On Saturday, April 5, 2026 I headed out to the Hopmonk Novato in Novato, California. That night’s show was Tom Freund and John Doe for the second night, out on by KC Turner. What a night it was because John Doe put on a different set than the previous night.
Up first was Tom Freund, the multi-instrumentalist from Los Angeles, California. He started with “Crow’s Landing,” a dynamic 2022 song. He played that song, and the sold-out crowd felt the heart in it. We were all in for a treat with this guy. The next song was “Collapsible Plans.” He brought a harmonica out for that one, and it was fabulous. His guitar playing was in top form, even though it kept going out of tune. He blamed it on Ft. Bragg.
From there, he went into “Abandoning the Ship”. A song stating exactly what was meant by the title. A great song with stunning lyrics; it was a hit with the crowd. After that song, he went into “Digs”. For that song, he brought out the upright bass, and he played it with style. That song was cool and had a nice rhythm. The next song, still on bass, was a powerful political song called “Revolution 1” by the Beatles. He had a softness to his voice that worked well with that song and gave it heart.
For the next song, “Truly Mellow”, he brought back the acoustic guitar and gave that song the stirring feeling it deserved. He even did a segment of it where he did a pthh pthh brrr brrrr with his mouth, and for the end of it, he had a sing-along for all of us to accompany him with. From there, he eased into “Runaround,” and his vocals on it were perfection. It was an awesome song with a great message.
When he hit “Let My Love Open the Door,” he had the audience play drums by clapping in time with the song. It was an awesome time listening to a couple of hundred people keeping the pace. He did a stellar version, one that Pete Townshend would approve of. When he started the last song of the night, there was a little confusion, and KC said, ” Go for it. He started “Unknown,” and he crushed it. It was an amazing song to leave on, and we all gave him a standing ovation.
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Setlist
1). Crow’s Landing
2). Collapsible Plans
3). Abandoning the Ship
4). Digs
5). Revolution 1 (The Beatles cover)
6). Truly Mellow
7). Runaround
8). Let My Love Open the Door (Pete Townshend cover)
9). (Unknown) (Shines Bright Tonight, High Up In the Sky)
When John Doe hit the stage, it was like an old friend getting up there. He started out with “Silver Wings,” an old Merle Haggard song that he simply crushed. The next song was an X song called “Painting the Town Blue”. That song was powerful and unabashed as we played the dickens out of it.
The next song was one of those 1890 songs about a guy who named himself this crazy nickname. The Spanish was written by Louie Perez, and the title was “El Romance-O”. It was an awesome song every time he played it. The following song was “I Only Have Eyes For You” by Harry Warren. That song opened with a disclaimer that while he does take requests, he won’t play any X songs. If you request, say Los Angeles, he won’t play that. It wouldn’t work well, and that would cause a downward spiral for the song. When he started the song, it was soft and well done as we would have expected. He even sang the little shoo bob shoo bob toward the end of it.
When he started “I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts”, he described the writing process they went through. It was an enormous task, and they did a fabulous job. “There’s a Black Horse” was up next, and it was a toss-up. We had a choice between horse or cowboy, and he decided what we would hear. It was a marvelous song, and the next was “The Cowboy and the Hot Air Balloon,” and that was the other song we had a choice of. Both songs were fabulous.
From there, he invited his daughter Amelia up on stage to sing a couple of songs with him. The first song was “A Little More Time”. The pairing was amazing, with both of them singing the words. It was a truly incredible song. From there, they did “Twin Brother,” and that song hit home. It was awesome as she blended he vocals with his and it just seemed right. When she left the stage, she got a tremendous round of applause.
The next song was an unknown song (I have heard it before, but I can’t remember the title). It was magical, and the following song was “Burning House of Love”. It was about a significant other burning a house down. It was a fabulous X song that hit all the heartstrings. The following songs were “Faraway (From the North County) and the Fred Neil song “Everybody’s Talking”. That song was a contest song. The prize was a cd and if you wanted he would sign it for you. What a value! The next song up in his set was “Rank Strangers”, a song by the Stanley Brothers. It was a song about going home and not recognizing much. A plight we have pretty much all seen throughout our lives.
The next song was a love song. That song was “Sweetheart” and in John words, love wins for once. He dedicated that song to Jill Sobel who was there the last time he was. The following song was another X song, “See How We Are” and it was a stunning hit. One of the lyrics were His first name is Homeboy, could his last name be Trouble. Excellent. The next song was a Harold Arlen cover called “Over the Rainbow” from the Wizard of Oz and it was a very special song.
Following that song was “Take #52” where drinking was a part of the recording studio and it took many times to get a song right. It was a spot on song that probably had much truth to it. The next song was “The Golden State” about California then, he played “The New World” and that would have been an amazing set.
But after a short dismissal from the stage, he was back! The first song of his encore was “This Train” a song about equality, a thing we are all heading towards. Hopefully. The final song was a Replacements song called “Here Comes a Regular” and that song was a marvelous song and it’s a reminder to pull out those Replacements albums and give them another listen to.
Setlist
1). Silver Wings (Merle Haggard cover)
2). Painting the Town Blue (X song)
3). El Romance-O
4). I Only Have Eyes For You (Harry Warren cover)
5). I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts (X song)
6). There’s a Black Horse
7). The Cowboy and the Hot Air Balloon
8). A little More Time (with Miss Amelia (John’s daughter))
9). Twin Brother (with Miss Amelia (John’s daughter))
10). (Unknown)
11). Burning House of Love (X song)
12). Faraway (From the North County)
13). Everybody’s Talking (Fred Neil cover)
14). Rank Strangers (The Stanley Brothers cover)
15). Sweetheart
16). See How We Are (X song)
17). Over the Rainbow (Harold Arlen cover)
18). Take #52
19). The Golden State
20). The New World (X song)
ENCORE
21). This Train
22). Here Comes a Regular (The Replacements cover)
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