Do you like to hear the Eagles play their songs "just like they are on the album"?

[sodascouts]

The Eagles often assert that their fans want the music live to sound exactly as it does on the records. However, is this really the case? I have heard them criticized for this as often as I've heard them praised for it.

[sodascouts]

I'm on the fence. I like ad libs and additions, but when they do a complete overhaul of the song, I rarely embrace it. Fleetwood Mac is one of the bands I've seen that's able to pull off completely restructuring a song a la Big Love, Rhiannon, and I'm So Afraid.

In the case of the Eagles, I've loved seeing past bootlegs where they add an extra verse to Tequila Sunrise or Joe adds some unexpected frills to a guitar solo. However, when Henley re-arranged Hotel California to be a "mariachi song" for a solo show, I'm afraid my ears started to bleed. If the Eagles did that in concert, I would be appalled!

I guess I'd say... I want some differences, but not too much, please!

[EagleLady]

Personally, I don't care as long as I hear great music

[Prettymaid]

With the Eagles, I like them to play them just like they are on the album. But I don't think I've heard an example of any other way.

I tend to like the first version I hear of a song, but that's not always the original. The first time I ever heard Help Me Through the Night (which I realize is not an Eagles song), was on HFO. I loved it! Then later, when I bought Joe's Greatest Hits and heard his recorded version, I knew immediately that I liked the HFO version better.Walk Away? Instrumentally I like the way the original sounds compared to F1, but I love the little things Joe does to the song vocally in F1. And that's true of most of Joe's songs. I enjoy the little vocal changes he makes to In The City and Life's Been Good on F1. Small changes - yes, but I love the way he has fun with his songs vocally.

So, I voted for little changes.

Maybe someone can give me an example of an Eagles song that has been slightly altered for HFO or F1. I just can't think of any, except for the obvious-the horn intro to Hotel California.

[MikeA]

I'm from the early days of real Rock Music....60's mostly and the thing I really loved about those days was the way the bands would lay down a foundation and then really get into the improv with the solos.

I can't see the Eagles doing that. They have chosen to go with the live performances being identical to the recordings. I have to respect their commitment to that simply because it is what they have chosen to do.

But honestly, I'd really like to see them loosen up and have some fun. One could argue that they are as polished as they can become and that they have such perfect compositions that they couldn't improve on them. But I really think that they are bound to have had inspirations over the years with some of the songs that would actually improve on what that originally recorded. We'll never know.

My vote was that they "mix it up" a bit but I was really somewhere in between the second and third voting options. Maybe if there were some songs that they replicated the recordings with and then others where they tried out new stuff in the old songs.

But what they do now is just almost too mechanical for me. Sorry guys. Love what you do but can't help but believe that there is a lot of creativity missing in the old standards.

Now, I have to contradict myself a bit here. With the improv, there is always the nights when it just isn't there and when that happens, the audience is going to come away disappointed. With the Eagles and their methodology, There is little chance of that happening. Even their "off nights" are spectacular.

[Fan_For_Life]

I like little changes, but no major re-arrangements of songs.
Adding a line here or there or arranging a part of the song but not an entire song.

I expect the songs to sound a certain way and that's the way I hear them on the album. Now who am I to try and hold back a musician from showing off what he/she is capable of with their particular instrument/s. The song should always come back to what it's originally suppose to sound like or it doesn't have the same effect. It's like a disconnection/reconnection if you will.

Any musician who can sound exactly like the album in a live setting is perfection. The Eagles come pretty darn close.

[MikeA]

Maybe someone can give me an example of an Eagles song that has been slightly altered for HFO or F1. I just can't think of any, except for the obvious-the horn intro to Hotel California.

How about the acoustic "Hotel California"? But there are VERY DARN FEW that they've changed up any at all.

[TimothyBFan]

I don't mind a little change but don't want to hear to much of one. The thing I find myself telling everyone whenever I talk about their concerts is how much they sound just like the albums. In my opinion, they are just perfect so that is wonderful. I have been to so many concerts where the artist just can't pull it off and some where it's been so bad that you can't even tell what song they are even singing. To me that's just wrong and tells me there is a whole lot of engineering going on in a studio. You know that isn't happening for the Eagles.

[Freypower]

I would prefer to see some attempt at spontaneity. I had hoped that this could have happened during the new songs but from what I have heard, it has not. Joe occasionally changes his solos around (the last version I heard of In The City seemed quite different) and there will be the occasional word change (I have heard Glenn sing 'man you know you had it coming' in Somebody). I think more could be done along these lines.

[Troubadour]

I appreciate and admire the fact that the guys can perform these songs live, after so many years, and still have them sound the way they do on the record. Willie is right - there are many artists that can't do this, and, let's face it, no-one wants to go to a concert and hear their favourite song performed so differently that they can barely recognise it.

Having said that, I am, in general, in Fp's camp of "more spontaneity, please". I suppose where I'd really like to see some spontaneity is in the chatter between songs, but it would be nice to hear a few more ad-libs/small vocal variations during songs, too. To me, it shows that they're having fun, and it livens things up a bit. I like the freedom that live music/live performance allows, and I can see why some might criticize the Eagles for not being as adventurous as they could be on stage.

I don't hold out much hope of changing 'em after 40 years though