As we arrived for the show, we found out that after the people were seated in front of us, we ended up being seated behind some fairly tall people. That wouldn't be so bad, but it seemed the entire center section seemed to want to stand through the whole show, and the tall people made it really difficult to get any decent pictures, especially of more than one band member at a time, without a bunch of heads taking up half the picture. I'm very disappointed with my photos. The other thing was that the band members wore black, or very dark colors, making it very difficult to focus, so many of my pics ended up being blurry. I consider myself a good photographer at shows, and I can usually always get great shots, especially from four rows back. But, such was not the case here.
I knew that there was friction in the band with Richie's impending departure, and you could feel that in the lack of interaction between Richie and the other guys. Michael and Dean seemed to interact a bit with each other, but mostly with the back up band members. Not quite as much with Richie. Richie would bend down at the edge of the stage and pose for pics with fans as he sang, and signed shirts, pictures and tickets, as the night went on. But, he didn't talk very much. One of the times he did talk was during the opening, when he mentioned that it was really hot in Redding, and it was good to be back. Then, he made a really bad joke about it being hot in Nashville too, and before he left home, he saw a dog chasing a cat, and they were walking. No one laughed, and he went back to singing. Later on, after interacting with a young 12-year-old girl that was celebrating her birthday, and singing her happy birthday, he went on to talk about missing his kids, and showed his red, white and blue paperclip bracelet they made for him so "he doesn't forget them." The third time he talked was before "I'm Already There," when he mentioned being in the airport and seeing six servicemen who had just arrived home. One of these men was a giant of a man, and he was holding a tiny little baby that he was obviously seeing for the first time, and it just brought tears to Richie's eyes. He reminded everyone that no matter how much fun we're having at the show, to never forget the men and women who are fighting for our freedom.
In a playful moment, later on during the show Richie borrowed someone's camera and snapped some pictures of the band and himself on the stage, and even went behind where Dean was playing the keyboard and snapped a picture of his butt. Everyone was cracking up. Dean turned around and folded his arms and gave him a mad look, but it was all in fun. That was about the most light-hearted moment of the show.
All in all, I would say, the show was like a live "Greatest Hits" show, with very little talking, and a lot of great music. I really did enjoy it, but I sure did miss the camaraderie that the band used to have together. The whole crowd enjoyed the show, and sang along with many of the songs. The band played for about an hour and 20 minutes, which is an average concert length, and I felt that I totally got my money's worth, and was happy that I got to see them one more time before they broke up.
Set List:
- Front Porch Looking In
- Coming Home
- Let's Be Us Again
- Mountains
- Mr. Mom
- You Walked In
- Long Lost Smile
- Walking In Memphis
- Piano Man (part of the song - Richie only)
- Hey God
- What About Now
- With Me
- Amazed
- No News
- Encore:
- Drum solo - guitar solo
- ??? Some rock song I don't know
- I'm Already There