First a few drum beats, cymbal crashes, and feedback lead to one of the guitarist's toying with the Jimi Hendrix epic....'Lil Wing'. A measure to the guitar-intro of 'Hotel California', and then an all-out sonic onslaught into 'Sunset Grill'.
As we scaled the nicely manicured landscaping at the rear of Amphitheater, and pressed ourselves up against the wrought iron fencing, focused the camera, the band had already tore into 'Sunset Grill' (without Don). Immediately, one of the 2 dozen security types milling about aimlessly said....."look......((((CAMERA)))))"! Sure enough! One of the more senior-looking security types made the long walk up the hill towards us. With reference to the signs mentioned earlier, I assured the guard that we had no intention of bringing the camera thru the checkpoint and into the grounds when the gates opened at 6pm. All he said was "good"....and walked away. We then found a better location to watch and listen to the rest of the sound check, around the east edge of the venue, up against yet another wrought iron gate. However, we now had a nice unobstructed view of the entire stage, and what was going on. The band (without Don) warmed up by playing and singing the backing vocals to 'The Genie'. (a song that would NOT be performed during the show)
Next.......Don, and the entire band played 'Last Worthless Evening'. For brief spurts, certain channels of the control board would be advanced or decreased as the engineer tweeked the sound. Overall.......it sounded great, but you could tell Don needed another one. Don asks his bandmates......"so.....are we ready for Vegas"?
Next......they worked on 'I Will Not Go Quietly' for almost 15 minutes. Don seemed especially concerned about the tempo of the first few bars of the song. After several runs, Don was pleased enough to move on. We did hear him say the 'I Will Not Go Quietly' and 'Taking You Home' would be encore songs. Don also pointed out to the engineer that he was not happy with some sonic annomolies he had heard a couple of nites before. (Phoenix) "I just want you to be aware of that", he said.

Going into the show, my girlfriend, and longtime Henley/Eagles live-show-veteran was not as optimistic as I. With Tiger Jam the following nite, and the mere $40.00 ticket price, she felt we were going to get 1/2 the show. "One hour, and he's outta here" she insisted. The bottom line.....at the end of the 2 hour-long show, we were both blown away! In October 2000, and the early stages of the Inside Job Tour, Don seemed to convey a very 'dignified' persona on stage. Passionate and powerful, yet somewhat 'measured' in his overall delivery.
ON THIS NIGHT.........we witnessed the complete opposite. Of course, passionate and powerfull as always, but he seemed to have a devilish gleam in his eye. He really enjoyed having that Fender straped on. He hit the highs with ultimate perfection. No cracking, or beef jerky pipes tonite! If he was not pleased with the "lovely color gray" of the new Dodge Theater in Phoenix, he certainly gave no indication of any displeasure with this venue. Anselmo Valencia Tori Amphitheater's sound system is one of the best I have heard, even from the fouth row. Don maximized it!! I believe that devilish gleam in his eye was fostered by the fact that this was the end to a very successful Inside Job Tour, and that the best was yet to come, specifically, the Eagles Summer Tour 2002, which he proudly announced after the last song of the evening. For many seated around us, you could hear that this was the first they had heard the news.
Overall, this close to capacity crowd was a little lethargic until Don's cue during 'Life In The Fastlane', but once the predominantly 35-54 demographic got going, you could see on Don's face that he was pleased. I was shocked.....we were only asked to sit down once until that point. Don radiated confidence, and displayed a certain 'swagger' I had never seen before this evening.
Seated to our right was a young lady (aprox 23 years of age) who was obviously there by herself. During the course of the evening, she hardly spoke a word, or sang a refrain at all. However, the jaw-drop look on her face thoughout the evening was priceless.
It was clear to me that the 'swagger' will carryover into the Summer Tour, and undoubtedly, infect his Eagles bandmates as well!