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DonFan
05-25-2008, 07:16 PM
From the NJ Record:

BY MIKE KERWICK, Staff writer

They waited five songs, teasing the crowd with pleasant but unfamiliar songs from the band’s latest album. And then came their fifth song – the song that brought the house down.

Around 8:40 p.m. Saturday night, a trumpet player stood at the corner of the Prudential Center stage, his once-darkened figure now illuminated by a red spotlight. He played for about 30 seconds. The next voice the crowd heard belonged to Don Henley.
"On a dark desert highway...."

With one song, Henley swept away doubts and regrets – doubts about whether this aging band could still hold a candle to their former selves; regrets held by fans who wondered whether it was a mistake to leave their Memorial Day weekend barbecues early. It wasn’t.

The Eagles can do more than carry a tune. They can carry an audience. On Saturday night in Newark, that’s what they did. Most of the credit goes to Henley. Almost a senior citizen –he turns 61 in July – Henley’s voice is still sharp. His vocal cords sounded neither scratchy nor fatigued on Saturday. If only all 60-year-old vocalists aged so gracefully.

The group kicked off the show with four straight songs from "Long Road Out of Eden," their current album, and possibly the last album of new material the Eagles will ever put out. Glenn Frey led the band during the first verse of "How Long." Henley took center stage for "Busy Being Fabulous."

They turned control over to Timothy B. Schmit ("I Don’t Want to Hear Anymore") and Joe Walsh ("Guilty of the Crime") for the next two songs, before Henley sent the crowd into a tizzy. Most every music fan knows "Hotel California." To hear it live is still special. It triggered a response as strong as any of the Eagles’ pre-intermission offerings, including an Eagles rendition of Henley’s most memorable solo hit – "The Boys of Summer."

To Henley’s credit, he lauded the arena. "This is a nice new building you’ve got here," Henley told the crowd. "The acoustics are good. The sound is good."

The Eagles did not stray far from the set lists that they have been playing during the early shows on this tour. They started out heavy on the new material before shifting to the oldies-but-goodies. The group saved two of their best performances of the night for after intermission. Surprisingly, both songs came off the new album. "No More Walks in the Woods" is as haunting in person as it is on the album. And Waiting in the Weeds" offered another showcase for Henley’s voice.

The Eagles continue their five-show run tonight in Newark, before heading to Madison Square Garden for performances on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

If you go, we urge patience. Wait about five songs. Then prepare for the explosion.

Freypower
05-25-2008, 07:18 PM
Nice review, if a bit Henley-heavy.

DonFan
05-25-2008, 08:07 PM
Nice review, if a bit Henley-heavy.
Yes, it was, wasn't it? :inlove:

DonFan
05-25-2008, 09:39 PM
Here's another, from the NJ Star-Ledger:

By Bradley Bamberger

There are more sparks at a senate hearing than flew during the first third of the Eagles show Saturday in Newark. All buttoned up in black suits, the band was as smooth as glass, with Don Henley's regal air and Glenn Frey's stiff jocularity straight out of a politician's handbook.

Even in the '70s, the Eagles never raised as much of a ruckus on stage as off it, and the principal foursome are each around 60 now. For all the note-perfect musicianship, the atmosphere at the first of two Prudential Center shows this weekend could feel pretty far away from rock'n'roll to still qualify for the genre. But the concert was three-hours-plus, and the band eventually let loose, giving the crowd its big-ticket money's worth.

One should probably never take the Eagles for granted. Their "Greatest Hits: 1971-75" is the most popular album in U.S. history at 29 million sold (nearly one copy for every resident of the greater New York and Los Angeles metropolitan areas combined). An even more impressive statistic is that the group's first release of all-new material since 1979 - the double-disc "Long Road from Eden" - was last year's biggest by a rock band, selling 3 million in a direct deal with Wal-Mart.

The Eagles started with four tunes from "Long Road Out of Eden," carefully divided with a lead vocal for each of Henley, Frey, Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmit. Despite the group's uncannily pure harmonies, these performances felt dutiful; so did the first classic in the set. As a snapshot of the '70s off the rails, "Hotel California" is the Eagles at their most profound, but it sounded locked in amber. In the iconic twin-guitar break, hired-gun Steuart Smith - who replaced Don Felder when the Eagle left a few years ago amid lawsuits and a tell-all book - played as beautifully as he would all night, but he didn't show much chemistry with Walsh.

A sequence of airbrushed country-rock ("Peaceful Easy Feeling") and soft-pop weepers ("Can't Tell You Why") threatened tedium. The first half's burst of passion came from Henley's solo hit "Boys of Summer," one of the ageless songs of the '80s. Instead of digging into the Eagles' catalog beyond the FM staples and new album, the set list leaned on Henley's solo material and, even more, that of Walsh. Frey didn't offer the same, his modesty a gift.

