Don Felder in the Press/Blogs/etc.

[UndertheWire]

Do you think the audience would have been satisfied if he played a few more of his solo songs? To me, it seems he's not playing to his strengths by playing songs like "Tequila Sunrise" and "Peaceful Easy Feeling" rather than more guitar-driven "rock".

[OutlawManNJ]

Do you think the audience would have been satisfied if he played a few more of his solo songs? To me, it seems he's not playing to his strengths by playing songs like "Tequila Sunrise" and "Peaceful Easy Feeling" rather than more guitar-driven "rock".

I think the average fan wants to hear eagles stuff with a few solo songs, which is what he did.

I do think its kinda weird when he plays songs from the band thatnhe didnt record....though he did play them for many years. Tequila along with a few others he did a real nice job.

[Ive always been a dreamer]

Do you think the audience would have been satisfied if he played a few more of his solo songs? To me, it seems he's not playing to his strengths by playing songs like "Tequila Sunrise" and "Peaceful Easy Feeling" rather than more guitar-driven "rock".

I agree with this statement UTW. As a matter of fact, I had very similar feelings about his album 'Road to Forever'. I expected a much more rockin' guitar sound from him as well.

[Funk 50]

Well Sunday in NJ Felder played a solo show with no opening band, it was just his band. The very nice theatre in Morristown holds 1300 and it was pretty close to sold out. So he probably can tour around the country solo and easily fill up places for 500-1000 people. Of course most people go to hear eagles songs but i was also curious to see his guitar work especially.

I'm delighted to read that, thanks OutlawManNJ, although you can't know why most of the audience are there. Until he tries it, we don't know how many seats he'd sell if he stuck to playing Don Felder songs.

Great performers sell the song, in Felder's case, the songs are selling the performer. His Eagles show has a modest audience, he may be able to build a greater audience playing his own material, focussing on his guitar chops. I imagine Glenn and Don get bigger royalty checks from his set list than he does.

[chaim]

Don should try Neil Young's "I'll play whatever I want" approach now and then. Neil did that even before he was a big star, so surely Don could afford to do that now once in a while.
Don could play the solo stuff only and promote his Eagles association with a short PowerPoint lecture about how he wrote Hotel California, and then play that one Eagles song.

[UndertheWire]

He plays what he thinks the audience wants to hear and I'm sure the Eagles songs get a great response which reinforces that idea. I can see it's the safe option when he's the opening act as presumably the majority of the audience are there to see the headliners and won't know his solo work. However, when he's headlining, he can have a longer set and could include more of his solo work in addition to the Eagles songs. Which is what he seems to be doing.

Songwriter royalties for performance are funny. Although the venue has to pay the rights organisation, it gets put into a pool and is shared out according to a sampling method that looks at the top 200 tours (maybe with a few adjustments) and typically Felder's shows wouldn't make that list. When Felder opened for Styx/Foreigner that was probably the first time that Felder or Henley or Frey received a songwriter royalty from Felder's performance. And clearly, Henley and Frey would each have received more than Felder.

[Topkat]

I was checking out the list of Timothy's song writing credits a week or so ago, at ascap.com and was stunned to see One Of These Nights Intro was credited to him.
The writers are listed as Felder/Frey/Henley/Schmit/Walsh. Schmit and Walsh weren't even in the band when that was recorded.

Song writing credits obviously aren't as black and white as they ought to be.

If Felder had a strong fan base, he wouldn't be performing 60 to 85% Eagles songs, during his concerts nor would he be, forever prattling on about Hotel California.

I'm glad you enjoyed Felder's show on Saturday night Topkat. I'm sure he put on a great show but his act obviously can't sell enough tickets to headline a solo tour. I wish he'd take a punt with a proper Felder show rather than just continually churning out his ex Eagle act. Surely he's rich enough to try it out.

I'm interested to see if Felder mentions the unfortunate incident at the recent Henley concert. Will he show Henley some support for ejecting a Felder fan who heckled Steuart Smith. Maybe even wishing Glenn a happy birthday and get well soon message, too while he's at it.
I'm drifting into the realms of fantasy aren't I

Why would Felder mention the incident at Henley's show? He probably doesn't even know about it. I didn't until I came on here. Why would he even say anything about it? He wasn't there & had nothing to do with it. Do you expect him to make a statement about it? He's touring himself, so I doubt he is following what is going on with Henley's shows.

