Niagara Falls 8-16-07, 8-17-07
Thursday Night Show
OK, first off, here's the setlist:
Peaceful Easy Feeling
Lyin’ Eyes
Some Kind of Blue
The One You Love
Silent Spring / Tequila Sunrise
I Love to Watch a Woman Dance
I Dreamed There Was No War
You Are Not Alone
No More Cloudy Days
Take It to the Limit
I’ll Come Runnin’ Back to You
You Belong to the City
Smuggler’s Blues
Who’s Been Sleepin’ in My Bed
The Heat Is On
Heartache Tonight
Take It Easy
Desperado
First, let me apologize for the lack of photos. We were RIGHT in front of security all night, and there was no way for us to get them. I even clutched the camera tightly in my hand for a few songs, but was never able to get a chance to lift it to take photos. I’m sorry!
Some overall comments:
Glenn wore an overshirt with three stripes: white, black, and gray. He wore blue jeans and had obviously lost weight. The shirt underneath was white. His hair was longer, too, which we loved.
He played a lot more guitar solos than usual, and he said about halfway through that his fingers were yelling at him for it. In fact he had them “talk” and whine, lol. All of the musicians were great, though. His band was Michael Thompson, Al Garth, Will Hollis, Scott Crago, Jonathan Clark, Danny Grenier, and Richard Mangicaro, and they were all “on.” We saw Michael, Al, and Scott at the bar later, and they talked about how much they’d enjoyed playing. It showed. The next night, timfan also got a chance to talk to Al, Will, Scott, and Michael to tell them how much she loved the show, too. (BTW, Michael was so sweet during the show the second night, waving and smiling at us a couple times!)
Some specific comments:
When introducing Lyin’ Eyes, he asked if anyone was a “repeat customer” from Casino Rama last year. A lot of people hooted and raised their hands. He sighed, “There goes the jokes.” He laughed and said, “You know, Jimmy Durante always used to say at every performance ‘goodnight, Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are.’ I’m gonna say the same thing every night, too.” He took a deep breath. “I’m going to dedicate this next song, to my first wife…” and then most of the audience said with him – “Plaintiff!” That got a lot of laughs.
After Lyin’ Eyes, he said that he enjoyed playing for a “real” audience instead of a corporate one. He said that at corporate shows, it was difficult to do ballads because they talked loudly during them. However, he grinned, “I do ‘em anyway.” He added that they paid well, though – and that a lot of it went to the IRS. Doing an impression of Arnold Schwarzenegger, he added in a thick accent, “Arnold can spend more of my money.” Then he told his “Dammitall” joke, same as last year.
He sat at the keyboard for Some Kind of Blue, which was terrific, and stayed there for the next song, too.
On The One You Love, he went high on the chorus like I love to hear. His voice is so rich on ballads. The sax sounded really great, too.
We heard the first of the new album news after Tequila Sunrise. He talked about the fact that the new Eagles album would be a double CD with twenty songs and would be released on October 30. He then said that he was going to do four of those songs, to everyone’s delight – what a privilege to be in the audience these nights! He joked that if you counted the songs from Hell Freezes Over, that averaged about to one or two songs a year.
The first of these was I Love to Watch a Woman Dance. He did this without the guitar and sounded magnificent.
The next was I Dreamed There Was No War. Before he went on to that, however, he made a few jokes. He said that talking about songs was like dancing about architecture. Then he noticed some powder on his guitar neck that he commented “would really made his hands slide well – nice job, Victor,” then paused and added, “That reminds me of the 80s!” After the audience laughed, he said, “It’s like the old days with Joe Walsh…” [changing his voice to sound more like Joe] “I’m just gonna finish this gram and crash!”
He moved from that to talking more about the new album, specifically Don’s song Long Road Out of Eden. He said it was about ten minutes long and very “ponderous.” He stated that it “covered everything from Julius Caesar to Bush – I’m not joking – Don has really outdone himself this time” and that he wanted to write a short instrumental to “allow the mind to rest afterwards.” That, of course, was I Dreamed There Was No War. He played it on a gold guitar that I don’t remember seeing before (but then again I have a bad memory for such things). He pretty much played it all by himself, with very subtle backing. It was so gorgeous, and his face was very expressive as he played it. It was obviously not just another instrumental track to him; he really was “talking” through the guitar. We loved it.
