‘From here’ singer escapes nostalgia-act label with freshness and a few surprises

June 18, 2002

By SCOTT HILYARD
Journal Star critic

PEORIA - Maybe it’s more of a treat because he doesn’t perform in his hometown that often.

Maybe, at age 50, he’s reconciled his memories of growing up in a city he never really flat-out disparaged but from which he eagerly fled when he graduated high school.

Maybe he just gets energized when he’s this close to the Illinois River.

Whatever the reason, Dan Fogelberg may have waited a couple of songs into last night’s concert at the Civic Center Theater to distinguish it from one in Fort Worth, Biloxi, Miss. or Portsmouth, Va., but with his mother in the audience and his late father on his mind, the homegrown singer delivered a solid, comfortable show that was distinctly autobiographical in the songs he sang and in the stories he told.

There’s little need to tell a Fort Worth audience the story of his ill-advised and beer-

fueled swim across the Illinois River when he was a teen-ager. But in Peoria, it kills.

"I’m from here," he shouted midway through the sold-out performance. "This is the only place I can say that. I’m from here."

The crowd cheered.

With measured doses of music from every stage of his 30-year career - and some surprising turns - Fogelberg combined three shows in one with an acoustic set with his band, a solo run through his biggest hits on piano and guitar, and a plugged-in section to close the show that included - surprise - Robert Johnson’s "Walkin’ Blues," Muddy Waters’ "Blow Wind Blow" and a flute solo from longtime bandmate and more commonly his drummer, Joe Vitale.

He didn’t overlook the hits. He opened with a late-era song, the acoustically bouncy "Magic Every Moment," followed by "Heart Hotels," then "Hard to Say," from his "The Innocent Age" album released in 1981. With a tight band behind him, Fogelberg shifted between several different acoustic guitars and a piano. The early part of the show had a "lite rock" feel, which pleased an audience that seemed to comprise mostly Fogelberg contemporaries.

He played an extended bluesy solo on acoustic guitar before launching into the rarely played before this tour "Changing Horses," from the album "Souvenirs," and the moving "Forefathers," a song about his immigrant parents.

Fogelberg was dressed in blue jeans, white dress shirt, dark jacket and cowboy boots, and his voice sounded strong. Seldom did he recast songs to avoid the high notes - nearly falsetto at times - he wrote into songs when he was a strong-lunged teen-ager.

The vocally challenging "To a Morning," from "Home Free" released in 1972 when Fogelberg was 20, and "Leader of the Band," the tribute to his father, longtime local music educator Lawrence Fogelberg, were delivered forcefully and fearlessly, high notes and all.

And though he certainly played the fan-friendly songs he wrote 20 and 30 years ago, Fogelberg escaped the nostalgia-act label by recreating the old songs with freshness and spirit. Just as fans would never tire of hearing, for instance, James Taylor sing "Fire and Rain," so were Fogelberg fans thrilled to hear "Part of the Plan" played by this band, in this theater, on this night.