This was the second time I've seen Dan at this venue. It's a great one. The views on the drive up to the site are beautiful, as is the place itself. I apologize that I've only skimmed a couple of other reviews so I may duplicate what you already know. AND it's more my style to personalize things so my review may be a little odd.
The moments that moved me most:
My belly: I had a great belly laugh when Dan, at one point, acted like he was coughing up phlem and was going to spit it into his cup. It was sooo funny to me. I love the mix of reverence and irreverence in him.
My heart: Well, a lot of any Dan concert moves my heart but I was most moved tonight by 'Don't Lose Heart', which I 'heard' tonight differently than I ever have before.
Most moving song: The Christmas Morn song from his upcoming Christmas album. I just loved it. Every cell in me got still. I already know this album will be the gift I give most this Christmas (sorry, not the boxed set!).
And I ALWAYS love when he does the blues. He is such an incredible artist!
He called his guitars his 'wooden friends'...this touched me AND I related. I'm pretty new to guitar playing and after a couple of weeks I literally cried one night with gratitude...feeling like I'd finally found a 'friend' whom I could say ANYTHING to....whether happy or sad or manic or angry or WHATEVER...my guitar can handle ALL of me! YEAH!
Best Audience: Other than one woman who snuck in a camera and snapped a flash pic the audience was great. Very still...present. I liked that I was next to a cowboy and his wife and got to silently witness how much they each liked Dan's music and would look at each other sometimes when a song they especially liked began.
Also impressive was: I was blessed to be walking across the courtyard to check out the merchandise when a long stretch limo pulled up, stopping no more than 4 feet from where I was. Out comes Dan in a BEAUTIFUL purple jacket and some other guy I didn't know and NOT ONE fan attempted to make contact as he walked down the stairs. THAT moved me. The respect of it. Two women were near me and one said, very quietly...twice, "Oh, what a GREAT birthday present."
I love the 'energy field' in most of Dan's
concerts (I DO remember a hellish one in Gainesville, Florida
years ago. Rudest audience I've ever experienced in any concert
I've ever been to.)
I was moved by Dan's talking about love. I wish I could remember
all he said but it was something on the order of treating or
seeing love as A PROCESS rather than....I don't remember the
words....oh, somebody else who was there help me. I know what he
said, in essence, but I'm not getting the words just now. (What
got him going on this was talking about the book 'Still Life with
Woodpecker', before singing Make Love Stay.
I was also moved when he spoke of going to Maine soon and that it
was his 'lollipop' after 'hours and hours in dark rooms with loud
music'. Yeah. Good on you Dan.
I've heard his voice in better shape, though after the first
couple of songs he seemed to drop in. He has such range.
I wish he'd sing 'Sand and the Foam' sometime (I won't hold my
breath).
When he was at the piano his silhouette was on the wall behind
him and I found myself watching it instead of him. I liked it.
When he came out for the encore he had put the purple jacket on
that he'd arrived in and, because of it's high collar his
silhouette made him kinda look like he stepped out of the movie
'Grease'. Cute.
He told the story of a little girl being with her Mom at a
concert recently, right in front of him. The little girl was
lounging on her Mom and looked right at him and said "Aren't
you getting tired?" Or something on that order. That touched
me too.
Well, I'd say he's tired. Tired but 'clearer' and more 'in
himself' somehow than I've ever experienced him (my first concert
was about 20 years ago at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta.) He is
definitely with the audience in a way I have not seen before. I'm
glad he's 'clean'.
Lastly, I notice how I prefer to go to Dan's concerts alone. I
like being reflective before, during, and after. I always make it
an event. I usually listen to him on the way (today I listened to
an old radio interview from the High Country Snows days). Then on
the way home I listen to nothing and simply reflect and reminisce
about all the depth Dan's music has brought into my life through
the years. It's nice to remember like that.
Well having just driven all the way back to the heart of Big Sur
country it is very, very late and I'm tired myself.
Thanks Dan, as always. Blessings to all.
P.S. A couple of fans have given me responses I
felt you might like to hear:
The comment from the little girl was from his Woodland Park Zoo
concert that I was happy to attend. It was rather funny and
totally innocent on the girls part. He laughed and commented on
it to the entire audience as 'the most intelligent remark that's
been made at a show in the last 10 years.' Mark
Markando68@aol.com
and...
In response to your question about Dan's comments regarding love
during the Tuesday night Historic Mountain Winery concert, he
stated that he wished more people would view love as a process
rather than some pie-in-the-sky ideal. Also, I too watched the
silhouette of him behind the stage. It made for a very ethereal
mood. Thanks.
Dan K. djk@gotnet.net
Here are my recollections to add to Dorothy's
of Danny's wonderful concert this past Tues. night:
Set List - Dan Fogelberg, Hst. Mtn. Winery, Saratoga, CA.,
7/27/99
1. Nexus (beautiful (acoustic 12-string, I
think) guitar solo - sounded like little harps at one point -
breath-taking!)
