Fox Theatre~Redwood City, California
July 1, 2002

It was a very hot day in the San Francisco Bay Area on July 1, by Bay Area 
standards, anyway, and Redwood City is far enough south of San Francisco to 
get reasonably hot. It was not over 100 during the day in Redwood City like 
it was at my house, but the 90’s was hot enough.

We arrived at the Fox Theatre just in the nick of time to see the opening 
act, Cindy Bullens, from our seats smack in the middle of the floor 19 rows 
back. Cindy sang around four depressing songs, and one upbeat rock song to 
end her set. As a general rule, I like depressing songs, but hers are a 
little too depressing for my taste, it is good she ended on a more upbeat 
note.

After the break, and some standing by the open doors on the right side of 
the theatre to get a little cooler air, the band all came out on stage, and 
everyone, including Dan, was in place when it was time for “Ladies and 
Gentlemen, please welcome Dan Fogelberg.” The lights went up, and as “Magic 
Every Moment” started, I had to wonder, “Is he wearing a lot of eye make up? 
Wait, did he get hit in the right eye?” I later read that he had gotten 
accidentally cut very near his right eye during the Las Vegas concert a 
couple of nights before. He apparently finished playing “The Reach” with 
blood coming down his face. Wondering what happened to his eye was only 
mildly distracting for the rest of the concert.

It became apparent quickly that, unlike any other concert I had ever seen 
before, Dan actually allowed some fans to be right up on stage with him. 
Normally, I would think that this would be great for the fans, but these 
fans were not sentient beings, they were only for the purpose of keeping Dan 
cool, so they probably didn’t care. But it was a little weird to see Dan’s 
hair blowing in the wind as we sat there in the windless, hot theatre.

In spite of the hot weather and the ancient theatre with no air 
conditioning, Dan came out in a long sleeve shirt (collarless), and boots. 
Personally, I would have worn sandals, but I guess Dan was giving his all 
for the fans.

Before the third song, “Hard to Say,” Dan did talk briefly about it being 
nice to be back in Northern California. Dan doesn’t want to admit it too 
loudly, but he knows that outside of his homes in Colorado and Maine, 
Northern California is the place in the world he likes best. Don’t tell, 
though, or he might be mad at me.

Before “To the Morning,” Dan gave his little talk he has probably done at 
almost every concert on tour about it being the 30th anniversary of Home 
Free, and about not having done “To the Morning” in concert before the way 
it was recorded. Of course, it was not exactly the way it was recorded, but 
close enough. There is a short glissade on the piano he did twice that is 
not in the recording, and that bugged me, because it was just the tiniest 
touch of fancying up a song that really doesn’t need fancying up, especially 
when he is not solo acoustic. But all in all, it was a very nice rendition 
of “To the Morning,” which is probably my personal favorite Fogelberg song.

He talked a little more before “The Reach,” telling us it was about the 
ocean on the other side of the country. Although “The Reach” is not my 
personal favorite, it is one of my favorites, and I do believe that it is 
Dan’s best song. It is the one Dan song that after the concert, you want to 
sing while flossing your teeth. It takes a really great song with just all 
the right elements to make you want to sing while flossing, and for Dan, 
“The Reach” is that song. The band arrangement of “The Reach” was great, 
but the balance was not, one could just not hear enough of the 
keyboards/synthesizers. Still, all in all very enjoyable.

After eight songs, it was then time for the three song solo set. Between 
“Make Love Stay” and “Leader of the Band,” he did a little name that tune. 
He did a riff from a “Jefferson Airplane” song, and in the Bay Area, there 
were actually a reasonable number of people who knew what it was. He first 
heard the right answer from a woman up front, and he gave her his bottle of 
talc as a prize. Dan says, “In the Midwest, they just say, ‘huh? Jefferson 
Airplane?” Then he played the end of “Dance With Me,” and the crowd wasn’t 
getting it, so he said it was “Dance With Me,” he played it again to show us 
that it was really the ending, remember, and said, in the Midwest, he plays 
that, and everyone says, “Oh, yeah, Dance With Me.” Dan made some humorous 
remark about the diversity of our nation. And then, at the end of “Leader 
of the Band,” he played the end of “Dance With Me.” After “Same Old Lang 
Syne” and the end of the solo set, he asked for his bottle of talc back. He 
apologized, said he was just joking earlier when he gave it to her, he 
really needed it back.

