Don put on a great show to finish off 2016. Needless to say this year has been horrible, but I'm glad I was able to end it at a show.

He was much more "off script" than I've seen him before. He'd begin to tell a rehearsed story, then go off on a tangent or bring up something else entirely (sometimes inspired by people yelling stuff at him like "YOU DA MAN", sometimes inspired by real life events). I really loved that; it made it seem more intimate.

His voice failed him a time or two, but the upside of that was that he just tried that much harder, throwing himself into it. Most of the time, he sounded great. I noticed a couple times he was shaking a bit (very slight - only someone who was watching him like a hawk would notice). I wondered if he were a bit under the weather; ETG thought he might just be emotional. (By the way, shout out to ETG and her family - great meeting you guys!)

He was wearing his gray vest and white top, looking very smart. The background singers were all dressed in black and wearing dramatic makeup. They definitely looked a lot older than they did the last time I saw them, when they were still sporting baby doll dresses. I think it's a good thing.

His massive band included all the regulars and then some! There seemed to be some audio foibles at the beginning - probably the fault of the venue - but as the show progressed, that stopped happening.

The crowd was good in that they were listening and there weren't a lot of drunk/high people making a racket as I had feared; however, when it came to getting up and dancing at the end, forget it! I tried a few times but gave up after a verse or two when no one around me joined me.

The setlist was a bit shorter than usual, but not by much. He played for about two and a half hours. Compared to recent shows, we didn't get "It Don't Matter to the Sun," "I Don't Want to Hear Any More," and "Train in the Distance." (Apparently Don forgot for a moment he wasn't going to do all of these, because he said "We're going to do a few acoustic songs now" and then only did one, lol.) However, we DID get "The Last Worthless Evening" which had been cut from other shows.

Happy surprise: I really dislike "Shangri-La" on the album, but seeing it live... I enjoyed it.

Biggest disappointment: No "Funky New Year." I can't say I'm surprised, but I had allowed myself to get my hopes up. Oh well.

Highlights: The powerful opening song "Seven Bridges Road"; the interesting history and the dramatic presentation of "The Last Resort" (although the song itself isn't a favorite): his nailing of the "Witchy Woman" vocals; the passionate deliveries of "Best of My Love", "The End of the Innocence", and "Heart of the Matter" (although honestly I could list many more songs here - as I said earlier, he was really throwing himself into it).

He alluded to Glenn a few times, sometimes subtly (about how it's been a hard year, and after NYM about how more than ever he feels the truth of that song), and sometimes by name when introducing a co-write like BOML or "Desperado." Glenn's name brought a huge round of applause, of course.

Almost all of his introductions contained a funny moment and some were funny throughout. Don has great comedic timing. The two that made me laugh the most:

- As I referred to earlier, some guy yelled out "YOU DA MAN" and then Don replied with "No, YOU the man; we are the men." He then riffed off of this for a couple minutes, making jokes like "He comes to every show" and ending with, "Stay thirsty, my friend." SO. FUNNY.

- When introducing "That Old Flame," he was talking about people finding you from your past and he joked about how sometimes you might found out that you owe people money... or find out you have a baby (LOL).

Overall, it was a very special experience and I'm so glad I went.