Just got in from Dan's Las Vegas show. The play list was about the same as everywhere else, with minor changes:
Nexus
Captured Angel
Old Tennessee
Forefathers
To the Morning
Don't Lose Heart
Make Love Stay
Road Beneath My Wheels
The Reach
Todos Santos
Eleanor Rigby
Old instrumental song; said it was the first song he ever wrote, at age 17
The First Christmas Morning
Run for the Roses
Morning Sky
Longer
Leader of the Band
Part of the Plan
Encore - Auld Lang Syne
I like Dan more and more every time I see him.
He's really letting his personality, and especially his sense of
humor, show. I wondered for years whether Dan the person was as
awesome as his lyrics, and I've learned over the last few years
that he is.
Some of his jokes were the same as others wrote, but some were
unique to Las Vegas. He mentioned that he had just come here from
the beautiful Napa Valley - what a culture shock! He said "I
went from the cabernet to the cabaret!" The audience
laughed, and he said "Thanks for laughing; it took me all
day to make that one up!"
Later, some fans were screaming for him to play Netherlands. Dan
said "No, I don't sing Netherlands any more. I can't even
THINK in that key! You might be able to get Michael Jackson on
helium to sing it!"
He played a few more songs, and then introduced a song that he'd
written, as Dan described it, "Many, many, many, many, many,
many, many, many, many years ago; when I was about 17, and a
student at the University of Illinois". A few fans cheered
when he mentioned the school, and Dan said "Ah, the alumni
association is here. You're still not getting any money!"
Everyone laughed, and Dan told us "They kicked me out of
school, and then they sent me a letter looking for money! Yeah,
right here!"
Dan talked about his new, upcoming Christmas CD. He described it
as "renaissance and medieval baroque", and said he
wrote 7 new songs, but no "blue, blue, blue" (in Bing
Crosby's voice) songs. Then he said that he found it
"somewhat perverse to be playing Christmas music in
104-degree Las Vegas", and he said he "thought it would
be hard for (us) to get in the mood, so I brought along some
props." He went to the back side of the piano and pulled out
a little Christmas tree, and placed it on the piano. Everyone
laughed, and then he went back and brought out a Christmas
stocking, which he hung on the side of the piano. He sat down at
the piano, said "It needs more", pointed to the
Christmas tree, and the tree lit up. Finally, he introduced the
new piece, called The First Christmas Morning. He seemed
apologetic to be playing the piece, but I thought it was
beautiful. Different from what he's done in the past, yes; that's
why we love him. He hasn't written 100 identical songs whose only
difference is the title.
Personally, I want to hear Dan sing lesser-known songs; Crow, The
Last Nail, Sketches, Our Last Farewell, Tell Me to My Face, etc.
Although I think Dan is awesome, and I would go see him under any
circumstances, no matter which songs he plays, I just don't need
to hear Longer any longer. I realize there are many people in the
audience who only know the songs that made the Top 20, but
please, Dan, help out those of us who come to every tour you do!
And maybe some of those fans will go out and buy Exiles or
Windows and Walls and become die-hard fans, too! Better late than
never!
Well, there's ten-cents' worth of my two cents. I'm driving to LA
tomorrow to see Dan play at the Greek. I have a seat in the
orchestra pit. I've never been to the Greek, so I'm not sure if
I'm the luckiest person in the world, or I'll have even Dan's
pity.
To everyone who hasn't seen Dan yet - don't miss it!
We drove from Tempe, AZ to see Dan at Hard Rock
and it was so worth it! I never thought I'd watch a large video
screen more than the stage, but to see the closeups of his
playing and facial expressions was great. I hope they show part
of the concert on VH1 (Hard Rock Live) someday. Let's request it!
As Bev's review says, Dan told more unscripted jokes than usual
and seemed loose and in a good mood. He made a lot more mistakes
than I've seen before, so he probably wasn't too happy with the
show, being the perfectionist that he is. Some songs were
excellent - Make Love Stay, for instance. I was disappointed not
to hear Believe in Me, since it's one of my favorites and I knew
he was playing it at other stops, but we got the Christmas song
instead. Very pretty; get ready to buy the album this fall!
He started out shakily. Nexus is ordinarily a shining few moments
for Dan, but he seemed to be very high-strung. His kept moving
his left leg back and forth sideways, not up and down as is
characteristic for him. And he seemed to be skipping bars,
rushing into the chorus. Then on Old Tennessee, two songs later
he sang the third verse as the second verse (I think - I might
have spaced it and just missed the second verse) and then
repeated the third verse again! He laughed afterwards and instead
of just covering, admitted what he'd done, and said "When we
were recording I thought it would be stupid to repeat the third
verse twice, so we cut it out, but I extended the song and did
the unedited version just for you!" Later when he was
sweating about something else, he said, "If you don't think
you're getting your entertainment dollars tonight, you're sadly
mistaken!" Another insight to his personality was when he
was getting ready to do the Christmas song. He said singing a
Christmas song in Vegas in July when it's 104 degrees was
something that he couldn't resist doing - it appealed to his
sense of humor.
He wore his jeans, sandals, and a dark jacket until after the
first piano set, then took off the jacket and had on a
multi-shaded purple shirt, probably silk or rayon, it was thin
and had a subtle sheen. So there you go. Enjoy the rest of the
tour everyone! I hope you get to hear him play.
PS -- Here are a few other interesting things I remembered looking at the LA reviews. There was no opening act at Hard Rock - not sure why. I never saw the Tshirts for sale, but I didn't go searching either. Dan started and stopped more than once on a couple of songs before he got into them. Maybe the cameras taping made him a little nervous or he just had an off night. He seemed to have a good attitude about it, though. We've been to eight of his concerts in the last several years and he was more natural with his interaction with the audience than I've ever seen him. Someone yelled, "You the man! You the man!" while Dan was talking to the guy who tunes his guitars, and Dan deadpanned like he hadn't heard, "Now what? Sorry. We were having a technical meeting". I should have taken periodic notes so I could tell you the rest of his off the cuff comments, but I wasn't prepared. Next time!
If you have a review to submit, please e-mail it to Wynn.
This page was last updated Tuesday, March 21, 2000