He did the usual band introductions then before the final set with the band, 
opening with “Strange Way” sung by Mark Andes as per usual. Joe was great 
on the flute in the instrumental jam. Robert got off the best line of the 
night in the introduction to “Walking Blues” sung by Robert. Dan said that 
it was written by Robert Johnson, not to be confused with Howard Johnson. 
Robert added, “Where they have air conditioning.” That was the one line of 
the night I was sure wasn’t scripted.

The concert ended with Part of the Plan, and the audience gave a nice 
rousing ovation, and only a few people left during the seemingly long pause. 
The band came back out and we got TAPITWFAG for the encore. Of course, he 
asked the audience to sing along on the chorus, said what the words were for 
each, and then reminded the audience again in the middle of the song right 
before each chorus. Seems a little redundant when you know the song, but 
perhaps a good thing for those in the audience who didn’t know it (which 
would include anyone not familiar with his non-charted songs). When it was 
time for the audience to go alone with “Let It Shine,” the audience wasn’t 
too loud at first, but when Dan asked for it to be louder, it got louder. 
He let us go on a long time. It was not as spine-chilling as it was in 
Kansas City 24 years ago when there were well over 40,000 singing along, but 
fun nonetheless, and nice to hear it again live after all those years.

Dan said he’d see us around next time, took bows with everyone, and left. 
The pause this time wasn’t too long (although a few more people left this 
time), and the band came back for the Beatles’ George Harrison penned “If I 
Needed Someone,” with Jean on tambourine and backing vocals. And that was 
the real end of the concert.

Overall, Dan’s voice was OK. He was a little flat at times tonight. One 
song when he was playing guitar he really opened flat, and the last note on 
“To the Morning” was a little flat. Other than that, when he was a little 
flat, it was not too obstrusive. I thought that he made a better effort at 
the beginning of songs to articulate clearly, although that strong effort 
would end before he got very far into the songs (although on Blow Wind Blow, 
he made no effort at all to be understood). Michael Hanna is a very strange 
guy to watch on stage. He moves to the music, but he doesn’t quite seem to 
move to the beat. But he seems very happy (even if he was fairly warm in 
the ancient theatre without air conditioning). The sound system was not 
bad, although the balance was out of whack at times (most noticeably on “The 
Reach” as indicated earlier). The overall energy level was pretty good. It 
was not incredibly high at first, but it picked up at the night went on.

All in all, a very enjoyable Dan concert, with a nice combination of mellow 
stuff and rocking stuff, and a talented band to go with it.

***

Set List:

Band

Magic Every Moment
Heart Hotels
Hard to Say
Changing Horses
To the Morning
Run for the Roses
Morning Sky
The Reach

Solo

Make Love Stay
Leader of the Band
Same Old Lang Syne

Band

Strange Way (Mark Andes lead vocal)
Instrumental Jam
Walking Blues (Robert McEntee lead vocal)
Blow Wind Blow
Empty Cages
Part of the Plan

Encore 1

(TAPITWFA) Gambler

Encore 2

If I Needed Someone

Bob T.

Awesome from start to finish!

On a near 100 degree night at the historic Fox Theatre in Redwood City (built in 1928), Dan brought the house down.

From such classics as Leader of the Pack and Run for the Roses, to the (to me, anyhow) chilling "To the Morning" - Dan and band quite clearly enjoyed themselves all evening. Having seen Dan every time he heads west - I can honestly say this was the best of the best!

Was having way too much fun to write down all the songs, sorry :( - but if anyone comes up with a set list I'd love to have it! The tribute to George Harrison as the 2nd encore, along with Dan's wife

singing/playing tambourine - was incredible. Just gotta say that his opening act, Cindy Bullens, was a rare treat. I'd heard here back in 1999 as the opener for Emmylou Harris.....

Night all!

Mary (a Redwood City native!)