Don Henley - Boston June 6, 2017

Just got back from the concert, and I'm pretty tired, so I'll have to do a longer review tomorrow. Just wanted to say it was a great show, though. It was very cold and rainy for this time of year in Boston, and it was in an outdoor venue, under a tent/pavilion.

They opened with Seven Bridges Road, per usual, and then Don started singing,

"Chestnuts roasting on an open fire
Jack Frost nipping at your nose
Yuletide carols being sung by a choir
And folks dressed up like Eskimos…"

He stopped there but it was pretty funny. Definitely wasn't expecting that song! Then he made some joke about New Englanders being used to that kind of weather. He actually sounded pretty good on that song. He did sound rusty on some of the early songs, but his voice definitely improved as the night went on.

The set list was different from previously, but I'll talk more about that tomorrow. The biggest surprise was at the end. For the last two songs, they were having technical difficulties where none of the monitors were working. Don said they couldn't hear themselves at all but were going to try to wing it. He sang Desperado and sounded awesome, but the he stayed on stage. We were wondering what was going on. After a few minutes, he said the technical difficulties couldn't be fixed, but they were going to go ahead and do one more. I thought it might be Wasted Time, but he said, "This one's for Glenn," and sang Peaceful, Easy Feeling.

It sounded great with all the harmony from the back-up singers, but it was certainly a surprise!

Sounds like a great night, tech problems notwithstanding. I'd love to have heard the PEF dedication - was it accoustic? Were you allowed take pics of is the camera ban still in place?

That's awesome he did PEF!!! :D Would love to here him do that too. Really funny he did a Christmas song with the weather being so chilly. LOL

I would had loved to hear him sing The Christmas Song. I can just see Don busting into a Christmas song all of a sudden. A lady I know in the choir would bust into The Christmas Song when she's frustrated. LOL Its so funny when she does that.

I'm surprised that Don did one of Glenn's songs since he said he wouldn't do it, but I would had loved to hear him sing PEF. I think I read on Facebook that he has sang PEF before. I heard audio of him singing Already Gone and Lyin' Eyes.

MaryC - sounds like it was a great show. The Christmas song was cute. We have been having the same weather here. So glad you had a nice time.
Shun, I agree. Don said he would never sing any songs Glenn sang. I have seen him do AG and LE but never PEF. Hope someone made a video of it.

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Originally Posted by New Kid In Town

MaryC - sounds like it was a great show. The Christmas song was cute. We have been having the same weather here. So glad you had a nice time.
Shun, I agree. Don said he would never sing any songs Glenn sang. I have seen him do AG and LE but never PEF. Hope someone made a video of it.

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At this point, NKIT. Don has been changing his mind lately about a lot of stuff. LOL So I'm not surprised he finally sang one of Glenn's songs. I wonder if he's going to do that for the rest of the tour. I'm ok with it because he's paying tribute to Glenn by actually singing one of his song then the ones he wrote with him. I hate Wasted Time was dropped. I loved that song and he and Lara do a great job.

I feel bad for everybody. They couldn't hear each other, but than again. Don only uses one ear monitor in his ear instead of two. I think they all do So I would had thought he could still hear them, but I guess the music would still drown them out on stage.

Maryc, thanks for much for your comments. I loved the Christmas Song part! Too cute! And I would love to hear Don do PEF too. Dedicated to Glenn makes it ok in my mind. Too bad about their monitors, but evidently 'winging it' was good! lol

Shun - So true about Don changing his mind about a lot of things-lol ! I wonder how many songs Don will sing of Glenn's at the festivals. I would assume Deacon and Vince will sing most, just wondering......
I love Wasted Time too.

That's a good question. He's probably going to leave Glenn's songs to Vince and Deacon. I'm still looking for it on YouTube. Nobody has posted it yet.

Wow - that's quite a change! Thanks for sharing your experience. I wonder if he plans on doing PEF in solo shows regularly now, or if that was a one-off?

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Originally Posted by shunlvswx

I would had loved to hear him sing The Christmas Song. I can just see Don busting into a Christmas song all of a sudden. A lady I know in the choir would bust into The Christmas Song when she's frustrated. LOL Its so funny when she does that.

I'm surprised that Don did one of Glenn's songs since he said he wouldn't do it, but I would had loved to hear him sing PEF. I think I read on Facebook that he has sang PEF before. I heard audio of him singing Already Gone and Lyin' Eyes.

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Hearing him sing the Christmas song was great, Shun. He was kind of walking around the stage when he sang it, and then he'd sing another line. He had a really cute smile on his face. His voice sounded great on it, really deep and resonant. Now I want him to record it. LOL!

I don't know if he'll keep singing PEF or if it was a one-off, but if I had to guess, I'd say he would keep singing it. His version was the best tribute we've heard, in my opinion, partly because of Don's voice and partly because of the fantastic harmony with the back-up singers. Of course, we haven't heard Deacon's version of it yet.

As I said, there were a few differences from his shows last summer. One big difference was that he didn't sing duets with the three female backup singers. The closest that he came to that was that they did a group singing of It Don't Matter to the Sun and Lara sang most or all of Stevie's part. There were no other solos by any of the three, and Don didn't take a break in the middle, so they didn't perform "I Don't Want to Hear Anymore" together, either. That is kind of puzzling me because they got such a positive response (partial standing ovation) for that song when I saw DH last September.

The only other song Don sang from Cass County was The Cost of Living . I was excited because I love that song, but I'm not sure it translated well to the concert stage and of course, no Merle Haggard. Don sang it solo. I missed Train in the Distance and kind of wish if he wanted to switch up his Cass County songs that he'd sing No Thank You. I think that would be a really upbeat song to play at a concert.

Most of the rest of the set list was pretty similar to what he did previously. He sang Last Worthless Evening, which he didn't do last time he was in Boston, and I was pretty happy about that. He sang Sunset Grill and not All She Wants to Do is Dance, which is what he did in Boston last year, but I know it's been different in different cities. I think he changed up a few of the lyrics on The End of the Innocence, probably ranking on Trump, because people were laughing, but we were in the back and I didn't catch what he was singing.

We had really obnoxious people in front of us and everyone was standing up. I kind of like standing and dancing for part of the show, but when you're in the back and there are a lot of tall people, it gets kind of old fast. The staff finally got people to sit down, but when Best of My Love was sung, everyone was up again and they stayed up. Also, the staff weren't cracking down on people taking pictures and videos very much, so people had their phones up a lot of the time. Don stopped once or twice to tell people, "Put it away." Knowing Don, he must have been pissed.

One funny thing was when Don introduced Scott Crago. Scott always gets a lot of applause here, as he's from Massachusetts. After he was introduced, Don said, "Craaago. Say it with me, Craaago." I don't know what that meant. LOL. Last year, when Don introduced one of the newer band members he called him The Prospector and said something like "We found him in the desert when we heard music coming from a mine shaft." I think he was talking about the pedal steel player Milo Deering? Don seems to like having a bit of fun with the band members!

He talked for just a few minutes about Walden Woods before The Last Resort. He didn't tell his little story about the girl from Providence. In fact, he didn't do a lot of talking, but he seemed in a great mood, smiling and moving around a lot (probably to keep warm!). He got his usual standing ovations to The Last Resort and Heart of the Matter and the crowd was very engaged, singing along and dancing, even in the back. Overall, it was a good night and Don made me forget all about the rain and cold for a couple of hours!

mc, sounds like a wonderful show! But, it's Don Henley, what else would we expect! Glad you had fun! :thumbsup: