So, we headed out for our Dan Fogelberg Weekend
on Saturday morning. In Olympia, WA it was a dreary, rainy, yucky
day. Even though it does rain a lot here, that isn't typical for
July. As we got into Portland, it was partly cloudy and just
sprinkling, I was so thrilled!
We checked intor our hotel and headed to the Winery. We were
staying in Wilsonville, OR (which is about 15 minutes south of
Portland) and we decided to drive the country roads to Dundee,
OR. I am so glad we did that, if any of you ever have the
opportunity to go the Willamette Valley, do it. It is so
beautiful through there.
We got to the Winery around 6:30pm and the concert started at
7:00pm. I know, I know, we weren't early and didn't get the
*best* seats, but we got there. The weather at the winery was
only partly cloudy and you could see the sun, I was told it
hadn't rained there all day. We got our stuff set up and we were
sitting right next to a speaker so we could hear him well.
His opening act Brenda Hickey came on stage around 7:00pm and was
very good. Better than I expected. If I had to compare her voice
and style to someone's, I would compare her to Amanda Marshall.
If no one here has heard her, she is great and you should try to
pick up her album.
After Brenda Hickey was done, they told us that Dan would be on
in about 15 minutes (it was more like 45 minutes) and apologized
for the problems with the food booths. They had gotten a new
vendor and they only had two booths set up for 3,000 people. The
lines were ridiculous and they started running out of food by the
time Dan got on stage.
Dan came on stage around 8:20ish. HE looked great in a white
shirt, jeans and sandels. He sat down in a wood chair (I think he
must take that everywhere with him). The first song he did was -
Nexus:
Beautiful as usual, a great opener. The one thing that has been
stated before that I noticed was his voice. It sounded like he
had a little bit of a cold or wasn't quite warmed up yet. He got
better as the night progressed. After the song he said that it
was just him tonight, that he forgot his band behind the couch
(cute)!
Hard to Say:
Great as always!
Old Tennessee:
So thrilled to hear this, last time I saw him he played the Last
Nail from Captured Angel, but this is another of my favorites off
of that album. Great!
Forefathers:
He said that this was about his ancestors, his mother, him, his
grandparents, etc. And that to his knowledge it all was true
according to his Grandma. Again, thrilled to hear this, my
favorite off of the Wild Places.
In between songs, he saw someone on the side stage and said
"Hey, aren't you that guy from the Big Chill?" He then
introduced us to Kevin Kline. I believe and was told that he is
building a house in the Willamette Valley.
To the Morning: He moved to the Piano to play this and said that
this was the first song he had ever wrote that he thought
"Hey, maybe I can be a musician." He said that all of
this songs before this one had really sucked! He did a great job,
I love him on the piano.
Don't Lose Heart: Stayed on the Piano and said that he was going
to do a fairly new song that was created and ended up on his 4 cd
set Portrait. He was funny, this was the first of many pushes to
get us to buy it. Saying that it makes a great gift, etc. Did a
good job on the song.
Make Love Stay: Went back to his guitar and said that this is one
of the few songs that has the word exhumed in it and had us watch
for it. When he got to that part everyone cheered!
Believe in Me: Beautiful, I was glad I got to
hear this one. At this point he said that this was off of Windows
& Walls, couldn't quite remember what year that was from.
Road Beneath my Wheels: Right before he did that, he did a little
bit of Bluesy guitar work. Did a good job with this, the crowd
liked it!
Now, after this he talked about the Portrait CD he did and the
new Christmas CD that is coming out in the end of October. Kept
pushing the Portrait CD (very funny) and said it would make a
great stocking stuffer. He did about 4 songs from his new
christmas cd (just parts of them) and they were all beautiful.
Instrumental, but beautiful.
The Reach: Talked about the coast of Maine briefly. He said that
this is where he was going after the tour! Again, beautiful, one
of my favorites off of the Innocent Age.
Todos Santos: Beautiful, beautiful. I haven't listened to Twin
Sons, I will now. He said that this was a little town off of
California, said that he wished he has some great story about
this song, but he doesn't. He just drove through and had lunch
and the lunch wasn't that good, but he did get the name for this
song.
Eleanor Rigby - Instrumental - He said that he always does a
Beatles song in his sets. That his father who was a band leader
had always included one person's (his favorite) song in his
performance and he did the same. The beatles are his favorite
group! He also said that it had a Brazilian take to it and he
wanted to rename it the "The Little Old Lady from
Ipanema"
Run for the Roses: Went to the piano and played this beautifully!
Morning Sky: Came back to the guitar and went into Morning Sky,
great song and great guitar work.
Leader of the Band: Got the crowd going even more with this one,
again done beautifully.
Part of the Plan: Started off by saying he had a great night! I
love the way he does this live, with the lights and with the way
he starts off, great, great!
Encore:
Same Old Lang Syne: Came back out for one more song and did this.
Obviously one of the crowd's favorites. I am still undecided if I
like the way he does this live over the recording. I can't quite
describe it, but the way he sings the chorus is different and I
don't know if I like that more.
