AMERICAN singer-songwriter Jackson Browne was at the centre of a love-in at York last night.

The Grand Opera House was packed with his fans, who burst into applause whenever they heard the first few bars of a favourite song. And there was plenty of clapping, because Browne's recording career goes back more than 30 years.

He played the tender Jamaica Say You Will from his 1972 debut album, Saturate Before Using, and the melancholic The Night Inside Me from his 2002 album The Naked Ride Home.

The first half of last night's one-man concert was very relaxed. Perched on a chair beside 14 acoustic guitars, with a keyboard within touching distance, Browne was taking it so easy that a song, inspired by the woman he lives with, was brought to a halt when he forgot the words. Self-deprecating humour was used as a lifeline to haul himself out of that particular hole.

Browne, the astute political observer, showed more energy after the interval with impassioned performances of For Everyman, Lives In The Balance and Steven Van Zandt's I Am A Patriot.

Browne saved his signature song, Take It Easy, for his second encore when the auditorium was filled with the singing of hundreds of voices... running on the road with seven women on your mind is a seductive image for the middle-aged.

Updated: 11:28 Friday, October 22, 2004