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eagles concert review - greensboro 1/17/09

Published Jan 18, 2009
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Ageless wonders still worth seeing

GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Eagles "Long Road Out of Eden Tour" rolled into the Greensboro Coliseum Saturday night to a mostly sold out audience. The concert opened with the new hit song "How Long" with the four current Eagles nicely dressed in dark suits playing acoustic guitars. The current featured Eagles members are Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmit and the concert also included a horn section, a drummer, two pianists, and  Steuart Smith, a guitarist that replaced longtime Eagles member Don Felder who was fired in 2001.

For those of you in attendance on this night, I am sure that you noticed two things; first was the ridiculous $15 parking fee, and secondly the temperature inside the area. On this cold evening, in which it was freezing outside, it must have been close to 80º inside. Someone must have noticed the sweating crowd and turned it down but it took several hours for the temperature to become bearable. As far as the parking fee... I have been to a lot of high profile events in my lifetime, and have never been robbed of $15 in a more blatant way.

The band, which formed in the early 1970s, sounded technically sharp, and looked just as good as they played a good portion of the hits fans came to hear. The band also "force-fed" the audience eight songs from its latest Grammy-nominated album The Long Road Out of Eden. Not that the music didn't sound good, but common thread of these songs is that they are very mellow and tended to lull the crowd into a calm sleepy mood and I for one was begging to hear something more upbeat and familiar. However, after over 36 years of playing "Take it Easy" to a live audience, I can't blame the band for wanting to play something new. My only suggestion is to integrate these mellow songs in with the upbeat songs to keep the crowd's attention.

After the first song, vocalist Glenn Grey greeted the Greensboro crowd by asking everyone to check their tickets. "We're the Eagles, and this is the 'assisted living' tour." The bad then played three more songs from their new album; “Busy Being Fabulous”, “I Don’t Want to Hear Anymore”, and “Guilty of the Crime” before raising the roof with "Hotel California", perhaps their most popular song. There's a reason these guys have sold over 120 million albums, had five #1 singles, and six #1 albums... they have incredible chemistry and talent, and it showed tonight.

The Greensboro audience was then treated to “Peaceful Easy Feeling”, “I Can’t Tell You Why”, and "Witchy Woman" before Frey introduced the next song "Lyin' Eyes", when he quipped "I am dedicating this song to my first wife... plaintiff." Next up was the Henley solo effort “Boys of Summer”, followed by “In the City”, and  “The Long Run". Frey then announced the band would be taking a short break and promised that when they returned, they would "play for a long time."

A half hour later, the band returned on barstools each equipped with acoustic guitars and played three more new songs, “No More Walks in the Woods”, “Waiting in the Weeds”, and “No More Cloudy Days” from their first studio album in 28 years. The show continued with a slightly more recognizable, yet still mellow "Love Will Keep Us Alive" and "Take it to the Limit", before performing the final 'Eden' album title track "Long Road out of Eden".

The Eagles stage was traditional for the most part, but it had a giant oval video screen that somewhat resembled the famed Hollywood Bowl made famous by the Beatles. After all of the shows that I've witnessed in my lifetime, I am stunned that I am commenting on how amazing the imagery that was displayed on this screen during the concert. I couldn't help but think of the time and expense needed to pull this off. Images ranging from desert scenes, cornfields, and even footage from very early concerts. Truly amazing.

I was truly impressed with the versatility of Don Henley. This man, was not only the vocals of a vast majority of the most popular Eagles' songs, but during the concert the man also played the bongos, acoustic and electric guitars, but also played the drums most of the evening. Not the the drum portions were very complex, but you try doing that while singing the lead in a song. Equally as impressive was Joe Walsh. Not only is he arguably one of the top guitarists in rock history, but he has a great singing voice, and provided lots of funny moments during the show. One which was prior to singing one of his most recognizable solo tunes "Life's Been Good." The 61-yeard-old Walsh, while donning a "hat-cam", apologized to the crowd for their parents playing this song during their childhood "over and over and over and over again." Personally, I haven't seen the Eagles in concert since 1980, but I am always stunned by the voice that comes out of Joe Walsh's mouth. It's very high-pitched, and just doesn't seem to fit. Among the other Walsh songs played on this night were his James Gang's hits "Funk #49", “Rocky Mountain Way” and "Walk Away."

After nearly three hours, the show ended with “Heartache Tonight”, “Life in the Fast Lane”, and another Henley's solo effort “All She Wants To Do Is Dance.” The band then obliged the cheering fans with a two-song encore; “Take It Easy” and “Desperado.” All in all the show was worth every penny that I paid. Even after all of these years, and the storied break-ups, this show was absolutely incredible. It kind of makes me wonder how many more hit songs we missed if only they could have just tolerated one another for the sake of music.


EAGLES SET LIST:
1. “How Long”
2. “Busy Being Fabulous”
3. “I Don’t Want to Hear Anymore”
4. “Guilty of the Crime”
5. “Hotel California”
6. “Peaceful Easy Feeling”
7. “I Can’t Tell You Why”
8. “Witchy Woman”
9. “Lyin’ Eyes”
10. “Boys of Summer”
11. “In the City”
12. “The Long Run”

Intermission

13. “No More Walks in the Woods”
14. “Waiting in the Weeds”
15. “No More Cloudy Days”
16. “Love Will Keep Us Alive”
17. “Take it to the Limit”
18. “Long Road out of Eden”
19. “Somebody”
20. “Walk Away”
21. “One of These Nights”
22. “Life’s Been Good”
23. “Dirty Laundry”
24. “Funk #49”
25. “Heartache Tonight”
26. “Life in the Fast Lane”
27. “Rocky Mountain Way”
28. “All She Wants To Do Is Dance”

encore
29. “Take It Easy”
30. “Desperado”

Filed under: Concerts