What else can I say?? It was a great day and we would go on the
next day to see him in Seattle. The crowd was much different
there, there were more people there that just liked his pop hits,
not all of his songs. He included Longer in his set and got rid
of Old Tennessee, Believe in Me and the Christmas Songs. I
enjoyed the Winery a lot more. At one point he commented that it
was beautiful country there and that if it wasn't for the Rocky
Mountains he might be here with us! Also, one thing I had
forgotten to say was that he was actually quite cold. He was
saying that he needed heaters up on stage with him!
I did get a shirt (the black one) and a keychain. The had 3
shirts, a hat and a the keychains. I will describe them briefly
for you:
White Shirt: This was a white shirt with his name in black on the
front and a mountain range that was in purplish - bluish colors
(guessing it was the rocky mountains) and on the back were the
cities/states of his 1999 concert schedule. $25.00
Black Shirt: This black shirt had a picture of him (in black and
white) with his guitar and his name and 1999 with a circle around
it in a rust color. On the back were the concert cities/states
for 1999. $25.00
Denim Shirt: Long sleeve blue denim shirt with his name
embrodiered on the left chest. $50.00
Hat: I believe this was denim and had the same embrodiery as the
denim shirt. Not sure how much it was.
Keychain: This is the copper colored keychain from the Portrait
Tour. $5.00.
:) Melody
The show in Salem was great. He was in a much
better mood than two years ago when Salem was the last stop on
the tour. The set list was much the same as the night before in
Medford minus Captured Angels and Ilinoise.Seeing him solo is the
only way to go. It just does'nt get any more raw than that. The
only beef I have with the show is the set list was almost the
same as it was two years ago at the same venue. (minus a couple
of songs) Almost in the same order also. I hope it was just an
oversite on his part. Maybe next time he'll mix it up a bit.
Anyway great show and I'll be back next time for sure, hopefully
it will be another solo show.
Michael
Bannon
I don't know how many of you read the fan forum, but I started
the Countdown thread, I basically stated that there wasn't
anything that would stop me from attending the concert in
Portland Or. Of course of all the things I could think of to
happen, didn't. What did never would have crossed my mind, and
that was my teenagers running away! We had planned to leave 10:30
am for the concert, from northern Wa. Instead I was calling the
police to report runaways. We waited and waited for the police to
arrive. They didn't come. The kids showed up at the house at
12:30 assuming we would be gone. What a surprise they got. We
worked things out, I was a little desperate. I did not want to
miss the concert. We were to take my 5 year old son to grandmas,
but he wouldn't stay with her because he was afraid we wouldn't
come back. Well I wasn't going to miss the concert we took him
with us. He was pretty good though. It is almost a 5 hr drive
from where I live. A little extra pressure to the pedal and we
made it in 4.25 hrs.
I was so stressed until I started to see the beautiful country
side. We took the back road there. Then I started to get excited.
It really was going to happen!! We arrived at 6:45. We had to sit
left of the stage, there were some trees there, but we were able
to sit to the right of them, Had a good view of Dan's chair, but
not the piano. We were close to the fence, lo and behold a limo
drove up along the other side of the fence. Dan got out, followed
by a pretty blonde woman. That was the first time I had ever seen
Dan off of the stage. It was great! Melody did a great job with
her review of the concert. I didn't think the sound system was
that great from where we sat, I missed a lot of his jokes and
stories, but caught on when I was at the Seattle concert. Great
sound system there. It really touched my heart when Dan sang
"Don't lose heart" . As the night wore on, the winery
may have ran out of food, but not wine and the crowd loosened up.
When Dan sang "Part of the Plan" People got up front to
dance. Then people got up to the side of us to dance. They were
having a great time. It was fun. Definitely a different
atmosphere than Seattles concert.
Part of the proceeds from the concert went to Trout Aid. To help
the endangered fish of the Oregon rivers and lakes.
Over all I enjoyed Portlands concert the best. Thank you Dan for
coming the Pacific Northwest!!
Sharin
Good show from Dan with old favorites (To the Morning &
Old Tennesse) along with the new Xmas instrumental stuff (if you
like "Old English" lute style tunes...you'll love this
with Dan's interpretation!) He appeared to be a bit tipsy during
the show, evidenced by the comment "Just you never mind
what's in the mug!" Then, again. weren't we all-what with
the Sokol Blossor wine & Full Sail Ales flowing.
He flubbed a few lyrics, and missed a few notes here & there.
But, as always, he played the songs that bring back our misty
memories & allow us to sing along with a wonderful musician
who has helped us create memories for quite a few years. Keep it
up, Dan!
I have to admit I missed my favorite song, "The Wild
Places", but realize his preference to perform it with
electric instruments. The Reach made up for it, though with the
rhythmic guitar echoing the waves of the Atlantic! Well worth the
trip from Arizona to catch him perfoming in an outdoor setting.
Considering it was the 1st show in a summer series to raise $
& awareness for Oregon Trout streams, I'm surprised Dan
didn't do a few of his many environmentally themed songs!
If you have a review to submit, please e-mail it to Wynn.
This page was last updated Tuesday, March 21, 2000