2. Captured Angel
3. Forefathers (He prefaced this by talking about his 105-yr. old
maternal grandmother & how she tells stories about her family
& who's going to question her recollections?! When the
audience applauded at one point, he said "thank you. I have
a lot to do with the fact that she's 105…" )
4. To the Morning (at the piano - which was directly opposite me,
facing me as we were sitting on the stage-left side of the stage,
on the side, just a couple rows up - I know he couldn't see me
because of the lights, but I could see him very clearly - what a
hunk!) - he said this was the first song he wrote that made him
feel like MAYBE he could make a living doing this. He plays &
sings so beautifully! He was getting over a cold, so couldn't
reach all the high notes, but did pretty good on the "Maybes
on the "maybe there are seasons & maybe they
change" part of the chorus.
5. Don't Lose Heart (also at piano) - gorgeous! First time I have
heard it live! (He made some kind of a joke about "folk
rock" & said "that's 'folk rock'" and that his
"girlfriend" told him to be sure to enunciate it
clearly if he told that joke.)
6. Make Love Stay (see review for what he said about that - she
got it pretty close & I can't remember anything else, except
that when he was done with his thoughts on love, someone in the
audience said something & he said "I thought that was
very poignant" & THAT was when he did that thing with
the phlegm she talks about.)
7. Great Blues - "Road Beneath My Wheels"? He should
put out a blues album!
8. The Reach (the song about going to Maine - his
"lollipop" after the tour is over.)
9. He next did a Spanish flavored instrumental, which he said he
wrote in a town near Baja, CA. He said there was not a story
about it - he just drove into town, had lunch & left. A
couple people applauded when he mentioned the name of the town,
which I cannot remember, and he said, "the Chamber of
Commerce is here - both of them." Then he said that actually
the lunch was not even that good. He said that maybe he could
make up a story about how he came to write it in Baja - after
all, he hears that Neil Young has been doing "Down By the
River" in his shows (& here he did a high falsetto
imitation of Neil singing the first few words of the chorus)
& introducing it by saying 'this is a song about when I
killed my girlfriend'. Then he did the instrumental - a very
pretty piece.
10. 2nd instrumental - A Brazilian (Danny's description) take on
"Eleanor Rigby"
11. 3rd instrumental - written when he was "in college
coming off " (pause & someone in the audience said 'the
freeway' & he laughed & said "yeah, the
freeway", but we all knew what he meant. This one was called
"Full Moon Mansion". It may have been at this point
that he said that it used to be that he'd look out in the
audience & see 'joints' being lit, now he looks out &
sees eyeglasses. The whole audience laughed quite a lot at that
one. Later, after one of his older songs, he said that he thought
he "smelled glasses burning" during that song &
everyone laughed warmly again.
12. The First Christmas Morning - his new Christmas song. He said
it is NOT your typical Christmas "pop music" album as
he has been working on it for two yrs. & researching &
discovering old, ancient, beautiful songs from England &
Europe, some going back centuries, often in the Baroque style
& he's recorded many or those for the album & he's
written 7 new ones in similar styles. He put a small Christmas
tree, complete with lights, on top of the piano & hung a
stocking on the piano. He said that it might seem weird to be
doing a Christmas song in July in CA, then, because it was pretty
cold up there in the Saratoga Hills on Tues. night, he said,
though' "tonight, there could be snow". After the song
was over, "Tom," who tunes his guitars & another
guy came on stage to "strike the set " - one took the
tree & the other took the stocking & the audience
laughed. Then Danny picked up a small white horse from the floor
near the piano (the side away from the audience, but Diane could
see it) & put it on the piano, which cracked up the audience,
and he did:
13. Run for the Roses (with an intro of "My Old Kentucky
Home" )
14. Morning Sky (rousing version!)
15. Leader of the Band - very touching, as usual.
16. Part of the Plan
17. (Encore - ) Same Old Lang Syne ("met my old lover at the
grocery store…")
It was wonderful! And I haven't seen him that close up since I
first saw him, with a friend who was also attending the
University of IL. in a small coffee house in Champagne-Urbana,
for FREE. Just him & his guitar & possibly keyboards or a
spinet piano. He didn't have an album out yet, as it was 1968 or
1969. There was something VERY special about him & my friend
& I both knew it, even though' we were also only 18 or 19.
Many the songs he did that night turned up on his first two,
maybe three, albums!
Tues. night was a special, magical night that I will always
remember!
Just caught both of Dan's shows at the Historic
Mountain Winery in Saratoga. I've been attending his concerts
since way back in 1975 when he toured with a group called
"Fools Gold", and was glad to have the opportunity to
see him at such a beautiful, although very chilly, mountaintop
venue as this winery.
