Back In L.A.

It’s a wrap.

Tonight we fold the tents on the third and final U.S. leg of this 50th anniversary tour.  The last month in particular has been a good one for me.  Once we hit Denver it was the gateway  to the west.  Wonderful seeing old friends along the way and especially memorable dinners at Tamayo in Denver, a grand birthday dinner with the band at Cin Cin in Vancouver as well as Black and Blue in that city, The Chart House in Portland, Frank Fat’s Chinese in Sacramento, Richardson’s in Phoenix.  It was great spending a couple of days in Phoenix, the valley of the sun and my old hometown.  The Arizona Biltmore is a grand desert resort at the foothills of Camelback Mountain.  We arrived in time for a spectacular monsoon rain storm ending in a long lingering rainbow over Camelback Mt.  What a homecoming.  As long as I’ve lived in the south-east, my personal compass always lines up when I’m in the west.

And… in the west is where this ends, as we began 7 months ago in February with rehearsals, in L.A.  Tonight’s show at The Forum marks N.D.’s 35th performance in that legendary venue since 1983.  I was still part of the band back then for those first 7 consecutive sold-out nights.  I’m very pleased to be back again for numbers 34 and 35.  Fitting  to wrap it up here.

I am looking forward to a few weeks off.  I’ll be in the studio doing some recording for myself as well as heading to the Gulf of Mexico for part of that time.  Less than a month from now we’ll all gather again in Amsterdam to commence the European-U.K. part of the tour.  It’s always great touring the States in the summertime , now I’m looking forward to seeing the Continent again this autumn.

Richard