Mulholland Tomorrow Benefit
Don Henley & Guests
(Tom Petty / Linda Ronstadt / Jackson Browne / Stevie Nicks)
Universal Amphitheatre
Los Angeles, CA
September 17, 1985
(1st Generation)

Transfer: 1st Gen Tape > .wav File > Peak Pro 6 (pitch adjusted) > iZotope RX / ozone 5 (mastered) > Peak Pro 6 (post production) > xACT 2.39 > FLAC

DON HENLEY
01 You Can�t Make Love
02 You Drink Too Much
03 Them And Us
04 Witchy Woman
05 Life In The Fast Lane
06There�s Just Not Enough Love In The World
07 All She Wants To Do Is Dance
TOM PETTY
08 Bye Bye Johnny
09 Don�t Bring Me Down
10 Straight Into Darkness
11 Stop Draggin� My Heart Around w/Stevie Nicks
12 Shout
LINDA RONSTADT
13 Blue Bayou
14 I Knew You When
15 Tumbling Dice
JACKSON BROWNE
16 Running On Empty w/Stevie Nicks
17 Lives In The Balance
18 For America
STEVIE NICKS
19 Stand Back
20 Leather And Lace w/Don Henley
DON HENLEY
21 My Town
22 Desperado
23 Hotel California

Known Faults:
-Likely missing at least �Building The Perfect Beast�, �Dirty Laundry�, �Drivin� With Your Eyes Closed� and �A Month Of Sundays�
-Them And Us: end cut, only 1:46 long
-Witchy Woman: start cut, only 2:00 long
-Bye By Johnny: almost seamless splice
-Stop Draggin' My heart Around: splice

In the early 1980's Don Henley was one of the founders of "Mulholland Tomorrow", a celebrity studded organization dedicated to combat housing development in the Santa Monica mountains. In September the foundation put on a benefit concert headlined by Don Henley with a number of invited guests.

The show kicks off with a set from Henley who was on tour at the time and had already played two nights at the Universal Amphitheatre about two weeks before.
Unfortunately, the taper appears to have missed the first four songs or so from the set based on the standard 1985 setlist. On most nights "Building The Perfect Beast�, �Dirty Laundry� and �Drivin� With Your Eyes Closed� were generally played before "You Can't Make Love". A newspaper review from the time also mentions the debut of "A Month Of Sundays" during the set but missing here as well. The Henley set is unremarkable and there are a number of circulating tapes from the tour including an FM from one of the previously mentioned nights at the Universal Amphitheatre. For whatever reason, taper issue or trade issue, those songs are not here and tape one starts mid-set. The taper also seems to have some technical issues a few songs in as "Them And Us" cuts off after 1:46 and "Witchy Woman" misses a substantial portion of the start clocking in at only 2 minutes.

The show then becomes very interesting, first up is a Tom Petty mini-set. Petty's 'Southern Accents' Tour ended in San Diego on August 9th and this was the first show after the proper tour end. He also played the Sanctuary Benefit two nights later in Tucson with many of the same performers from this show and Farm Aid on the 22nd. What's interesting about Petty's set is he plays a number of songs not regularly played on the 'Southern Accents' Tour. A fabulous version of "Don't Bring Me Down" is reprised from earlier tours, "Straight Into Darkness" one of the strongest 'Long After Dark' tracks and "Shout" are reprised from the 'Long After Dark' tour and Petty's take on the Chuck Berry classic "Bye Bye Johnny", possibly played for the first time before playing it at Farm Aid and then semi-regularly during the 1986 tour supporting Dylan and the 1987 'Let Me Up (I've Had Enough)' Tour. Of course with Stevie Nicks in the house we get the obligatory "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around".

The next mini-set from Linda Ronstadt is a real treat and appears to be her only 1985 performance and the only performance in a rock setting between 1984-1986 as she was at the height of her Nelson Riddle Orchestra phase of her career.
It's a joy to hear her once again stretch out on "Blue Bayou" and "Tumbling Dice". I am also only aware of one other playing of Billy Joe Royal's "I Knew You When" in Boston on July 22, 1983.

Jackson is up next, again between tours and a rare 1985 stage appearance, also plays a 3 song mini-set, opening with a nice version of "Running On Empty" with Stevie Nicks on backing vocals (at least that's what I'm told) and then 2 new songs to be released the following year on the overtly political "Lives In The Balance".

The guest slots come to a close with a 2 song set from Stevie Nicks, as with the others, not currently on tour at the time. This appears to be one of 3 on stage performances in 1985 for Stevie and features a nice version of "Leather And Lace" with Don Henley.

The show wraps with 3 more from Henley opening with a cover of the Michael Stanley song "My Town", I believe this is the only time this song was ever played. The show then closes as you would expect.

I'm hoping for those that collect Tom, Linda, Jackson or Stevie this fills a 1985 gap.

Thanks to my 30+ year trading compadre MR for the file set.

Samples in comments and artwork included...

mjk5510




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