Houston, TX 9-09-08
Now THIS is a review--actually, two reviews:
http://blogs.chron.com/handstamp/arc...agles_one.html
September 10, 2008
The Eagles: One show, two reviews
Reviewing the legends -- like the Eagles -- can be tough business. Take Bruce Springsteen, for instance. He got a glowing review back in April that still managed to draw ire for various reasons, not the least of which was the suggestion that Springsteen wasn't immortal. One commenter suggested the format below for a review:
Why can't you just write the facts? Here is what I would like to find out from reading a concert review:
-Venue
-Opening act(if any)
-Start time
-Attendance vs Capacity
-Complete set list
-Encore set list
-Names of band members
-Discription of stage and set-up
-Show highlights
-End time
Then throw in your opinion and anything else you feel you need to add.
For you, my friend, here is an Eagles review. I hope you're reading . . .
Toyota Center
No
8:21 p.m.
19,300 vs. 19,300 (according to one venue rep)
Set list:
How Long
Busy Being Fabulous
I Don't Want to Hear Anymore
Guilty of the Crime
Hotel California
Peaceful Easy Feeling
I Can't Tell You Why
Witchy Woman
Lyin' Eyes
Boys of Summer
In the City
The Long Run
(Intermission)
No More Walks in the Wood
Waiting in the Weeds
No More Cloudy Days
Love Will Keep Us Alive
Take It to the Limit
Long Road Out of Eden
Somebody
Walk Away
One of These Nights
Life's Been Good
Dirty Laundry
Funk #49
Heartache Tonight
Life in the Fast Lane
(encore)
Take It Easy
Desperado
- Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Timothy B. Schmit, Joe Walsh, others
- The stage was flat. There were lights. The backdrop often had video that pertained to the song at hand. So if there was a lyric about a spider, there'd be a picture of a spider.
- Highlights: Anytime Joe Walsh opened his mouth, anytime the guys harmonized, the surprising inclusion of Boys of Summer, an excellent Hotel California at the front of the set.
- 11:25 p.m.
As a bonus, here's a photo:
Bill Olive for the Chronicle
Frey and Henley: Stuck in the middle with you.
There ya go. If anybody would like to read more, click below.
Loved and loathed, the Eagles are, I believe, more than worth talking about at length. The fellow who recommended the above review format also suggested I save long-form musings for my "novel" (huh?). He can skip this part.
"We were the band that wouldn't die," Frey said two songs into the band's sold out set at the Toyota Center Tuesday, the first of two shows. And that's true. But the Eagles were MIA during some crucial years. Breaking up might have been easy to do in 1980 when the members would hardly speak to each other. In doing so, the band protected the Eagles brand. Say what you will about the Eagles, but they weren't putting out lousy, synthy albums that got ignored in the '80s and '90s. A disappearing act left their legacy in tact while also generating wanting. There's also the fact that 28,999,999 people other than me own their Greatest Hits album. And many of them had kids who heard it on road trips throughout childhood.The crowd -- more parents than kids, but not without kids -- was one hungry baby bird.
So let's start with the loving and then get to the loathing. It's easy to see this band's appeal. The Eagles have always had an easy way with a gorgeous harmony. The show occasionally had the feeling of a guitar pull with each of the four Eagles needing a turn at the mic every few minutes. But regardless of who took the lead, the harmonies in and around the choruses continue to whisper through like a back porch breeze. Opener How Long is among the best of the songs from the band's latest, Long Road Out of Eden, a countrified stomper that could've snuggled up next to Already Gone three decades ago. The structure of the band's first set was air-tight. Each Eagle took a crack at one new one (Walsh's Guilty of the Crime was also a standout) before a trumpet solo announced a spine tingling Hotel California.
It could just be a sign that I'm getting old, but after a good 15 years or so of having rock 'n' roll thumb its nose snobbily at the notion of a guitar hero, I found the hair on my arms standing up just a little as Walsh and guitarist Stuart Smith did an old fashioned guitar duel on California's exciting and prickly outtro.
Favorites then started to fall from the sky. And it wasn't just the harmonies that sounded clear. Not all rock guys get to their sixties with their voices in tact, but all four Eagles, particularly Henley, were in fine voice. Frey's run through Peaceful Easy Feeling retained the song's beautiful melancholy. Though it felt a little odd given the band's Reservoir Dogs attire. Just as there would be no mustaches, there would be no flannel. Black coats, white shirts, black ties. Lyin' Eyes retained its sweet chorus, while Henley's Boys of Summer was a pleasant surprise. Though Henley suggested first set closer The Long Run was the band's theme song, Boys of Summer kind of fits even better: It captures that uneasy truce between nostalgia and progress.
So there are a few of the scores of reasons people love the Eagles. So why do others have such a violent dislike for them? I'm not even talking about Mojo Nixon, who's declaration about the necessity of Henley and Frey's demise was really a joke. But they're a constant target of music snobs. Obviously success makes you an easy target. Hippies have been fair game for years now, and while the Eagles were technically post-hippie, there's still something of a stoner aura about the peaceful, easy feeling days. Or could it be that people resent the fact that the band got together and made millions despite the fact that its members seemed to not get along at all.
Well as for the argument that punk rock was a reaction to the Eagles, that's fine and all, but you still need the Eagles for that to happen. If everybody sounded like the Ramones in 1975 then Bread would be the rebels. And not getting along? Well that's a time-honored rock tradition. The Eagles singers aren't siblings, but they get the sibling harmony thing down, from the singing to the squabbling.
Anyway, at the risk of getting too long winded, the second set was a little less rewarding than the first. It felt less fluid, though it followed a similar path. The band started out sitting, as they did when Hell first froze over in 1994. This batch of songs seemed to rely on the choruses for some oomph, but Take It to the Limit perked things up, though even then fans had to step up and hit the high notes at the end since nobody on stage cared to.
Things started to feel a little jarring after that, as though the band wanted to make sure its arena rock cred was confirmed. Henley's title track from Eden was a strong entry, with him cutting loose on a barbed political song. Frey's Somebody, on the other hand, felt a little shouty. By the time Henley did another solo track (Dirty Laundry) and Walsh dusted off the James Gang's Funk #49 the set had the feel of a free for all.
An encore of Take It Easy and Desperado was nicely restrained, contemplative and gorgeous.
That said the silence that followed was disappointing. Presumably the reason people sacrifice money and eardrums and babysitter money and brain cells and whatever else for these concerts -- as opposed to sitting at home and playing the hits albums -- is for the shared experience. The lights were down after Desperado and they stayed down. Admittedly this is me playing fantasy baseball here, but Seven Bridges Road, done a capella, seemed inevitable -- sort of their harmony masterpiece.
Only problem was the seats were empty and the aisles were clogged. The dark remained for several minutes and then the house lights went up. If there was more, it wasn't going to be for a 25% capacity crowd.
Still unless a set list surfaces, that's just a phantom quibble in my mind. Or maybe it'll happen Thursday. Or the next time Hell freezes over.
By Andrew Dansby
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Originally Posted by Ive always been a dreamer
He didn't take his jacket off all evening though - and it was very warm towards the end. Hope he gets it off tomorrow night. 
