Pop : Environmental Politics Spark Dan Fogelberg Show at Irvine Meadows

No matter what Dan Fogelberg did on Friday at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre, it was going to be a chilly experience for the 6,000 or so fans huddled before him on a slab of concrete.

On nights like that, it’s critical for a performer to radiate warmth. Far from getting the kindling going, Fogelberg started his show on a plane as austere and remote as the high desert scenery he used as a stage backdrop. But by the end of the two-hour concert, some surprisingly effective rocking from Fogelberg and his band of session and touring pros had put a warming glow on the evening.

Best known for his romantic, folk-pop songs, Fogelberg gave his show the spark it needed by turning to environmental politics. He reached out to the audience (finally) in a lucid discussion of ecological perils and economic greed, then followed it up with a newly written dirge for endangered species.

Fogelberg then fired up his acoustic guitar for an assured, rocking solo slide blues, a welcome contrast to some of the sentimental fluff that has been a trademark for this veteran of the sensitive ‘70s.

While schmaltz surfaced from time to time, Fogelberg more than made up for such lapses in the strong, concluding electric rock segment. Time has taken some of the lustrous gleam from his voice, and that’s all to the good. Fogelberg sang with a husky grain that lent emotional clout to the rockers, more than compensating for a few lost notes at the top of his range.