Don Henley at The Greek Theatre in Berkeley, CA (July 23, 2016)

[RudieCantFail]

My folks and I listened to the TEOTI album on the way there, and we got to the parking structure closest to the Theatre at 4:20 pm. Luckily, we were there early enough to get $15 10 hour parking, instead of $30 event parking. To pass the time, my folks and I walked through some of the stores on campus. After that, we walked back to the car and ate. Later, a truck backed up into our car and he tapped it. He was parked and got out of the car to ask a Q to the parking worker. After that, he decided to back in some more and I was so scared. My dad got his attention, and then, he pulled a little bit forward, apologized, and offered to pay for our parking. We declined b/c he was polite overall about it.

Anyways, fast forward to the gates opening at 7 pm. I bought two shirts for $35 a piece. One was blue with a guitar head on the back side and it said Don Henley Tour 2016. The other was black with Don's pic on it and the North American tour places on the back. Our seats were the 15th row up on the back benches. If you were looking at the stage, we were on the very far right side called section 1. It wasn't that bad from that high up, but I couldn't see Don in detail. Thankfully, I brought binoculars at the last minute, and I got to see Don much closer and in better detail. He was wearing the big white dress shirt where the arms aren't tight fitting at all with a dark gray vest. Later on he commented that it was getting cold and put on a red flannel. He didn't button it up. He also looked clean shaven.

Back track to the beginning of the concert:
It started off with the lights focusing on the different old-style, like probably 1950s era, radios. They played small excerpts of important people's speeches (FDR, JFK, MLK) and some songs from the 1950s. It could have had different time periods too, but I don't remember. It was mostly 1950s b/c I distinctly remember Elvis and Buddy Holly.

Then, Don, the backup singers, two guitarists (I think. I know one of them was Steuart.), and maybe some other people started harmonizing for Seven Bridges Road. Of course, everyone in the 15-piece band came up and people were clapping a lot. It was a great start, but people were clapping too much. I don't blame them though because I even did it accidentally. Yep, total clueless person here. They clapped a lot because everyone came up, but then they start singing and then it stops. Pretty much every time they don't sing, everyone starts clapping loudly. I have no clue if too much clapping always happens for 7BR.

After that, Don talks a lot about what we're going to expect in this concert. He mentions the 15-piece band and comments that it's not cheap or something like that. He has that many people because he's going to do a bunch of styles that he has done throughout his 40+ year career. He says that he doesn't like the word 'genre' b/c it's a fussy word. People do say 'Happy Birthday' to him around the area I was sitting, I think. He doesn't hear or acknowledge. Also, shouts of adoration are also heard. He also says that he has never played at this facility, and then he said, that's the wrong term to use. He corrected himself and said amphitheater. I think he said this at the beginning, but I'm not sure.

My memory of the setlist order is pretty bad, so I'm just going to copy and paste the list from Setlist.fm. FWIW can hopefully corroborate and/or correct it in their recollection of the events. If it doesn't match up, I'll edit my post.:
(Edited to match up w/ FWIW)

1. Seven Bridges Road
2. Dirty Laundry
3. That Old Flame
4. Sunset Grill
5. Witchy Woman
6. Words Can Break Your Heart
7. New York Minute
8. When I Stop Dreaming
9. One of These Nights
10. Shangri-La
11. Bramble Rose
12. It Don't Matter to the Sun
13. I Don't Want to Hear Anymore (the backup singers' song)
14. The End of the Innocence
15. The Last Resort
16. Train in the Distance
17. The Heart of the Matter
    [BAND INTROS]
18. How Bad Do You Want It?
19. Everybody Wants to Rule the World
20. Boys of Summer
    ENCORE 1
21. Life in the Fast Lane
22. Hotel California
    ENCORE 2
23. All She Wants to Do Is Dance
24. Desperado

Onwards to what I thought about the songs:
Woo! "Dirty Laundry!" Another great start after the long intro talk. I love how rockin' it is and it just energizes the crowd. Don said it was from 1986, but he sounded unsure, I think. I know it's 1984. EDIT: 1982, my bad. Unless he was referring to "Sunset Grill." I don't remember.

