Re: Don Henley in Manchester, England - June 27, 2016
Part two, starting with The Last Resort:
The Last Resort – Don talked a bit before this one. It was at this point that he explained about his phone policy, and that he would then be playing a song from Hotel California. A loud cheer came up and explained that he wasn’t playing HC itself yet, but he would play it later and we could get out phones out then. Once it start, I was overwhelmed to hear this song live and I could hear other people cheering. I never quite thought that I’d actually get to listen to Don singing it. Although a lot of my attention was on Don’s vocals (he did brilliantly with the final verse and the end) and the magnificent lyrics, I was intrigued to see the instruments the band played – the mid section was especially interesting, as one of the backing singers, Erica (IIRC) played violin. The song got a standing ovation, at least in my block.
The End of the Innocence – Kept up the incredibly high standard, and another song that I thought was greatly moving. It has been over a dozen years since I first heard this song and getting to hear the exceptional lyrics and the timeless piano line live was quite something. The sax solo on the original was played on the violin by Erica. After the song, Don paid tribute to Bruce Hornsby, describing him as a very gifted gentlemen and said he was well worth going to see when he comes here.
The Heart of the Matter – Just when I thought things couldn’t get any better, the opening riff of this song started! Having three of my absolute favourites, all songs which mean a great deal to me, in such quick succession was just unbelievable for me. Steuart’s guitar work on this one was excellent, never overdoing it. The best part was hearing Don sing the ‘there are people in your life’ verse which I have always loved. This was another song that got a richly deserved standing ovation.
(The band intros were either before or after THOTM, I think it was after… please correct if wrong! Don said that they were a great band and that there were no loonies in it… apart from him! Steuart got a big round of applause, thankfully no idiots shouting stuff about Felder this time)
Everybody Wants To Rule The World – Don introduced this by saying that his band always enjoyed playing this song and that it fitted ‘these wacko times’. I remember my parents playing Tears for Fears for a bit, my Mum quite liked them IIRC but their music isn’t really my thing. I did enjoy this performance though. Having Don singing helped, although Chris and Steuart’s guitar work added a lot to the song. My Dad said he preferred this version to the original, for what it’s worth.
Boys Of Summer – Another terrific performance! Don sang it at full pelt. This is probably Don’s best known solo track over here, and it was very well received. There were a few people dancing in our block for this one, which there hadn't for any of the earlier songs. As with THOTM, Mike Campbell would have been proud of Steuart’s guitar work. The outro was extended somewhat too.
Life in the Fast Lane – The final song of the regular set before the encores and it rocked throughout! The middle section was superb, as was Don’s vocal. IIRC Steuart played Joe’s iconic riff, with Chris playing Felder’s part. Interestingly I noticed on the final verse Don sang ‘g-ddamn’, with a pause after saying the ‘g’. I was aware he has done this before but I assumed this was generally usually in more places that are quite sensitive about this like some of the southern states. I think this might have been because there were children in the front rows?
The show had gone so quickly at this point that it seemed like almost no time had passed when it got to the encores:
Train In The Distance – I was absolutely delighted to hear Don play this song as it is my personal favourite from Cass County. It was every bit as atmospheric live as it is on record, and this was helped by the use of train sound effects (I am not totally sure where these came from – possibly from either Michael’s or Will’s keyboards?). One guy behind me tried to sing along to this song but he didn’t seem to know the words except for the chorus!
Hotel California – The phones all came out for this one! I didn’t film it myself, fortunately my Dad was there to film it so I have got some footage. I just wanted to enjoy every second! I was slightly surprised to see that Don was not playing guitar on this one, but I found out why after he stopped singing – he went to the back and played what looked like a bit bongo drums next to Scott’s drum kit. Steuart and Chris did a brilliant job with the solos – Steuart was playing the famous double neck but I noticed Chris was playing a Gibson Les Paul. During the final part, with Don at the back they came together in the middle of the stage to play the harmonised parts just as Joe and Don F always did.
After everyone left the stage, everyone was shouting 'More!' and shortly afterwards Don came back, paid tribute to Glenn and then started the final song:
Desperado – Prior to this song, Don explained how it had been a tough year for everyone in this camp and just before playing he said ‘this one’s for Glenn’. At the very end, he pointed his microphone at the audience and we sang ‘let somebody love you!’ A very moving finale and I thought a very fitting and heartfelt tribute to Glenn and I agree with what everyone else has posted.
Most of the songs got a good reception, although I think the Eagles songs together with THOTM and BOS seemed to go down especially well, and the crowd loved it when he paid tribute to Glenn. I didn’t hear many shouts for songs that weren’t played, but during the evening I heard a few shouts for Praying For Rain. I’d have loved to have heard that one, but I really enjoyed all of the performances so I really don’t have any reservations about songs he didn’t play.
Picking just one highlight is very tough. There were so many great songs and the performances were top notch. I would probably say that my favourite Eagles performance was The Last Resort (though it was difficult to argue with HC and LITFL), my favourite of his 1980s hits was The Heart of The Matter and my favourite Cass County performance was Train In The Distance. If I had to pick just one, I’d probably say The Last Resort as until last week I thought my only chance of hearing this song live would be an Eagles tribute band, so listening to Don sing it is much, much more special. It was incredible to think that the man standing and singing in front of me was there for just about everything the Eagles ever did as a band and during the sequence of The Last Resort, EOTI and HOTM I came close to welling up at the enormity of it all.
Overall: had a truly brilliant concert experience, we even managed to get out of the car park quickly after the show! Very happy to answer any questions about last night’s show. I’ll try to answer them as best I can!
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Originally Posted by Jonny Come Lately
I think getting Steuart to play acoustic guitar on it instead of having the keyboard worked a lot better. I felt it made more of an emotional connection than the original, Don sung it with feeling. (Don’t worry Stevie. I still love you!)
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