Why doesn't Joe do pretty songs anymore?

[Freypower]

FP--been meaning to ask you because you've mentioned this before.... Why won't you see a solo show? Is it because you simply don't think you'll ever get a chance of him coming there to do so? Or do you simply have no desire to see him? How about Timothy & Don if you got the chance? Just curious so feel free to tell me none of my business if you wish.

I'm happy to answer this.

1. I don't live in the United States! And no, I would only fly to the US to see Glenn, not the other three. I wouldn't go there to see the Eagles either. My funds are limited.
2. I think the chances of Joe, Don & Tim touring Australia are next to zero. Don never even came here on a promotional tour, whereas Glenn did come here to promote Strange Weather. As I said earlier, I did see Joe back in the 80s as a guest of the Party Boys & the Creatures From America.

Having said that of course I never dreamed that Glenn might tour here by himself either, so never say never.

3. Now for the tricky bit; would I go & see Joe, Tim or Don if I had the chance?

The answer is probably, although to be brutally honest, if I had to choose out of the three of them the order would be Joe, Tim, Don. I have read enough about Don's solo shows over the years to suspect that his show would not appeal to me very much. I don't know how else to say that. He'd have to include a lot more of my idiosyncratic favourites (which he doesn't do now). Most of my favourites of his I have seen him do with the Eagles.

This might make an interesting new topic; who would you see solo, why & why not. It may ruffle some feathers but that's what this board is about!

[Topkat]

With regard to the original question in this thread, I honestly don't care what songs Joe or any of the guys perform when I go to a show within reason. Of course, I have my favorite songs and would love to hear them, but, it's okay if I don't. For me, if I were to go to a show where I didn't know most of the songs, I would not find it as enjoyable - that's about my only criteria. I'm just easy that way. My guess is that Joe probably picks his setlist based on what he thinks the audience wants to hear, along with some things he personally wants to play.

However, I am a bit baffled over why Joe isn't playing more songs from Analog Man on this tour. When I saw him in Vienna last week, he hardly made mention of the album. IMO, four songs would be about perfect. Since the comparison was made to Glenn's After Hours tour, I'll weigh in on that as well. Even though I know a lot of folks here don't agree with me, I personally felt Glenn did too many songs from the album on his recent mini-tour. I think that many slow songs all bunched up together brought down Glenn's usual high-energy live show. For me, part of the live show experience is seeing the audience really get into the show, and I just didn't feel that at some of the After Hours shows (Borderers excluded, of course). I think 4 -5 songs from a new album is about right for an artist (Timothy's Expando-heavy shows being an exception). So for me, there's not enough Analog Man from Joe, and too much After Hours from Glenn. But, the bottom line is that won't stop me from going to see them or make me love them any less.

One more thing I wanted to say is that there is no way I believe any of the Eagles are still touring collectively or solo is just for the money. I'm not saying it's not a factor, but no one will ever make me believe it is the main reason. These guys are pretty wealthy, if they didn't love what they were doing, they would just rest on their laurels, fade off into the sunset, and live the rest of their lives doing what they want to do. And that's my point - I believe they are living their lives doing exactly what they want to do. And I say kudos to them - I think they've earned that right! I just wish it were me.

Dreamer, I agree with you on most of this. I really would be happy to see any of the guys solo shows & would be Ok with pretty much whatever they chose to play, but I had one exception this year & that is Glenn's show, which I heard was very heavy on the new album, After Hours.
I could have gone to see Glenn, as he played in NYC, but I am not really nuts about the songs on the new album. I am just not into these old songs or this style of music. I then made the choice to pass on his solo show this year. I think Glenn has a lot of material to pick from, both from the Eagles & his solo work, but I knew this tour was a lot of After Hours, which is not my favorite.

As for Don, Tim or Joe, well, I think I could be happy with whatever they wanted to play. I did find it disappointing that Joe didn't do more from Analog Man, but I do love Joe's old songs. Whatever his reasons were for not doing more of it, who knows???
Timothy's show was very heavy on Expando, but that was OK with me. I did love that he threw in some Eagles, Poco & I think just, The Shadow off an old album. Tim is my exception, as I can watch him do anything, but he really just has less material to choose from. I loved his show this year, so I was very happy with what he chose to play!
I have seen Don's solo show a few times, but not lately, but I do recall that I was happy with his selection of songs. Don also has a huge selection of material to pick from & he always played his best songs, as I recall.

