Convocation Center - Norfolk, VA 11-20-09

[Ive always been a dreamer]

Well folks, on a personal note, this show will always be memorable to me because I have finally managed to now see a solo concert for all four current Eagles. But, so much for me, here are my thoughts on the show …

We got to the venue around 8:15 because based on what I had read, quite honestly, I wasn’t that interested in hearing JD and the Straight Shot. We meandered around the lobby and chatted, and finally went down to the floor level about 8:45 before their last song. Chatted some more, and got to my seat just before Don took the stage. The seats were awesome as I mentioned in another thread. As short as I am, I had a perfect view the entire night even when standing. That being the case, I decided to give Don my undivided attention, and focused on him intently.

He changed the set list up a bit. The only covers he did were Everybody Wants To Rule the World and It Don’t Matter To the Sun (which he moved after LWE). As I had mentioned in other threads, I wasn’t jazzed about him doing so many covers in the first place, so I really wasn’t disappointed when he skipped over I Put a Spell On You and September Song, I was in hopes that we would get My Thanksgiving instead, but, it was not to be. I will say, he did do a beautiful rendition of It Don’t Matter To the Sun. Here is the set list:

One of These Nights
Everything Is Different Now
New York Minute
Everybody Knows
The End of the Innocence
Everybody Wants to Rule the World
The Last Worthless Evening
It Don’t Matter to the Sun
The Heart of the Matter
Dirty Laundry
The Boys of Summer
All She Wants To Do Is Dance
Life in the Fast Lane

Encore 1:

Hotel California
Desperado

Encore 2:

I Will Not Go Quietly
Please Come Home for Christmas

The highlights for me were New York Minute, Everybody Knows, The End of the Innocence, The Last Worthless Evening, The Heart of the Matter, I Will Not Go Quietly, and Please Come Home for Christmas. I love all of these songs, and had never heard any of them live so that’s what made them special for me.

When Don first spoke, his voice was extremely hoarse. My first thought was “good grief, his voice will never hold up through this show”. But, of course, I was wrong, and his voice actually got stronger as the night went on. I wonder how does he do that? lol A cute moment was that at the start of his first remark, somebody yelled “Don Henley” and he gave a little grin and said “yep, that’s my name”. He pretty much told the same stories that have been mentioned in the other reviews, so I won’t repeat them. There was one noteworthy moment though when he started into his remarks on politics, some guy immediately hollered several times “not the venue, not the venue”. Now, while I can appreciate that people don’t want to hear entertainers go on a political rant, in this case, I thought the guy acted like an extremely rude jerk. He started yelling before he even knew that Don was just going to tell a cute, funny joke. Don was very diplomatic – he just ignored him and continued with his story about the 1968 election between Nixon and Humphrey. However, in true Henley fashion, a few songs later, Don zinged the guy by saying something like “to the guy who was shouting ‘not the venue’ – I KNOW where I am”. This got a huge applause from the audience. Needless to say, nothing more was heard from the ‘jerk’ for the remainder of the evening. However, being that Norfolk is a huge military town, before Desperado, Don told a story about his father and uncle both serving in the military, and he dedicated the song to them and all the men and woman of the military who protect us. This garnered another huge round of applause.

Overall, I really enjoyed the show and Don Henley is an amazing singer – pure and simple. As far as the suit – no comment! However, I thought a lot of the audience just did not seem to be into the show on this evening. Many of the people around me appeared to be familiar with only the big hits, which surprised me since I thought I’d be surrounded by hardcores. However, I agree with those that said the first part of the show was a bit too slow. The energy level didn’t really seem to pick up until 2/3’s of the way through. Maybe Don was responding to the crowd, but I would have like to have seen him try to engage the audience a bit. I never saw him really smile or make any eye contact the entire night. But, I don’t want this criticism to sound negative – as I said before, the show very enjoyable. I am so glad I went and feel fortunate that I was able to finally see a Don solo show.