Frey admitted to Rolling Stone magazine that "without Don, we'd just be love songs and harmonies. We'd be Air Supply." The Schmit-sung "Love Will Keep Us Alive" could be more mindless than anything by Air Supply ("when we're hungry/love will keep us alive"). But Henley was in good form on the sharper stuff, his grainy tenor lamenting an oil-guzzling nation "bloated on entitlement, loaded on propaganda" in the new album's 10-minute title opus.

If Henley supplies the bite, Walsh provides the humor, and the band gave him a long leash, even if he pulled the show far beyond Eagles terra firma. Along with goofing through his knowing rock-star jape "Life's Been Good," the guitarist led the way in several of his riff-heavy hits with the James Gang, including the night's highlight: a spectacularly rearranged "Funk #49," complete with stuttering, soul-revue horns and a psychedelic-cartoon backdrop.

Freypower
05-25-2008, 11:56 PM
Thanks for that DF, but as a Glenn fan I'm afraid I still find it rather unsatisfactory. Is Glenn's music either that forgettable or that hard to describe? How I wish he would do a couple of the other new songs, even at the risk of some smart reviewer describing them as 'Air Supply' or 'schmaltz' or whatever. The 'modesty' line is bittersweet.

Mrs Frey
05-26-2008, 02:27 AM
Thanks for the reviews, DF, but as much as I love Don Henley and agree with the high opinions of him held by the reviewers, I have to agree with FP. The line about Glenn's :heart: modesty being a gift in that context was hard to swallow. Glenn's :heart: influence in the band creates a balance, and without him there would be no Eagles.

Brooke
05-26-2008, 10:29 AM
Great reviews! Thanks DF!

You know, I'm a Glenn fan, but I'm also a Don fan. It seems as though Glenn does get left out and his songs are kind of passed over. But what can we do about it? Glenn is the leader of the band and that's the way he wants it or he would be doing all of the interviews and press. Instead, he lets Don do all of it, so the press tends to talk about him more. He also had more big hits solo and they remember him for that.

TimothyBFan
05-26-2008, 11:40 AM
Here's another, from the NJ Star-Ledger:

By Bradley Bamberger


Frey admitted to Rolling Stone magazine that "without Don, we'd just be love songs and harmonies. We'd be Air Supply." The Schmit-sung "Love Will Keep Us Alive" could be more mindless than anything by Air Supply ("when we're hungry/love will keep us alive"). But Henley was in good form on the sharper stuff, his grainy tenor lamenting an oil-guzzling nation "bloated on entitlement, loaded on propaganda" in the new album's 10-minute title opus.


What??? I really take offense to that little jab at Timothy! "More mindless"?

Freypower
05-26-2008, 07:11 PM
To me that is a jab at LWKUA, not TIm. I cannot understand why they have retained that song at the expense of some of Glenn's songs, both old and new. LWKUA is, in my opinion, by far the weakest song in the set. It is nice that Tim has three songs to sing, but I think he should be singing Do Something, not LWKUA.

Mrs Frey
05-27-2008, 02:21 AM
I'm sorry, FP, but I have to defend LWKUA. I love the song - I think the lyrics are beautiful, and shouldn't necessarily be taken literally, as the reviewer obviously has. Timothy's voice soars on this song, and the people really like it too - it went down well in London.

I know how you feel about Glenn :heart: not being showcased enough - I'm with you there. I suppose Glenn :heart: also wants everyone to have his place in the sun, and thought that for Tim to sing two songs from the new album would be a gamble. Considering how few of the new songs are known to the audience (at least the audience at the concert I attended), I can see Glenn's :heart: point. Unfortunately, not everyone at the concerts are like us, in the way that we closely listen to every song and study them.

TimothyBFan
05-27-2008, 07:19 AM
I agree that LWKUA is a great song, not only because Timothy sings it (that sure helps in my book tho). But I, like most of you here I'm sure, would love to see them sing all their songs, including their solo stuff. But we know that can't happen or the 3+ hours they already play would turn into a 3 times longer gig. Furthermore, it really bothers me when they compare the love songs to Air Supply-please!!! I've seen that several times and that comparison is no where close in my opinion! :evil:

Brooke
05-27-2008, 11:10 AM
It's funny though, cause Glenn is the one that said it!

TimothyBFan
05-27-2008, 11:22 AM
It's funny though, cause Glenn is the one that said it!

I know-when I saw it again in the Rolling Stone article, I just sighed because it doesn't seem to go away! I still just don't see it!

sodascouts
05-27-2008, 05:08 PM
Thanks for posting these DF!

I wish reviewers could be more positive about ALL the band members, too, but oh well. We appreciate all the guys, at least! ;)

Mrs Frey
05-28-2008, 02:57 AM
Absolutely, Soda! :nod: