What should Don's tour for Cass County be like?

[VAisForEagleLovers]

I'm really hoping there will be an official announcement of dates soon. If he plans to tour near or right after the album release, it seems like dates should be announced soon.

So...what do we think? Where will he play? What venues? How much of the concert should be his hits and how much should be the new songs? What should he wear? Lately for solo shows he's been wearing black pants, white shirt, black jacket, if I remember correctly. Should he go a little more 'country'?

[Brooke]

Definitely not a suit! I guess he could get a more elaborate jacket like Alan Jackson ala Porter Wagner used to wear!

NO! JK!

I think jeans and a plaid shirt like he does most of the time on the HotE tour. But something a bit colorful like his red and blue plaids. No gray!

I can't imagine he will do anything very different. It's Don Henley we're talking about!

[AlreadyGone95]

I agree that Don will probably keep the clothes simple.

Venues? With Cass County being a more country album, I would think that Don will play in areas where country is very popular.

Set list, I honestly don't have a clue.

[WalshFan88]

Play smaller places, for one. I'll never be able to go to a solo show of the guys. Driving 4 hours to the nearest big arena for the Eagles is one thing, but I can't bring myself to do it for just one of them. Doesn't mean I'm less of a fan, just that I can't do that for just one artist no matter how much I like them. However if DH came locally within a couple hours, I'd go.

I think places where "country" is popular depends on the type of country. If it's the new stuff (which I prefer for country, as it sounds more like rock n' roll and then I can say I like country ), it's in arenas and stadiums. Modern country is huge...

Otherwise if you want older country, it's better off to stick to theaters and auditoriums and an older crowd. Don's stuff will be more older style country, so better off playing smaller places and venues and try to draw an older crowd. Kind of like when Glenn did After Hours, which is more older style music.

[Jonny Come Lately]

Given that Cass County sounds like it will be more country in flavour, I think he should go for a 'down to earth' kind of show. As few gimmicks as possible, with as much emphasis as possible on the performances themselves. Fortunately, as it is Don Henley we are talking about I think there's a fair chance he will let the music do the talking. I'm not bothered about his choice of outfit apart from thinking that a suit might seem a little out of place.

I think it would be quite good to play some of his more acoustic solo songs, perhaps reworked in a style to fit that of the new songs. I reckon The End Of The Innocence and The Heart Of The Matter would be good choices for this, possibly The Last Worthless Evening or even Not Enough Love In The World too. It might be a bit much to do this for all of them but I think the HOTE tour has shown that you can play the old material in a fresh way (I really like the reworked Witchy Woman with Joe's bluesy guitar) so maybe he should go for that with one of two of his hits. Of the less obvious songs, I love it would it if he included the superb Month Of Sundays or something like Long Way Home. although I could understand him including a couple of rockers like BOS or Dirty Laundry but I think he should leave the synth pop tunes such as ASWTDID at home. I think they would seem at odds with the organic nature of country music.

[Glennsallnighter]

We love country music in Ireland and we love Don Henley as well. Only saying......

[Tori]

As long as he comes to Milwaukee or darn close to it, it doesn't matter to me what he plays or wears!

In all seriousness, I do think he should go a little country, so to speak. Perhaps change up the setlist to some slower, less out-there tunes, but keep the obvious hits like DL and BOS. I would be SO HAPPY if he did something like Talking To The Moon (which I believe he did at one of the the last solo shows he's played in recent memory). Whatever happens, it'll probably be a great show!

[thelastresort]

With the fairly sharp contrast between his new material and that that made him famous three decades ago it will be interesting to see how he does the setlist: firstly I wonder if he will do any of the collaborations from CC live (for example, the song with Mick Jagger and Miranda Lambert) or just sticks to those where he is the solo vocalist.

Secondly but more importantly I think I wouldn't want him to abandon any of the songs he has that people have loved for years. As an example, the British musician Paul Weller had a wealth of fairly big songs over here back in the late 70s and 80s with The Jam and Style Council that he played well after the demise of those two bands in his solo concerts. I saw a setlist he did for a gig in my hometown last spring and all of them had since vanished for newer material, which is disappointing. Whilst Don should definitely showcase a lot of CC, and spice it up a bit with a few rare numbers (a la HOTE), he also needs to keep the songs that made him famous back in the 80s - Boys of Summer, Dirty Laundry, End of the Innocence etc should all be staples whose omission is not up for question. That's one mistake I think the Eagles made on the LROOE tour - dropping songs like NKIT, Tequila Sunrise and Already Gone (the only time ever I think) whilst playing lesser stuff from the new album didn't sit right with me.

[L101]

As long as Don plays in Ireland, I don't care what he wears (well obviously jeans and a plaid shirt (either red or blue )

I hope he keeps his hits like Boys of Summer, Dirty Laundry, Sunset Grill etc but that he also includes Talking to the moon and It don't matter to the sun - I absolutely love his version of it and I hoped he had recorded it for Cass County but it doesn't look likely

I think he will play about 6 or so songs from CC, and that might change as the tour goes on, depending on the reaction to the songs and the album.....

But the most important thing is Please Don, come to Ireland!!

[VAisForEagleLovers]

I certainly hope he keeps The Heart of the Matter in the setlist! As for places here in the US, I don't really care where, since I don't know where I'll be. Weekend shows would be nice so I don't have to take time off.