Coronado Theatre Rockford, Illinois
June 23, 2002
We have seen Dan in concert many times over the years. This was definitely one of the best shows he has done. The Coronado Theater is a beautiful, ornate, venue with awesome acoustics. The sound was flawless. Dan took stage at 8:15 and finished at 10:30. He omitted "Old Tennessee" and "Missing You," but still played over 2 hours. His voice was as good as ever, showing that he can still get difficult high notes, but his rendition of the Muddy Waters song demonstrated what a great "blues" voice he has. The band was great and Dan allowed the band members to show their talent. Mark Andes sang an old Firefall song. Joe Vitale was as good as ever on drums (and flute). Robert Mcyntee plated electric, acoustic, and bass guitar, keyboards, and harmonica. The guitar work by Dan and the band was fantastic and really enjoyable to see and hear. Our groups favorites were songs that Dan doesn't often play in concert..."To The Morning" was haunting and beautiful as echoed by other reviews. "Empty Cages" was our other favorite. Dan readily gets recognition for ballads, but personally I think that he is underestimated for his "rock ballad" / more electric music. We seem to always catch him around the full moon (6/24/02), (and one time he played an acoustic song he called "Ode To The Full Moon). After the show we sat on our deck at home and talked about the concert, under a bright moon. What a great night.
-Chuck Brackett,
Rockford, ILPS... A couple of other thoughts you can paste in if you use my review:
What made this concert so good was the combination of a great band and it being obvious that Dan enjoyed playing. He joked with the crowd throughout the show. It was easy to see that the audience was as pleasing to him as he was to us. We could see Dan and the band members hug and congratulate each other side stage prior to the encores.
Dan and the boys put on a MAGNIFICENT show here last night @ the Coronado Theater, a beautiful art deco movie house in Rockford. After refering to Rockford as "roquefort" and saying he loved our cheese he launched into a tight set full of highlights. There was the bluesy/country intro to "Changing Horses," the most soulful rendition of "Same Old Lang Syne" I've ever heard, and "Strange Way" just blew me away!!! Dan was in great spirits and spoke often to the crowd. He gave very detailed intros of each band member, which I thought was very classy. He stumbled on a couple of lyrics, but that did not dampen the enthusiasm of the crowd. Mrs. F was absent from this performance, and DF did wear boots for you shoe enthusiasts. I was most impressed with Joe Vitale on drums. Was familiar with his work before, but after "strange Way" when he balanced drums, flute, and playing along with backing tracks I had to stand! What a great band, what a great show, and hearing "Empty Cages" live was the topper.**** show if ever there was one.
Steve B.
