The Desert Rose Band - 08/31/2008 - Copper Country Festival, Copper Mountain, CO
 
Support Band: Savannah Jack, Firefall, Pure Prairie League, Poco, Nitty Gritty Band
Venue Capacity: ? (Sold Out)
 
Setlist:
01) She Don't Love Nobody
02) Love Reunited
03) He's Back and I'm Blue
04) Leave this Town
05) Time Between
06) For the Rich Man
07) Summer Wind
08) Start All Over Again
09) Once More
10) In Another Lifetime
11) Hello Trouble
12) Together Again
13) Ashes of Love
14) I Still Believe in You
15) One Step Forward
16) Wheels
17) Wait a Minute
18) You Ain't Goin Nowhere
19) Will this be the Day?
20) Encore - Price I Pay
21) Sin City
 
Pictures:
 
Review:

WHADDA SHOW...WHADDA SHOW!!!!!!!!!!

I'm talking Copper Mountain, up in the mountains of beautiful Colorado on a Sunday afternoon,....Firefall took the stage first and were good...I had V.I.P. tix and I'm positive I'm seeing Rick Roberts backstage, well guess what? It WAS Rick Roberts (founding member of Firefall and the Flying Burrito Bros) he was introduced at the end of the show, he limped out and looked like he was on his deathbed, he is seriously ill. I got a chance to meet with him and the tears flowed, I cried, he cried and his wife cried. I just told him how much he has mean't to me, and what a great singer-songwriter he is...he is sooooo fragile, but hung out back stage for every act. That made my day more than anything...what a dear person!

Pure Prarie League were forgettable, Poco was incredible, the last song they brought out Richie Furay and they did "Good Feelin' To Know" which brought the house down.

And then it was TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway the Desert Rose Band takes the stage and bowls everyone over. J.D. Manness was better then I have ever seen him, John Jorgenson was sizzlin' with his guitar(s), the harmonies were incredible. The crowd went nuts! That audience was there for one thing and one thing only....to see the reunion of DRB. They did every song you could think of. And I'll tell you what, Chris looked like a cheshire cat with his ever present grin and a look of total satisfaction on his face, J.D and John had a blast...John would play a lead and people screamed their brains out and he KNEW he was adored. For some reason Herb Petersen looked like he just woke up but the harmonies were mesmerizing!!!

The Dirt Band was supposedly the headliner (yeah right) anyway they walk onstage with Chris and the first song is "You Ain't Going Nowhere".The Dirt Band was supposedly the headliner (yeah right) anyway they walk onstage with Chris and the first song is "You Ain't Going Nowhere".

John McCuen is out of his mind...what a showman. And Jeff Hanna has HAD to have plastic surgery, he looks like he's in his 20's and his voice is out of this world!!

All in all on a scale of 1 to 10 this show was a 500!!!!I don't know why DRB wouldn't continue to play and catch the love, and maybe record again! They were sooooo good, and they all looked so happy to play with one another once again.They were incredibly tight and HAPPY!!!!

OMG!

-Wild Bill-
 
Review:
COPPER MOUNTAIN, Colorado — Chris Hillman, member of the ‘80s group Desert Rose Band, stresses that his appearance with original bandmates Herb Pedersen, John Jorgenson, Jay Dee Maness, Bill Bryson and Steve Duncan at Copper Country this weekend is not comeback.

Hillman said they are coming together again, “just because everybody is healthy and able to do it. We had such a good time in the original lineup over 15 years ago. It was one of the few bands I was in that I parted company as friends.”

The Copper Mountain show is one of only four he has planned, the other three take place in California.

If all goes well, he said they might record a live album at Buck Owen’s Crystal Palace in Bakersfield, Calif.

The 63-year-old Hillman, who is also known as member of the Byrds, described himself as “semi-retired.”

He tours with former Desert Rose Band member Pedersen as an acoustic duo on mandolin and guitar.

He said he left DRB after performing with them for eight years, and spending the last 30 years on the road.

“My daughter was about 13 and I had missed five of her birthdays,” he said. “Family is far more important than a career. It’s a big reason I stopped.”

Although Hillman didn’t go to college, he said he made sure his kids did.

He said new young bands often ask his advise.

“I always tell them, ‘Have a great time playing, don’t give up the music, but get a four-year degree in something you like, whatever you like.’”

Hillman said his more relaxed schedule nowadays has brought back the pure enjoyment of music.

“It’s just two guys, their suitcases and instruments, like it used to be when I was an 18-year-old kid coming up.”

Hillman said they — Desert Rose Band — will play “all the stuff we’re known for” along with other songs from their catalogue at the Copper show.

Of the band, which began in 1985, he said, “It was a special level of musicianship unequal to my past experiences. It was the perfect combination of people.”