Pacing the Cage With Bruce Cockburn
Yes, when we saw Bruce Cockburn perform at Medford’s Chevalier Theater last night he played “Pacing the Cage,” one of the handful of songs that all of us longtime fans hoped he would play. Hearing it live, it cast a spell and was in and of itself worth the price of admission — which I should add was ridiculously inexpensive for an artist of his stature. While people are laying out thousands to see Springsteen, Taylor Swift, or Harry Styles, we got to hear music in its highest form for, I don’t know, 50 or 60 bucks or something. But that’s how it often goes with high art. It’s like mountain climbing: there’s fewer people at the top. Not that there is anything especially difficult or obscure about Cockburn. One listen to “Pacing the Cage” will tell you that. I often think of Cockburn as one of the greatest “triple threat” rock-based players of the last 50 years. He’s equally strong in songwriting, singing, and guitar playing. Nearly unparalleled at the first, fully compelling with t...
