When not singing new tunes, Eagles soar in Charlotte

By Scott Fowler sfowler@charlotteobserver.com
Posted: Thursday, Jan. 15, 2009


The Eagles walked onto the stage at Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte Wednesday night wearing black suits, white shirts and black ties. They looked like they had either gotten dressed in the Blues Brothers' closet – minus only the hats and sunglasses – or else had borrowed four suits from a local undertaker.
“This is the Eagles' assisted-living tour,” said Glenn Frey, who like each of his three primary bandmates is now at least 60 years old. “And we're those darn Eagles, the band that wouldn't die.”
What followed was nearly three hours of music that made all Eagles fans remember why they don't want this band to die. In front of a near-capacity crowd packed with baby boomers but sprinkled with a surprising number of folks in the 18-29 age group, the Eagles harmonized their way through a hit-filled show of classic rock.
Fans who wanted that peaceful, easy feeling came to the right place. Don Henley still sounded soulful and looked intense – his lead vocals on “Hotel California,” “The Boys of Summer” and “The Long Run” were among the evening's highlights. Joe Walsh still mugged for the camera and played the guitar like nobody's business. Timothy B. Schmit still hit the high notes on “I Can't Tell You Why.”
And Frey sang, played guitar and served as the show's emcee and comic relief. Before the song “Lyin' Eyes,” he said: “I'm going to dedicate this song to my first wife: Plaintiff.”
The first album I ever bought was “Eagles: Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975.” I was 12. I paid $7.50 for the record at a Kmart in Spartanburg. Don't ask me why I remember the price. But the music was unforgettable, then and now.
Since then the Eagles have broken up, pursued solo careers, reunited and now play wherever and whatever they please.
And they played too much of “Long Road out of Eden” Wednesday. That was the studio album the Eagles released in 2007. I'm sure they are very proud of it, but it is not on par with the band's glory decade of the 1970s.
The show started tepidly with four songs from that 2007 album. Then, in the second set following a 20-minute intermission, here came a total of five more “Eden” offerings (including the CD's best song, Henley's haunting “Waiting in the Weeds.”)
In other words, there were plenty of opportunities for fans to partake of one of the arena's large draft beers, if they wanted to shell out the $8.50 – yes, $8.50, isn't that ridiculous?! – that those beers cost.
There was so much of the “new” CD that the band never got to “Tequila Sunrise,” “Already Gone,” “Wasted Time” or a number of other fan favorites.
But when you've got as many hits as the Eagles do, you can't play everything. And the fans didn't seem to mind.
When a lone trumpet sounded out the first notes of the iconic rock anthem “Hotel California” early in the first set, the crowd was fully engaged and stayed that way. Frey kept the patter going between numbers, referring to “Take it to the Limit” as “the credit-card song.”
While the Eagles' staging was stark and relatively funereal – all the backup band members wore black and white, too – the 28-song show was enhanced by a number of multi-media clips and photos. Dreamlike sequences projected during “The Boys of Summer” were particularly effective.
Walsh donned a “helmet cam” for “Life's Been Good,” which allowed fans to watch themselves watching Walsh. It was the night's one real bit of gimmickry, but Walsh pulled it off – his goofiness a fine counterbalance to Henley's intensity.
Eventually, the Eagles took off their jackets, loosened their black ties and rocked out to “Life in the Fast Lane.” Their two-song encore – Frey's “Take It Easy” and Henley's “Desperado” – sent fans out into the night on a wave of nostalgia.
“That felt just like high school,” one baby-boomer fan said to another as the crowd headed for the exits.
And if you're of a certain age and the Eagles served as the soundtrack for a significant part of your life, you knew exactly what he meant.

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