[Ive always been a dreamer]

I could have gone to see Glenn, as he played in NYC, but I am not really nuts about the songs on the new album. I am just not into these old songs or this style of music. I then made the choice to pass on his solo show this year. I think Glenn has a lot of material to pick from, both from the Eagles & his solo work, but I knew this tour was a lot of After Hours, which is not my favorite.

Yeah - Tk ... That's why I think 4 or 5 new songs from an artist is about right. Too much new stuff, no matter how good it is, is probably not going to appeal to the majority of the audience. Conversely, if the artist is promoting a new album, I think most folks expect to hear some new material.

However, these guys are so wonderful to me that I'll go see them no matter what they play. Even though Glenn's After Hours setlist is far from my favorite of his, and I was disappointed that I didn't hear more Analog Man from Joe, I'm such a hardcore fan that I still found their shows to be awesome.

[Topkat]

Yeah - Tk ... That's why I think 4 or 5 new songs from an artist is about right. Too much new stuff, no matter how good it is, is probably not going to appeal to the majority of the audience. Conversely, if the artist is promoting a new album, I think most folks expect to hear some new material.

Oh, I don't mind hearing some new stuff & I would expect Glenn to promote the new album, but "After Hours" is just very different from all his other material. If he did 4 songs from AH, I think I could be okay with that, but from what I was hearing about his show, it was a lot more than that. I guess I am just not as big a fan of Glenn, as maybe some of the other Eagles, so for me it was not much of a sacrifice to pass on this show ( ducks & runs). I do love a lot of Glenn's solo works, but just not the AH album.

[Freypower]

He could have played the entire album & I would not have cared.

Most of the songs are 'old' but it is what he does with them that's important.

[Ive always been a dreamer]

I hear ya, FP, but, unfortunately, I'd bet good money that your opinion is not reflective of the majority of Glenn's audience. As I said before, the average audience tends to get into the show more when they hear the hits. But, I guess deciding on the setlist is always a challenge for the artist - you can't please all the people all the time, that's for sure.

[VAisForEagleLovers]

I agree, Dreamer, that FP's opinion probably doesn't match most on this board. However, it matches mine!!!

[Brooke]

It used to be that most bands toured for a new album and then played several songs from that new album along with the standard hits. If I were going to a show that had been promoted as a tour for the new album, I would expect to hear a lot of new songs. If I didn't want to hear the new album in concert, then I wouldn't have gone to that particular show. KWIM?

I don't know, being a diehard Eagles fan may make us different than casual fans, but if the casual fan has done any research at all before buying a ticket, surely they would know if there were going to be new songs played or not. And surely, with ticket prices these days, the casual fan would surely check that out before buying. So, don't be upset if the band plays songs you don't know.

[sodascouts]

I think most folks have certain songs they expect to hear, and will be disappointed if they don't hear - the big hits. However, most folks also expect to have a few songs they don't know sprinkled in. It's typically acceptable to a casual fan to hear a few songs they don't know as long as those songs aren't in the majority, and the artist still plays the hits that the audience loves.

[VAisForEagleLovers]

I was thinking about this earlier today. I remember reading a lot of reviews (critics, not fans) of shows for our guys leading up to their concert here in DC back in 2008. And typing that number in has me thinking it's been WWAAAYYYYYYY too long since they've been here. But I digress. As concert time was coming up, I read a lot reviews from other cities and our guys were highly criticized for playing songs off LROOE. Apparently fans don't want to hear the Eagles play songs they've never heard before. They come to hear the hits. Other bands can get away with that, but not bands like the Eagles. When people pay that amount of money for a ticket, they should hear the hits. The Washington Post put in a review after the concert that read exactly the same and I sent a lot of emails over it.

Of course, our guys can't win. I've read reviews from other cities more recently where they were criticized for cranking out the hits and nothing else. I guess it doesn't matter what they do, they're wrong.