Same set lists for both shows. As stated by a reviewer of the
Tuesday night show, Dan seemed very comfortable and talkative.
This was especially true of Wednesday's show when he was coaxed
by the audience into climbing on top of the speakers at sidestage
so he could see the huge orange moon rising over the East Bay.
"That's just a spotlight", he joked. A lot of nice
interplay with the audience. When someone yelled "...end of
October" he quickly responded that because of the cold
weather "it sure feels like the end of October".
Some of the night's highlights for me were "Captured
Angel", "To The Morning", and "Don't Lose
Heart". I would have preferred a couple more oldies (i.e.
"The Last Nail", "Beggar's Game", or
"Old Tennessee") instead of his two flamenco-style
guitar numbers, one of which was "Eleanor Rigby".
Interesting, but not what most people came to see or hear.
A reviewer of the Tuesday night concert noted that she was glad
no one approached Dan when he exited the limo before the show. I
too was right next to that limo on Tuesday night when Dan exited
and then stated "Buy more T-shirts, buy more
T-shirts!". However, unlike that fan, I wish I had mustered
up the courage to at least shake his hand; I really don't think
he would have been offended or cared. He seemed to be in a great
mood. That's the closest I've gotten to him in 24 years!
These two shows were similar in content to the acoustic set that
I saw him perform in Berkeley in 1988. He opened with
"Nexus", and performed many familiar favorites like
"Forefathers", "Make Love Stay",
"Morning Sky", "Leader Of The Band",
"Run For The Roses", etc. Like I stated earlier, two or
three more oldies would have been great.
Overall, a very good show which ran just under two hours. I look
forward to seeing him again soon-- hopefully with his full band.
Although I did buy a mug, "next time", I'll be sure to
buy a T-shirt.
Dan Kossick
I am so peaceful right now. I had the great
privilege of seeing both of Dan's concerts at the Historic
Mountain Winery in Saratoga this week. I've kind of lost count,
but I think this makes 10 or 11 times that I have seen Dan
perform, and 5 of those times have been during the solo acoustic
tours of 1997-1999. Each one has been unique and provides me with
some very special memories.
For those of you who are not familiar with this area, Saratoga is
a suburban community just outside the metropolitan area of San
Jose. It's a fairly wealthy community, and much of it is nestled
in and among some very beautiful hillsides and mountains. The
Winery itself is an absolutely charming complex that sits high in
the hills above the city, and the view (particularly at night) is
just spectacular. The outdoor concert venue is fairly intimate,
seating (and I'm estimating here) about 1200 or so people. The
seating arrangement allows for many people to be very close to
the stage area (Dan commented at one point that he wasn't used to
people being so close to him, and he was glad that he had
showered!). In short, it is an absolutely perfect setting for the
heartfelt and soulful presentation that Dan gives in his solo
acoustic shows.
I know that many of you out there are suffering with an intense
and deadly heatwave. We here in California are so fortunate to
not have that particular problem to deal with. In fact, once the
sun went down, it was downright cold up in the mountains. You
could see your breath, and Dan commented several times about how
chilly it was. Most people were wearing coats or were wrapped up
in blankets; Dan asked if he could have one at one point! He
never took his jacket off (as he customarily does after 3 or 4
numbers), and he came out in a purple ski jacket for his encores!
He still wore his sandals, though; wonder if his ankles were
cold?!!?
It seems to me that Dan justs gets more and more comfortable with
the audience with every show that he does. The first few times I
saw him, he seemed very detached from the people. He may very
well still have some nights when he remains more distant than
others but, in general, he appears to me to be so much more
relaxed and connected with the people. Many people feel compelled
to yell things out to him while he's on stage - some of these
things are just expressions of gratitude by fans, and some of
them could be considered heckling. Dan takes it all in stride,
something that I'm sure comes after years of performing
experience. His candid and spontaneous responses to these
comments are so interesting to watch, and give us some insight as
to who the man behind the music really is.
Now for the set list (which was identical both nights):
Nexus
Captured Angel
Forefathers
To the Morning
Don't Lose Heart
Make Love Stay
Road Beneath My Wheels
The Reach
Todos Santos
Eleanor Rigby
Full Moon Mansion
The First Christmas Morning
Run for the Roses
Morning Sky
Leader of the Band
Part of the Plan
Same Auld Lang Syne
Amazing guitar playing. Some new twists on old songs. A few funny
new bits (most of which have been described in other reviews).
Solid vocals. Great, clear sound system. A seemingly genuine
appreciation for the fans and their attentiveness.
I'm in my typical post-concert "crash" right now - that
sinking feeling that comes with the realization that it may be
some time before I have the opportunity to see him perform again.
I wish I understood why this man's music means so much to me, but
I really can't explain it. All I know is that it has become a
truly important and inspirational part of my life, and I thank
him for sharing his gifts with us.
Diane
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This page was last updated Tuesday, March 21, 2000