Donovan At The Tabernacle, Mt Tabor NJ, Oct 25, 2003

Calling all the people / and they came to him

389* of us wanted to hear all that's pretty, and the night of October 25, 2003 At the Tabernacle in Mt. Tabor, NJ, Donovan sang and played and chatted so

Donovan breaking bread with fans (photo: Ernie)

beautifully for all of us. Yes, the show was sold out well in advance, and it was a rare joy to see and hear. As last year, a group of about 20-25 of us gathered at 2 pm or shortly thereafter for late lunch-early supper before the concert at a local Mexican restaurant, Rattlesnake Ranch, and Donovan once again joined us for the repast. He actually arrived quite early; Mary and I arrived at about 2:15 to find at least a dozen other Catch the Winders already in attendance, and I think Don arrived about 2:30 (I may well be fuzzy on the details, as I only got 2 hours sleep the night before). We chatted with him for going on two hours before he split for his sound check. (more...)

This is a great venue for Donovan (i.e., not a smokey bar), and I think all in attendance at the sold-out concert were true Donovan fans. He performed several of his well-known songs,

Donovan and Richard Barone (photo: Ernie)

though fewer than usual and with some interesting variations ("Sunshine Superman" with what my wife tells me was a diminished seventh chord (I hope I got that right, I could be making it up--I'll double check with Mary, but she said that the change threw her harmony off) which changed the mood and pacing of the song subtly yet nicely. But that was just the icing, for the fans who he knows want at least some of the hits. Mostly he played a combination of totally new songs (including several from his upcoming cd Beatnik Cafe, due out next May he says) and some old songs he has scarcely ever sung in concert (such as his song for George Harrison, Epistle to Scouse (a humorous reference to someone from Liverpool), which he said he's only played about 3x in concert). (more...)

Donovan playing Kelly (photo: Ernie)

This is just the beginning; over the next several weeks I'll be posting a lot more photos and additional commentary (anyone who was there and would like to contribute, send your notes and photos to me; I can't promise to use it all, but I'll use as much as I can--it would be great to add a page this year with Reflections on Donovan At the Tabernacle from different folks).

* The seating capacity At the Tabernacle, according to George.

- Ernie Black

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