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I'll take a stab at trying to encapsulate my feelings after watching JM perform for 3 hours. I LOVE Johnny because he's punctual . I looked at my watch at 8:15, and 5or 10 minutes later, guess who comes strolling out? I'm sure this had a lot to do with the fact that the show was being taped, but Johnny gets bonus points for being on-time.

I really felt some nostalgia when I saw him open with "Neon". I saw him peform Neon on Carson Daly's show in 2002, and that's the song that really sold me on both his singing and guitar playing. I remember thinking way back then, 'I've got to see him perform live at my next opportunity'. (A lot of people had the same idea, apparently because his two House of Blues shows in March 2002 sold out -- Norah Jones opened for JM -- and I did not get my tickets . I had to wait until August 17, 2002 to catch JM at the Greek and believe me, musically speaking, it was love at first listen and last night at Nokia reminded me, yet again as if I needed reminding, of why I fell hopelessly in love with this special, special, performer.

I didn't take notes, since I knew there would be wall-to-wall coverage by the MSM crowd,( a DVD in the works as well?) because I just wanted the musical sound waves to wash over me like a breezy, Southern California Santa Ana Wind in December (like earlier this week in fact ). I'll just paraphrase as best I can some Johnny quotes that I can recall:

Before he started playing "In Your Atmosphere", JM said that the song had fallen in and out of favor with him, but that it's for the fans. He also said something about having done a lot of industry events lately as well. That was really a treat to hear, because it was his encore song way back in 2002 when I saw him at the Greek.

I thought the Tom Petty cover was really cute ("Free Fallin"), but JM's got to work on getting that Tom Petty twang in his voice .

I loved that when the Trio came out, they had on very cute Blues Brothers type suits and ties. I think Johnny said something about the first time they dressed that way it was for a photo shoot and that he hoped they sound as good as they look.

The Trio played just about every song on Try! which was fantastic. I saw the setlist above, but I thought he ended the Trio set with the intro song as well: "Every Day I've Got the Blues". Between songs (can't remember which ones), Johnny made mention of his increasingly high profile via the paparazzi. He said that you may see pictures of him without his guitar and that the only thing that bothers him when his fans see pictures of him coming out of some club and he's not walking straight, is that the picutures get in the way of the message he's trying to send via his music. (He really shouldn't worry so much about it, though: rock stars are supposed to stumble out of clubs with a pretty girl on their arm while the paparazzi take pitures -- I think that's a job requirement ).

Before Bold as Love, Johnny went on a rant about love. He said something about we (him and his fans?) have love here by sharing the music (I'm guessing) but that he really wants to find -- 'not that roman candle, Hollywood, kind of love, but that "I;ve got your fucking back kind of love", which got an 'amen brother' out of me, that's for sure!

So the full band comes out and they do the hits, and before No Such Thing, Johnny thanks the fans for sticking around because he says that he knows that sometimes when there's something [a band] that you like and they suddenly become very popular, people sometimes say, 'Ok that's it I'm checking out', but he appreciates that we stuck around.

The only other Johnny remarks that I recall were about "Bigger than My Body". I think he said that there's always a song that you feel that you got 3/4 of the way right but you wish you could take another shot at it to get it right. But he said he would play the version that we know, and started the song.

There were so many other little things that I remember, like between sets he starts hi-fiveing the fans in the pit, there was a bit about switiching to the black guitar before he started to play a song because it would sound better with that guitar (somebody help me remember which song -- Good Love is on the Way?).

I've written way too much, but I'll sum it up by saying it was delightfully special to be in the company of such a talented, confident, musician for 3 hours on a Saturday night in L.A. The Nokia Theatre has good sound. I could hear everything he said as well as sang (I was in Orchestra DD dead center). I sure hope Johnny's able to make it a tradition here in L.A.-- sort of like Stevie Wonder who performs a Christmas concert each year here in L.A.

I can think of no other way I'd rather spend a portion of my Christmas holiday.

Cheers!