Jack Johnson @ Coastal Credit Union Pavilion, Raleigh

At 2:00 pm on Sunday it was raining throughout Raleigh and it looked like it was going to be a muddy night. But fans made it out to the Coastal Credit Union Music Park to celebrate Jack Johnson's return. Some things are worth the chances of getting rained on—especially following a sixteen-year hiatus. Johnson released Meet the Moonlight this year, breaking the silence. What a great album it is, meshing traditional tempos with newer melodies. I had an opportunity to review the show and speak with concert attendees.

For some, they didn't know what to expect and understandably had lost touch but wanted to reconnect to songs they grew up with. Others I spoke with had been streaming his new album and were eager to hear and see the live performances.

The stage displays were cool and toned down, with light wooden slabs forming a crescent, encompassing the band like giant guitars. Videos of tranquil blue water—raindrops and sea—projected in the background, giving the vibe of Johnson's surfing atmosphere.

In the third song, Ziggy Marley walked on as a special guest and joined in on the Wailers' cover of “High Tide or Low Tide.” It was beautifully harmonic, with Johnson and Marley's voices complementing each other well on the chorus.

Johnson's stage banter and interactions with the crowd were great. At one point, a father up front in the pit briefly sat his son down, who had been sitting on his shoulders. Johnson spoke into the mic, “So the dad in the center right there, put your son back on your shoulders for this one.” Johnson then went into the Curious George theme track song “Upside Down.”

Also at one point in the show, a beach ball flew on stage. Johnson went to kick it and his shoe flew off into the crowd. Seconds later, the shoe was thrown back at Johnson, hitting him as he flinched. Both Johnson and the audience chuckled at the mishap. Johnson thanked the person in the crowd: “Usually fans keep my shoes as a souvenir, but you're good people here. Thank you so much.”

Other humorous moments in the night included Johnson sharing the story of how he came to write the song “Willie Got Me Stoned and Took All My Money,” and how he lost the last $100 his dad had loaned him to go on the road.

Before segueing into Buffett’s “A Pirate Looks at Forty,” Johnson recounted a memory from his youth: his babysitter mistakenly taking Jimmy Buffett—arriving as a guest—as the plumber who had been called. Buffett apparently went in and fixed the toilet.

Leading into “Inaudible Melodies,” Johnson shared with the audience a little background on the song. Apparently, he wrote it in hopes of getting an extension on a paper. The original lyrics—“slow down [insert professor’s name], you’re moving too fast… frames can’t catch you when you’re moving like that”—were really a plea from a college student trying to review a class recording of a professor who simply moved too fast. Johnson performed the song for the professor—without divulging the true lyrics—and received an extension.

A poignant moment in the night was “Do You Remember?” The song was released in 2005. It’s crazy to think it’s been that long and we, as an audience, have grown older. I wondered at points in the song if there wasn’t some irony in the lines and Johnson playing them at this moment after a long time away.

And in an ironic twist, it certainly did for Johnson, who seized the opportunity to give a nice tip of the hat to his wife: “only TWENTY-NINE years have gone by—you’re still mine…”

In a thoughtful gesture toward the end of the night, Johnson came out and did a solo session, taking requests from the audience and making the ending more intimate and sentimental as the crowd reconnected with their old friend.

Slowly, toward the final song, the band quietly drifted back onto the stage. The piano started to tickle the ivories as the band went into “Better Together.”

All in all, musically everything was top notch. If you wish to view the setlist, here you go.