Brief Dispatch: Jack Johnson at Capitol Federal Park at Sandstone

Photo by Sarah Okun

If you closed your eyes on Friday night, the breeze and the sounds of Jack Johnson‘s ukulele almost made Capitol Federal Park at Sandstone feel like the beach. The surfer-boy-slash-singer-songwriter performed for about two hours at the outdoor amphitheater in Bonner Springs. Beach balls bobbed over the top of the crowd; so did a couple of people early in the set.

Looking as laid back as ever in a t-shirt and blue jeans, Johnson plunked through most of his feelgood favorites, including “Bubble Toes” and “Banana Pancakes,” as well as a lot of feelgood-sounding songs that actually contain social commentary, like “Fall Line” and “The News.”

Gorgeous weather aside, Sandstone seemed like a good fit for the environmentally conscious musician, who used solar energy to record his latest album, Sleep Through the Static. The folks behind the venue would have you believe it’s an increasingly “green” facility. There are even signs with tips on how to be a more environmentally responsible concertgoer at Sandstone’s entrance. But any positive impact of carpooling was reversed at the end of the show, when hundreds of cars idled, motionless, for upwards of an hour thanks to bottlenecking at the exit.