Joe Walsh / Tom Petty & The HB - The Woodlands, TX 4/29/17

My Evening with Joe Walsh

What can I say? Joe Walsh is awesome!

We were slightly late and found our seats right after Joe began his first song. That's what we get for stopping by the concession stand first, lol. He sounded great and showed a lot of energy given that he's not a twenty-something. His guitar work was amazing; to see it on video and hear it on a recording is one thing, but to experience it live is another. He only performed 10 songs, which were pretty much the same as he's been performing the last couple of tours, I believe. I would have loved to hear him to throw in a ballad like "Help Me Thru the Night" but perhaps ballads may be more difficult to sing these days.

He sang "Take It to the Limit" which he dedicated to his "brother and bandmate" Glenn Frey. After knowing he'd been doing this for awhile and watching past video performances, I wasn't expecting to be moved the way I was. But I was. Hearing the song, I thought of Glenn and his larger-than-life persona. And how sweet that Joe still chooses to remember him with Randy's song. But it also made me think of Randy, and Joe being an Eagle is the closest I'll ever come to hearing Randy singing this live. So yes, it did bring unexpected tears to my eyes. And of course, just about everyone sang along.

Here is the setlist:

1. Meadows
2. Ordinary Average Guy
3. Mother Says
4. The Bomber
5. Take It to the Limit
6. Turn to Stone
*band introductions*
7. In the City
8. Funk 49
9. Life's Been Good
10. Rocky Mountain Way

Some entertaining moments:
*before "Funk 49" he says the kids may not know it but their grandparents love it and it did indeed elicit an excited response from the audience.
*he introduced Joe Vitale as the guy on drums, keyboards and the couch
*when he was introducing guitarist Tom Kunicek (?) he said that years ago they were training together at the Space Center in Houston; he said they didn't make the cut but they did get spaced out (or something close to that). He then dedicated "In the City" to Tommy.
*he turned his back to the audience during a song and shook his booty; I only note this b/c Tom Petty did the same thing and I was wondering what gives, lol.

Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers were great as well, but the acoustics could have been better. It was a very loud show (or maybe I'm just old like The Who says). They performed "Crawling Back to You" from the Wildflowers album which they never played live before so that was cool. Bummed they didn't play "Here Comes My Girl" or "Change of Heart." Still, it was a really good set.

Thanks for the review and details, Delilah! Glad you had a good time.

Delilah, thanks for filling us in! Sounds like a great show!

I'm still checking on tickets to their St. Louis show, but nothing in my price range yet!

You're welcome, both of you.

Good luck with your ticket search, Brooke!