BETHEL -- There was a peaceful, easy feeling on Friday at A Day in the Garden, and it wasn't just because head Eagle Don Henley was one of the performers.

The vibe was right for an anniversary show on Max Yasgur's Farm -- the site of the original Woodstock Music and Arts Fair 29 years ago -- and the music maintained the mellow mood.

Along with Henley, A Day in the Garden hosted headliner Stevie Nicks, veteran blues-rockers Ten Years After, second-generation reggae star Ziggy Marley and relatively unknown pop-rocker Francis Dunnery.

British-born Dunnery might have seemed like an odd selection to kick off the fest, but it was an inspired choice. The little-known guitarist-vocalist -- who founded the progressive rock band It Bites and played in Robert Plant's band before launching his solo career -- played at Valentine's in Albany just a few short weeks ago, but he seemed right at home leading his new band on the huge Garden stage.

In true Woodstock spirit, he opened the fest with "Revolution,'' but it wasn't a call for political overthrow. Instead, in true '90s fashion, he sang, "I feel a revolution inside of me.'' In defiance of the gathering clouds, Dunnery and his tight backing trio offered the shimmering ballad, "Sunshine,'' but he hit his high-water mark with the back-to-back blast of infectious, thinking man's pop, "My Own Reality'' and "Too Much Saturn.''

Ziggy Marley led a sprawling 14-piece band, the Melody Makers, and it was clear from the opening volley of "Rastaman Vibration,'' that he wasn't going to shy away from the rich catalog of song by his legendary father, the late reggae pioneer, Bob Marley. In fact, it was his father's repertoire that made up the bulk of the young Marley's 40-minute set, including notable renditions of the rousing "Get Up, Stand Up,'' and set-closing "Jammin' '' and a magnificent reading of "No Woman, No Cry.''

Ten Years After -- the only band on Friday's bill who performed at the '69 Woodstock fest -- seemed to be something of a curious museum piece. Despite that, the band featured the same lineup that they had in '69, their brand of bruising blues 'n' boogie hasn't progressed or evolved much over the years.

"This is a cool piece of deja vu, huh?'' guitarslinger Alvin Lee asked the crowd, and, yes, I guess it was, but unfortunately it wasn't much more. Tired blues classics like "Good Morning, Little Schoolgirl'' and an ill-advised stab at Woodstock sing-along with Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode'' fell flat, but they hit the mark with "I Can't Keep From Crying,'' an epic slab of psychedelic blues that captured all the best of Woodstock-era jams while quoting from Cream and Hendrix. Of course, it was all just a warmup for a reprise of the monstrous "I'm Goin' Home'' from '69, which Lee stretched out to a whopping 12 minutes, including forays into the songbags of Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis.

Henley was the musical highpoint of the day, counterbalancing the peace 'n' love nostalgia with a biting dose of California cynicism. Backed by a six-piece band and trio of blond bodacious vocalists, Henley opened with "The Boys of Summer,'' featuring the anti-nostalgia lyric, "Don't look back, you can never look back.''

"This is for Bill,'' he said, dedicating his swipe at media muckraking, "Dirty Laundry,'' to President Clinton. He offered scathing readings of Leonard Cohen's "Everybody Knows'' and John Hiatt's "Shreddding the Documents,'' before really going for the throat by dedicating "The End of the Innocence'' to the memory of Max Yasgur. "Max, you had a beautiful farm. I understand that it's not going to be that way for much longer, but this is for you, Max.''

He also tossed in a weird reggae version of "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat'' from the Broadway musical "Guys and Dolls,'' and, of course, he also ran through his hits -- most notably the gutwrenching "The Heart of the Matter,'' the cinematic "Sunset Grill'' and the rocking "I Will Not Go Quietly.''

But he didn't touch his wealth of Eagles' material until his double-barreled encore when he got behind the drums for "Hotel California'' and the haunting "Desperado.''

Nicks seemed anticlimactic after Henley's tour de force, although it didn't help matters any that the rains finally came down at the start of her start and lasted for about an hour. It was the final date on Nicks' Enchanted tour in support of her three-CD boxed set, and she pulled out songs from throughout her career. Backed by seven musicians and two vocalists, Nicks was at her best on "Stand Back,'' "Gold Dust Woman'' and a set-closing medley of "Nightbird'' and "Edge of Seventeen,'' but her constant costume changes destroyed the momentum of the performance. The rain did, however, keep her trademark twirling to a minimum.

Was Day One of A Day in the Garden a musical milestone? Hardly. Was it magical? Not at all. Was it fun? You bet.

As Henley sang in "Hotel California,'' "We haven't had that spirit here since 1969.''

Greg Haymes is the pop music writer for the Times Union.

The Albany Times Union
Copyright 1998,
Capital Newspapers Division, of The Hearst Corporation, Albany, N.Y.
all rights reserved.