We all know about the Ninth Island phenomenon, how any given weekend can bring thousands of Hawaiian visitors to Las Vegas. They don’t necessarily require a special occasion to come celebrate, but this weekend will bring a specific group of friends to the Strip.
“It’s funny, when we play at home in Hawaii, it’s always a good time but it’s almost like putting on a wedding—there’s so many friends coming out,” says singer, songwriter and North Shore, Oahu native Jack Johnson. “And since Vegas is the No. 1 destination for people who live in Hawaii, these shows are going to be really fun for me because a group of my best friends are sort of making a hangout of it. They’re all coming out and we’re just excited.”
The acoustically inclined artist behind eight studio albums and pop hits like “Upside Down” and “You and Your Heart” is making his debut at Wynn’s Encore Theater for two nights on February 24-25, a big Vegas weekend strategically planned after last week’s Cali Vibes fest in Long Beach and a benefit show for the Lobrero Theatre in Santa Barbara. Johnson is eager to get into the luxurious Wynn room because it’s so different from his typical Vegas venue, and more intimate than the outdoor amphitheaters he’ll be playing all summer long.
“Those [outdoor shows] are like a big party and a lot of fun, but my music is acoustic-based and suited to those [smaller] theaters,” he says. “It’s always a pleasant surprise when you can really play to the room and strip things back. And I love when people yell out a song from the crowd, and if I can remember the chords, I love to play requests. It’s almost like a campfire vibe. And theaters allow you to do that, to really hear your audience.”
Johnson and his band—who have all been together long enough to call audibles onstage like that and tweak the setlist to accommodate interaction and spontaneous storytelling—will be joined by another island friend, Paula Fuga, both nights. “She basically lives down the street and we’ve played together quite a bit, so I already know it’s going to be a fun time collaborating,” he says.
After releasing Meet the Moonlight last summer and continuing a relatively heavy tour schedule, Johnson has spent much of his time back home working on a different project—a 9-acre community farm in the small village of Haliewa that had been dormant for 40 years. Invasive trees have been cleared and native plants and wildlife reintroduced in order to establish some wetlands and a commercial farm, and it’s all a part of Johnson’s Kōkua Foundation that supports environmental education on the islands.
Projects like that keep the musician focused on what’s in front of him, but that’s pretty easy. Johnson doesn’t like to look too down the road, especially when it comes to performing or creating music.
“It sounds ridiculous but I get nervous if I think too far ahead,” he says. “It’s been a philosophy of our band to make sure we appreciate where we’re playing that night, that people decided to come out and support the music and be there with us. We’ve played those half-full clubs in the beginning and we still talk about being grateful 30 or 40 people decided to come, so we’ve always kept that thing of being appreciative we get to do this at all.”
JACK JOHNSON With Paula Fuga. February 24-25, 8 p.m., $150-$300. Encore Theater, ticketmaster.com.
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