Saw The Eagles yesterday in Cologne ....

[uwe]

... and while they are probably justly regarded as the inventors of "corporate rock" it was an excellent gig.

I had expected somewhat soulless perfection and what I got was excellence with some real grit. Charmingly, someone even played the wrong chord for a couple of seconds early in the set and unsettled the others before he noticed his mistake, so it wasn't all from tape! The harmony vocals are still unearthly perfect, but judging from their individual lead vocals Frey, Henley, Schmitt and Walsh (all attired for the occasion in black suits, black ties and white shirts)



are all great singers and of course they have been doing it for decades. I didn't for even one moment have the feeling they might be using tapes.

Never having seen the Eagles before, I did not know how much Frey plays the master of the ceremonies and jokes ("a song from way back, when the Dead Sea was only just sick ..."), nor that Henley still plays as much drums live as he did yesterday (I had envisaged him playing more guitar). Tracks sung by Schmitt and Walsh are featured prominently, I'd say that if Frey and Henley sing each about 30% of the set, the remaining 40% is shared equally between Schmitt and Walsh. And somehow it all gels, Henley's overly earnest "I want to change the world for the better, but it is all going downhill, I'm a real depressive multi-millionaire", Frey's smooth crooning which is sometimes on the verge of a Las Vegas act (I love his voice and material though, I even listen to his solo albums), Schmitt's pitch-perfect singing (Frey: "He sings up high and plays down low.") located somewhere between ethereal and downright whimpy (guy could easily get a job with the Bee Gees) and Walsh's untutored rawness plus associated clowning (audience webcam on baseball hat, quips like "for those of you young enough, I apologize how your parents played this song to death ...").

Tickets were - the Eagles really invented expensive ticket pricing - expensive, but they did play for more than 2 1/2 hours (intermission taken into account).

They have three keyboarders, an additional guitarist (Stu Smith who probably plays more solos than Walsh as he does all the Don Felder work plus is Henley's sparring partner in writing, also co-produced the last album), another drummer/percussionist, a violinist plus a four man horn section (some of the horn arrangements reaching Blood, Sweat & Tears type intricacy, especially on the James Gang/Walsh solo chestnuts). I probably missed a couple of other sidemen. Sound was crystal-clear (four acoustic guitars or four electric guitars strumming on stage, yet you can pick out at least three of them at any given time), but with enough volume balls to not let you forget you were at a rock concert (and the last quarter of the concert was decidedly rockish, with duelling guitars and drums).

Instrumentally, Walsh is a great gutsy player (though Stu Smith probably has superior technique), his reputation as a slide player is deserved. I've always liked Henley's drumming/groove and was able to witness for the first time yesterday how good a rhythm guitarist Frey is (with lots of clever embellishments), he took just one lead solo during the concert and you could tell that there are other things he's more comfortable with. Schmitt is competent as a bass player (even a little solo at the end of Henley's masterpiece "Long Road out of Eden"), but I will forever prefer Randy Meisner's more upfront playing (Meisner's Take it to the Limit was sung by Frey well, but no one, not even Henley or Schmitt, dared to do those really ultra-high parts Meisner did on the studio version of the last chorus).

Pleasantly, they did not wallow only in the glory of their classics (no Long Run, Tequila Sunrise or Already Gone though), but also played five or six tracks from their recent album.

And finally it was a concert for guitar and bass enthusiasts as all of them would switch guitars (mostly Gibsons and PRS) from song to song (Schmitt playing mostly 5 and 4 string Jazz Basses) with Frey even playing a new Gibson Moderne on one song and Walsh doing some great slide work on a Ron Wood-type mirrored Duesenberg.

Uwe

[Highlander]

Love em but could never warrant the cost of a ticket - not a great fan of "Eden" as a set, saw the "Hotel California" tour, still even have the t-shirt...

1st LP I got was "On The Border" and even was sad enough to chase the 1st single but never got lucky at a reasonable price (b side has never appeared on LP or CD, AFAIK)

Bernie Leadon (listened from outside to a pub gig he played in London in the v early 80's with Al Perkins and Chris Hillman - 400 audience!) was always in charge in the early days - a lot of ego's in the band...

Monster fan of Joe Walsh - can anyone tell me which of his LPs has the words "turn me over" and "play me again" in the run-out grooves...?

The best Eagles CD that they never recorded was Henley's "Inside Job", which easily rivals the best the Eagles ever recorded - simply brilliant material...

Will I ever see them again (love too)...? When hell freezes over, most likely... or at least when the next DVD comes out... 

London...? could have bought you a pint... 

[Dave W]

Never could get excited about The Eagles, though I liked Joe Walsh back in the James Gang days.

OTOH I never understood why some people hate them.

[Highlander]

Some people just love to knock people down, and when you're that big...

Walsh was my big interest, but Don Felder was no slouch, just listen to the "On The Border" or any of the live recordings knocking about, especially to the dual lead interplay with Walsh on "Hotel California" ... I don't think that much of his latterday work though, post the "split", but his earlier stuff, even the sessions with Michael Stanley and Dan Fogelberg, were something else...

[Basvarken]

I saw the Eagles when they did the Hell Freezes Over tour. I was never a huge fan, but I got the ticket for cheap, so I went anyway.
The gig was in a soccer stadium called De Kuip in Rotterdam. "Kuip" means bath tub. That gives you an idea of the acoustic qualities of that stadium.
The supportact was Kenny Wayne Shepherd. I really like their stuff. But the sound was horrible. "The Bath Tub" lived up to it's notorious name.
But then, the Eagles came up. The started their set with Hotel California. (I thought: what on earth will they play for the next 2 hours now that they've already done their biggest hit?)
The sound was incredibly good! As if you were listening to a CD in your living room. The Eagles must have the best sound engineer in the world, if he was able to make a band sound so good in that Bath tub.

And they played hit after hit. I never would've expected that I knew so many Eagles songs. I could sing along to every song they played.
It was one of the best concerts I've ever seen. And again, I'm not even a fan.

[Highlander]

Rob... some how the image of a "Varken" in a "Kuip" brings me a rather humerous image...      

When you are that rich you can afford to hire the best...

Gotta go, the shed beckons and my wife will be back from dropping my daughter off at school, soon, and I'm reasonably fond of my skin...     

[lowend1]

(all attired for the occasion in black suits, black ties and white shirts)

Nice threads. Did they play "Addicted To Love"?

[uwe]

Actually, I could see Don Henley's voice fit that song pretty well though its more of a Glenn Frey type lyric!


I think The Eagle's and in particular Herr Walsh's dress sense has perked up considerably since this fashion outrage:



Speaking of ..., am I the only person to notice more than a passing similarity betwwen Walsh's Funk #49 riff and the vocal chorus to this here:



And while my mind wanders, when did Kevin Bacon turn from teen dance idol to this dark/sinister/disturbed character he is now mostly typecast in in movies? Great actor. Especially in this: