood Bowl with a set of his best songs for the final dates of his North American tour, in support of his new documentary "SURFILMUSIC."

It was homecoming weekend across the Southland, and Jack Johnson and his team brought their A-game Saturday for one of two sold-out shows at the Hollywood Bowl: "Y'all ready to sing, right?"

With Tropical Storm Rachel churning on the coast, Johnson and his band from Los Angeles took on a collection of the singer-songwriter's best songs for the final shows of his North American tour in support of SURFILMUSIC.

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Under a quiet, sometimes rainy night sky, the laid-back 51-year-old belted out two hours of classics with his old band — which includes a prominent friend, Zach Gill, who met Johnson in his early days at UC Santa Barbara and accompanied the rocker on everything from accordion and harmonica to piano and melodica — like family movies with piano and melodica.

For us in college when Johnson became famous, it was a nostalgic night for the mostly Gen X crowd, as our own kids are applying to college these days. But middle age is looking good for Johnson, and his dedication to success created a wave of good times throughout the quasi-beach party.

Johnson entered with "Mudfootball (for Mo Lerner)," from his 2001 debut studio album, Brushfire Fairytales, followed by "Sitting, Waiting, Wishing." "Bubble Feet" (with intro/outro of Steve Miller's "Keep on Rockin' Me Baby" and "Take the Money and Run"). "Banana Pancakes," followed by a soulful cover of Dolly Parton's "9 to 5." "You and your heart"; a "Breakdown" (with Johnson's vocals soaring alongside his trademark ukulele); "upside down"; "staple it together"; "waste of time"; "Constellation"; and "Do you remember?" "Holes to Heaven," Johnson's 2003 song about a father-son bonding journey, echoes with the chorus, "And there were far fewer questions / When the stars were still just holes to heaven."

Longtime friend Ben Harper joined Johnson on stage for "Flick" and a cover of The Wailers' "High Tide or Low Tide," and fellow surfer Kelly Slater appeared for a cover of Jimmy Buffett's "A Pirate Looks at Forty," just two men singing back-to-back verses on a beach late at night.

The lyrics to Better Together, likely the first wedding song for many in the crowd, were a fitting reminder that yes, we are.

Opener Hermanos Gutiérrez, a Latin instrumental duo formed in Zurich in 2015. Ecuadorian-Swiss brothers Alejandro Gutiérrez and Están Gutiérrez set the song up nicely with soulful instrumentation, including sweet laptop steel guitar slides. The brothers accompanied Johnson on SURFILMUSIC — which premiered March 13 at SXSW and is now playing in select theaters nationwide — and joined the singer on stage for a medley of songs from the soundtrack.

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