You had to work a little to find people at the Troubadour's Carole King/James Taylor concert Wednesday who did not get the sense of occasion or weight of history in the evening.
Pretty much everyone there not only knew pretty much every song but sang along on pretty much every word -- from Taylor's understated "Carolina in My Mind" and "Fire and Rain" to King's expressive "It's Too Late" and "I Feel the Earth Move" to the song they famously shared, her composition "You've Got a Friend," which was a hit for each and the climactic duet here. These were songs that were unavoidable for much of the early '70s, coming largely from his landmark "Sweet Baby James" album and her "Tapestry," the top-seller of its era.
And there was at least a general awareness of the club's vaunted place in pop history as it celebrated its 50th anniversary -- the spot where the Byrds and Eagles formed, where Elton John and Linda Ronstadt launched to stardom, as did metal bands including Motley Crue and Guns N' Roses in the '80s.
It was one particular slice of the history that was more or less re-created this night, with King and Taylor building a set around songs they did in a star-making stint for which they shared the stage in 1970, when he was the rising-star headliner and she a hugely successful songwriter but not a performer up to that point, serving dual roles as band member and opening act.
But there were some who weren't aware of all that -- though they were largely among the handful too young to have experienced it as it happened.
There was, for example, the 28-year-old Troubadour bartender who said she knew little about the club when she found the job posting on Craigslist not long ago.
And there was the 18-year-old kid brought by his father -- none other than Eagles bassist Timothy B. Schmit.
"I know William Shatner is here," Timothy B. Schmit Jr., said of the night's significance, pointing to one celebrity in attendance.
Surely he knows that his father's band coalesced in this very room.
"No," he admitted. "I didn't know that."
The rest in the house, though, were primed to reconnect with the past.
"Do you all feel 28?" King asked as she and Taylor stepped on stage to kick off the first of the six-performance, three-night run, a benefit for several hunger, environmental and health-care charities.
"You look 28," she lied -- though she hardly looks her 65.
