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Rating: When I mention Jeff Buckley, most of the time my interlocutor looks at me with questioning eyes... The few people who know this great pop rock artist associate him with his greatest success, "Grace," where we can hear songs with a sweetness that few can demonstrate.
Indeed, upon listening to that record, I immediately realized the remarkable complexity of this artist: a harmonious voice with which he delights in angelic vocalizations and above all a versatility in weaving notes with any type of guitar, which struck me deeply, to the point that I wondered why Jeff is not among the greats in the history of music.
I found answers through some research, discovering his horrifying death and his life complicated and entangled with numerous problems. After listening to "Grace" many times, I concluded that Jeff Buckley will live forever in those who listen not only with their ears but with their hearts; I hope you agree with me when I claim that he is better than all those off-key groups of kids who hate the world, all those singers who would do anything to appear on television.
However, I understood that he was indeed the best of all when I listened to the concert he held in Berkeley, in the prime of his youth, where he had not yet completed "Grace." The concert opens with a small speech in which he introduces the songs he is about to sing and apologizes to the audience for the sore throat that accompanied him throughout the concert without affecting his performance in the slightest.
The opening song is "Last Goodbye," the one that introduced all his concerts, in which his utmost expression as an extravagant guitarist reveals itself, impeccable in execution, pretentious in chords perhaps a little too complex, but making the piece flawless from a melodic standpoint. The lyrics, unlike the melody, as the title suggests, are the last goodbye Jeff bids to his beloved: he knows the love between them is dead, but he will never forget the time spent with her. From this first song, the audience begins to appreciate Jeff's guitar skills. Before the second track, Jeff performs a parody of the 'Mission Impossible' theme and exchanges a few words with the audience, showing everyone that he is a humble and charismatic artist. Amid audience laughter and not quite thunderous applause, the second song begins: "Lover, You Should Have Come Over." In this song, which opens with Jeff's sweet vocalizations, the notes of two acoustic guitars intertwine with his melodic voice, revealing a combination of sadness and tranquility without too much stylistic pretense. I find it really difficult to describe this song; every time I hear it, I feel a strange emotion, too deep to be expressed by any word.
The third song tells of a dream, that for Jeff is like reality, and perhaps it really is. "So Real" combines decidedly deep and dark notes with such high vocalizations giving the piece a strange magnetism: indeed, once I heard the beginning, I couldn't be distracted until the end of the performance. Every song of Jeff's borders on melodic perfection, often reaching it, sometimes straying from it, but it is never too simple to understand. Each single track is associated with the artist's mood, capable of moving with different combinations of chords and arpeggios. This is followed by "Mojo Pin," a song that alternates chaotic and purely rock moments with an atmosphere of serenity and peace. The concert closes with "Grace," at the time a newly composed and little-known song. From the impetuous beginning, where the two guitars weave a cascade of notes, the rhythm of the entire song is denoted: fast, rapid, elusive. Jeff's voice also follows this breathless rhythm, distinctly different from any of his other tracks. "Grace" is a song that perhaps requires an arpeggiation skill on different chords that few guitarists can boast of executing, and the only voice that can accompany it is indeed Jeff's.
The concert concludes with thunderous applause and a few words from Jeff, who introduces the musicians, Michael Tighe, Mick Grondahl, and Matt Johnson, themselves also impeccable in execution and excellent companions to his angelic voice. My overall opinion on the concert: Jeff Buckley is a versatile musician, whose creative and executive flair challenges and surpasses without too much difficulty the limits of other artists; he pushes his voice to hard-to-reach pitches without losing concentration in the arpeggio; the notes accompanying it are played with the utmost care. Only those who have listened to him more than once can describe his songs, because they are neither superficial nor absolutely commercial. His music comes neither from the guitar nor from the vocal cords, his music comes from the heart.
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