"Sunset Grill" comes on after "That Old Flame" (This is what the placement was originally in my post). I wasn't expecting it but I was pleasantly surprised. I like the song a lot because it has a mesmerizing quality of some sort.

I feel a little ashamed that I haven't listened to Cass County yet, but I liked the song choices Don picked for the concert. "That Old Flame" was upbeat with the drums and I liked the song. He introduced it saying that the Internet has a dark side. He goes on by saying that many people have claimed that their children were from him. My memory gets a little foggy and I think he said that it was only true once. I think he's referring to the one from the 70s, Brittany, I think? Someone shouts, "Sara!" I don't remember if Don said that the kid thing was true once before or after the shout. I thought it wasn't really nice that someone shouted Sara b/c I think it'd be a touchy subject. Don's probably over it since it happened like 30-40 years ago, and I don't think he directly responded to the shout. "Words Can Break Your Heart" touched me personally b/c it's relatable. The lyric about the sticks and stones and then the song title got me, man.

"Witchy Woman" was in between the CC songs, and I was like, "Man! Too bad that it got knocked off of Survivor." I started recording halfway through New York Minute sounded pretty good. (redacted)

I honestly forgot that he sang "When I Stop Dreaming." After some Googling, I remembered that he introduced it and said that it was a cover from the Louvin Brothers. I think he digresses about Texas, and he said to go Google that s--t. "One of These Nights" was groovy. I liked how high he went with it vocally b/c that falsetto towards the end of the song is what I'm looking forward to. Then, comes Shangri-La and I don't really care for it as much. But I did have some fun with it, dancing-wise and made my mom laugh. Don says that the song is just for fun.

"Bramble Rose" and "It Don't Matter to the Sun" come on, and to introduce the former he says that he did it w/ Miranda Lambert and Mick Jagger. He then quips, "An unlikely threesome, only not for Mick." Afterwards, some guy shouts, "Rock and Roll" repeatedly. Don had enough and replied with, "You'll get your Rock and Roll, sonny boy, just shut up and wait for it. It's all rock and roll, all of it." I love it when Don reasonably surly to those rabble rousers.

Don leaves and lets the backup singers sing, "I Don't Want to Hear Anymore." He says he's "going to get a smoke and a pancake."

I'll let FWIW give the details on the rest of the concert b/c it's 2 am right now in CA.

Final thoughts:
I'd also like to share more, before I call it a night. At some point in the concert, he did hear someone say "Happy Birthday" (Not during the intro talk). He said something to the effect like it's not my birthday or something jokingly dismissive like that. He was pretty much like, yeah, I don't really care for my birthday that much at this point. He said that he had barbeque and cake for his birthday, I think. I never shouted happy birthday and I'm glad that people did.

I hope that FWIW can share some Don-isms that I don't remember. I love his humorous quips in between songs. I don't mind that he has a no camera/phone policy b/c it fits his personality. I'm not saying that it's bad, but it adds to his sense of humor if that makes sense.

I thought that Don looked nice, and I felt a little bad for the backup singers. Don and the rest of the male band members get to wear longer clothes, but the girls wear short dresses/skirts and I think a romper. It was in the 60s when it got dark. I just thought it was funny/odd b/c how the girls dressed was mentioned in a previous 2016 Euro thread. I wouldn't have noticed if I didn't read that thread and if Don didn't put on the flannel.

I had a great time and other people did too. They were dancing in some areas b/c it was not sold out. My mom told me that she forgot how many good songs Henley had when we got home. Also, we left in the middle of Desperado b/c my folks wanted to avoid the potential exit mayhem. They don't like crowds, and they do this whenever we go to a sports event.