Originally Posted by rainsong

The stage is smaller than others but to be honest I like this one alot. The placement of Dave Tico Bobby and Hugh allows you to see the whole band which I like. Jon is concentrating a bit more on his singing and less on running around like a frantic frontman, but the voice sounds great so it's hard to find fault there. What I saw in the four shows I've seen so far is passion and emotion in the performances, there is no paint by the numbers going on , which is pretty much all you can ask of a live show. I think the crew and the band worked very hard to find a balance, a way to use all the high tech toys they got without overwhelming or distracting from the bands performance, IMO, they have done an excellent job of this.
The circle isn't used a great deal but when it is it is very cool. I like the acoustic set out front it's fun.
AS for Jon playing instead of running about, I don't think it's as easy at 48 to keep the energy level at full speed for 2 1/2 hours anymore, no matter how good a shape Jon is in, and he is in fabulous shape. There are some things time slows down whether you want it to or not. To me he is trading in putting passion and emotion back into songs vs running around. I'll take the emotion and passion in his voice every time.