DonFan
09-30-2008, 11:18 AM
Kendra GETS IT.
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Review: Eagles deliver sweet nostalgia
By Kendra Meinert • Gannett Wisconsin Media • September 30, 2008
Two songs into what would become a marathon set Monday night at the ReschCenter, Glenn Frey told the crowd, “Check your ticket stubs. This is the Eagles’ Assisted Living Tour. And we’re the Eagles, the band that wouldn’t die.’’
At least he got it half-right.
Not battling egos, not 28 years between studio albums and not even apparently hell freezing over have been able to stop the long run of the ’70s kings of California country-rock. But as for any signs that somehow time is starting to catch up with Frey, Don Henley, Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmit – all hovering near 60 – there were virtually none to be found during a show that goes down as the most expensive ticket in Resch history.
Twenty-eight songs. Two hours and 45 minutes. Four frontmen all in fine voice. One stunningly spare “Desperado’’ to end the night. Not only did the Eagles give 6,494 fans their $177 worth, but they looked like they were having a better time doing it than they did during a rather frosty performance in 2003.
On a stage that resembled the Hollywood Bowl with a massive arched video backdrop, the foursome in black suits, white shirts and ties actually broke from their standard wall-of-singers formation to share mics, trade guitar licks and get about as playful as the Eagles get.
Goofy caricatures of themselves floated around in an animated aquarium video behind them during “Funk #49.’’ Walsh – always the life of the Eagles’ party – strapped a “helmet cam’’ on a Cheesehead during “Life’s Been Good’’ and stalked the crowd with the lens as he slipped in alternate lyrics: “I go to Lambeau, root for the Pack.’’ And was that actually a smile from Henley behind the drums on “One of These Nights’’ as the group revisited its arena-rock roots during a looser, faster finish to the night?
Perhaps they were revitalized by having new music to serve up (and by a terrific four-piece horn section). They played generously from “Long Road Out of Eden,’’ their first studio release since 1979’s “The Long Run,’’ opening with four of its tracks. They came back after an intermission to do another string of three acoustically on stools, including a poetic “No More Walks in the Wood’’ a cappella.
The new album’s title track, Henley’s 10-minute think piece on the U.S. involvement in Iraq, came later – the grittiest performance of the night with monster guitars, a marching drum beat and war footage. If that song didn’t remind the crowd he remains the Eagle with the best voice, “Boys of Summer’’ and “Desperado’’ no doubt did.
It was the classic hits that lured those mostly boomer fans to shell out as much as $177 a ticket to return to the soundtrack to their youth. Whether it was Frey – still looking the California cool cat -- effortlessly leading on “Peaceful Easy Feeling’’ or Schmit’s trippy mellow of “I Can’t Tell You Why,’’ the lush harmonies that have been the group’s signature since the early ’70s still feel like warm sunshine on your face.
So no wonder when a room-commanding trumpet solo opened into a well-worn “Hotel California’’ just five songs in, the crowd couldn’t help but get to its feet. Nothing feels as good as sweet nostalgia delivered like it was just yesterday.
Kendra Meinert writes for the Green Bay Press-Gazette.
---------------------------
Review: Eagles deliver sweet nostalgia
By Kendra Meinert • Gannett Wisconsin Media • September 30, 2008
Two songs into what would become a marathon set Monday night at the ReschCenter, Glenn Frey told the crowd, “Check your ticket stubs. This is the Eagles’ Assisted Living Tour. And we’re the Eagles, the band that wouldn’t die.’’
At least he got it half-right.
Not battling egos, not 28 years between studio albums and not even apparently hell freezing over have been able to stop the long run of the ’70s kings of California country-rock. But as for any signs that somehow time is starting to catch up with Frey, Don Henley, Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmit – all hovering near 60 – there were virtually none to be found during a show that goes down as the most expensive ticket in Resch history.
Twenty-eight songs. Two hours and 45 minutes. Four frontmen all in fine voice. One stunningly spare “Desperado’’ to end the night. Not only did the Eagles give 6,494 fans their $177 worth, but they looked like they were having a better time doing it than they did during a rather frosty performance in 2003.
On a stage that resembled the Hollywood Bowl with a massive arched video backdrop, the foursome in black suits, white shirts and ties actually broke from their standard wall-of-singers formation to share mics, trade guitar licks and get about as playful as the Eagles get.
Goofy caricatures of themselves floated around in an animated aquarium video behind them during “Funk #49.’’ Walsh – always the life of the Eagles’ party – strapped a “helmet cam’’ on a Cheesehead during “Life’s Been Good’’ and stalked the crowd with the lens as he slipped in alternate lyrics: “I go to Lambeau, root for the Pack.’’ And was that actually a smile from Henley behind the drums on “One of These Nights’’ as the group revisited its arena-rock roots during a looser, faster finish to the night?
Perhaps they were revitalized by having new music to serve up (and by a terrific four-piece horn section). They played generously from “Long Road Out of Eden,’’ their first studio release since 1979’s “The Long Run,’’ opening with four of its tracks. They came back after an intermission to do another string of three acoustically on stools, including a poetic “No More Walks in the Wood’’ a cappella.
The new album’s title track, Henley’s 10-minute think piece on the U.S. involvement in Iraq, came later – the grittiest performance of the night with monster guitars, a marching drum beat and war footage. If that song didn’t remind the crowd he remains the Eagle with the best voice, “Boys of Summer’’ and “Desperado’’ no doubt did.
It was the classic hits that lured those mostly boomer fans to shell out as much as $177 a ticket to return to the soundtrack to their youth. Whether it was Frey – still looking the California cool cat -- effortlessly leading on “Peaceful Easy Feeling’’ or Schmit’s trippy mellow of “I Can’t Tell You Why,’’ the lush harmonies that have been the group’s signature since the early ’70s still feel like warm sunshine on your face.
So no wonder when a room-commanding trumpet solo opened into a well-worn “Hotel California’’ just five songs in, the crowd couldn’t help but get to its feet. Nothing feels as good as sweet nostalgia delivered like it was just yesterday.
Kendra Meinert writes for the Green Bay Press-Gazette.