James Taylor delivers for fans; Bonnie Raitt rocks PPL Center

Much as singer-songwriter James Taylor has done throughout his nearly 50-year career, his concert Friday at Allentown's PPL Center gave voice to his listeners.

If you are at a station where age has added wisdom, leavened life's lessons and seasoned its simplicities, the 70-year-old singer's show again gave voice to your feelings — just as he did throughout the 1970s, but with a more sage perspective.

If, however, you are the kind of person who age has not slowed nor softened, who believes the passing years have not diminished your ability or desire to rock, and who looks upon age not charitably but challenging, Taylor's opening act Bonnie Raitt blew him away Friday.

Raitt, who in the late 1980s and early '90s (then already in her 40s) was a reminder that women can rock — and can continue to — bestowed that same lesson Friday, as potently as ever.

That's not to diminish Taylor's show. Before a sold-out audience in the 10,000-capacity arena, the singer connected as well and was as powerful as ever.

As if to show that power, Taylor opened with one of his biggest and most beloved songs — “Carolina in My Mind.” His voice was a bit vulnerable, but with four background singers and a six-man band, it still was stunning.

But there clearly was a sense of nostalgia to the show. It opened with a montage of throwback video — and continued through the show — and he recalled starting in rooms such as the former Main Point in Bryn Mawr.

The early part of the show concentrated on lesser favorites. The second song was “Country Road” from his 1970 sophomore disc “Sweet Baby James,” then its gentle, B-Side, “Sunny Skies.” (By this point his voice had warmed.)

And “Walking Man” was gentle and sweet, sung from a stool while he strummed an acoustic guitar.

It was six songs into the set before he sang another bona fide hit, 1977's chart-topping “Handy Man.” It was slightly updated and more richly orchestrated, but his voice again faltered a bit at times.

Taylor's concert was not complete as of press time; in previous stops he played two-hour shows of 20 songs. But he was not scheduled to sing any songs from his newest disc, 2015's “Before This World.” (He played four during his last show at PPL Center in 2015).

The second half of Taylor's set was scheduled to be heavier on the hits: “Mexico,” “Fire and Rain,” “Your Smiling Face” and “Shower the People.”

He was to close his main set with his chart-topping 1975 cover of Marvin Gaye's “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You).”

The encore was to be even more interesting — telling precisely how much Taylor, too, can rock with an opening cover of Chuck Berry's “Johnny B. Goode” with Raitt on guitar, then closing, again with Raitt, with the B-side “You Can Close Your Eyes.”

But it was the penultimate song of the show that told the most about the concert Taylor is playing these days.

It was scheduled to be “You've Got a Friend,” Taylor's first chart-topper from 1971.

That song, more than any other, captures what Taylor's music has always meant to listeners.

“When you're down and troubled and you need a helping hand,” the lyrics say. “All you got to do is call/And I'll be there … You've got a friend.”

That was true of Taylor's music nearly 50 years ago. And as his listeners age, he continues to give them a voice.

Raitt's 11-song, 63-minute set started with a shot of blues rock with “Unintended Consequence of Love,” the lead track off her newest album, 2016's “Dig in Deep,” then rocked into a similar take on INXS's “Need You Tonight” from the same disc.

Those were the only two songs Raitt played from that disc, but her approach to other material was no different.

She excused her five-man band and alone played Delta blues acoustic guitar on the slow burning Skip James song “Devil Got My Woman.”

Her biggest hit, 1991's “Something to Talk About,” came in the middle of the set and she wailed on it, both vocally and with expressive slide guitar. It got a huge crowd reaction. She turned her 1990 hit “Have a Heart” into a reggae tune that was less-joyous, but opened itself to more expressive guitar.

“Nick of Time,” the title track from her breakthough 1989 disc, was perhaps even sweeter and vulnerable than the original, and the crowd clapped along at the end.

The highlight of the set was a cover of John Prine's masterpiece “Angel of Montgomery.” Not only was Raitt's voice sweet and lovely, but her guitar playing inspired.

But Raitt's voice also was astonishing on “I Can't Make You Love Me.” Backed by gentle piano, it was as aching as ever, as if the wounds were fresh, not a distant or muted memory.

Even Taylor seemed elevated by the experience. He joined Raitt, singing his closest to rock and perhaps his most animated, to close her set with one of her breakthrough hits, 1989's “Thing Called Love.”