Our third new song was You Are Not Alone. He introduced it by talking about how it came to be. He said that his son Deacon had acted in a short independent film in Germany and that he was asked to add a song to the score. He used this song, which he had originally written for his daughter Taylor (who was there both nights). He explained that she had gone through a rough patch and it was to comfort her – “I wouldn’t want to be a teenager nowadays,” he said ruefully. “It was a lot simpler when I was growing up.” The song was another moving ballad with lyrics straight from the heart, full of emotion. Again, we all loved it – and we’re not just saying that.
The fourth “new” song was actually one we have heard before – No More Cloudy Days – and yes, it’s going to be on the album (as we all know by now).
Another joke the audience knew was the intro to the next song: “Here’s a song my wife likes to call ‘The Credit Card Song’ – Take It to the Limit!” Since this is my favorite Eagles song and Glenn is my favorite Eagle, this is always so great for me. I adore it!
He played another “new” song that he said he had hoped would be on the album but didn’t make it. After the audience reacted with an “Aw,” he was quick to add that he had a lot of songs on the album, so he couldn’t complain. He said that Eddie Hinton wrote it and he just loved it – he even joked that it might be on his next solo album, Prelude to Obscurity. It was I’ll Come Runnin’ Back to You. He really does up the bluesy number right – tearing up the vocals and giving it the attitude, too. He was even dancing around!
He walked over to the keyboard again and said that it was time for the “urban portion” of the program. He went into You Belong to the City – again with Al doing terrific sax and Danny Grenier doing an exciting guitar solo.
Before doing the next song, he went over to the drum kit where various drinks and a plate of lemons had been placed. He grabbed a lemon with salt and took a bite of it, then he commented, “In the Beatles, Paul McCartney used to do that before Let It Be all the time!”
Then it was time for Smuggler’s Blues, which he introduced with the comment that he had done a lot of “research.” As usual, it rocked, both vocally and instrumentally. I especially loved the guitar parts, and Glenn’s guitar playing towards the end was really awesome.
He introduced Who’s Been Sleepin’ in My Bed by telling the audience that it was written by Jack Tempchin, who also wrote Peaceful Easy Feeling. He added with a smile that Temchin’s songs for the Eagles had paid for his beach house. Straight-faced, he also said that “This song was really popular during the Clinton administration.” After the audience laughed, he launched into the song. His vocals were so strong on this song; again, he can really do those bluesy growls. More great guitar here. Afterwards, he was a bit out of breath, and joked that he needed oxygen.
Before The Heat Is On, he told a few more jokes. He said that the Eagles were now selling merchandise “fashioned towards their fans” – meaning the older set. “We’re selling Hotel California lap blankets and Life in the Fast Lane walkers.” Then he repeated some of the “alternate titles” from Farewell 1 like “The Long Walk.” To those he added “Heartburn Tonight” and said that his daughter had come up with “Hearing Aids All in a Row.” Then, he said that Danny had told him one earlier (although we think it was Michael who came up with it)… “The Heating Pad Is On.” That got the biggest laugh out all of them!
And from that he shot right into the real thing – The Heat Is On. Since it was such a big hit and is still heard all the time on weather forecasts and such, even the old fogeys in the comp seats knew it. There was a bit of a mistake on a guitar part, but they just grinned and kept going. It still rocked.
You guys will be happy to hear that Old Black has returned. It was brought out for the rocker Heartache Tonight. At that point, somebody screamed something complimentary and he replied, “Thanks Uncle Dwayne!”
He got a standing ovation after Heartache Tonight, then he went off stage for a bit as the audience hooted, applauded, and called for more. When he came back out and started into Take It Easy, we were all moving to the beat and wearing big smiles. Everyone also enjoyed Desperado. He sang it while wearing the guitar. Michael Thompson was featured on piano. The audience sung with him that “let somebody love you” echo, which I always love to hear.
He got another standing ovation that lasted so long I wondered if he would do another encore – especially when the house lights went back down – but it was not to be. However, the show was so incredible we couldn’t complain. And there was more excitement ahead – we had another show to look forward to, after all!
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