[SilverMoon]

Why did Glenn get a songwriting credit, then? He is basically calling Glenn a liar, but given some of the other stuff he says about Glenn I guess nobody should be surprised.

If Felder is so great & has such a strong fan base, then he shouldn't be a support act. Why is he never asked hard questions like if you are such a great musician why did you release one album before the Eagles reformed & one after you were fired? Why is he never asked if he possibly, just possibly, could accept some responsiblilty for what happened instead of blaming everyone else?

He may be obligated to answer questions. It seems to me that he screens them beforehand to ensure he's not asked anything challenging.

As for the setlist percentage that UTW provided; that speaks for itself. I wasn't far off with 80%.

It seems to me that Glenn is the one who screens questions beforehand. It’s hard to believe he never gets asked questions about Don Felder.

After the Eagles broke up, Don Felder made a solo album, worked as a studio musician, and contributed songs to movie soundtracks. He retired from the entertainment business in 1987 to spend more time with his children. He’s said so in interviews and in his book.

According to Glenn Frey online, Glenn opened 9 shows for Fleetwood Mac in 1982 and 30 shows for Tina Turner in 1985. I guess he wasn’t successful enough to headline an entire tour of his own.

Glenn is considered a great songwriter, yet he hasn’t released a solo album of original material since 1992.

Jack Tempchin, who wrote “Peaceful Easy Feeling” and co-wrote “Already Gone,” has praised Don Felder on Facebook for his versions of both songs. Don was the Eagles’ lead guitarist for years. I think people want to hear him play Eagles’ songs.

[chaim]

I wasn't aware that Jack Tempchin's on Facebook. As far as I can remember he has written one and co-written two Eagles songs. IMO that's not enough to be on Facebook as "Eagles songwriter Jack Tempchin". He's such a famous and successful songwriter so why does he need that at this point in his career? But it must be ok by Glenn since they are pals. However, in the internet age when no one cares about facts that might give the wrong impression - that he wrote a lot of their hits.

It's funny how Glenn always downplays his contributions to the Eagles while there are people who seem to exaggerate theirs. And yet Glenn is the one people say is an egomaniac. Sorry to go a bit off-topic here, but I couldn't resist.

[UndertheWire]

I'm going to respond to diverse posts, so I hope the quotes work.

I wasn't aware that Jack Tempchin's on Facebook. As far as I can remember he has written one and co-written one Eagles song. IMO that's not enough to be on Facebook as "Eagles songwriter Jack Tempchin". He's such a famous and successful songwriter so why does he need that? But I guess it'sit must be ok by Glenn since they are pals. However, in the internet age when no one cares about facts that might give the wrong impression - that he wrote a lot of their hits.

Jack Tempchin also co-wrote "The Girl from Yesterday", "Somebody" and "It's Your World Now". He's written lots of songs, but his most successful have been for the Eagles or with Glenn Frey.

It seems to me that Glenn is the one who screens questions beforehand. It’s hard to believe he never gets asked questions about Don Felder.

I'm sure interviewers are told in advance that he won't answer questions about Felder or the lawsuit.

After the Eagles broke up, Don Felder made a solo album, worked as a studio musician, and contributed songs to movie soundtracks. He retired from the entertainment business in 1987 to spend more time with his children. He’s said so in interviews and in his book.

The only part I'd question in that is the "1987" as his credits seem to stop in 1984/85.

According to Glenn Frey online, Glenn opened 9 shows for Fleetwood Mac in 1982 and 30 shows for Tina Turner in 1985. I guess he wasn’t successful enough to headline an entire tour of his own.

In interviews from that time, he talked about the problem of becoming a solo artist after years of being in a group where they kept a low-profile as individuals. Joe Walsh also toured as a supporting act in the early 90s. I see no shame in any of them being supporting, including Felder.

Glenn is considered a great songwriter, yet he hasn’t released a solo album of original material since 1992.

And his answer is always that the Eagles and his family have taken up his time. He did actually release 4 new songs in 1995. I wish he'd do more.

Jack Tempchin, who wrote “Peaceful Easy Feeling” and co-wrote “Already Gone,” has praised Don Felder on Facebook for his versions of both songs. Don was the Eagles’ lead guitarist for years. I think people want to hear him play Eagles’ songs.

Henley's recent tour only included one "Eagles" song, Glenn's most recent tour was about 30% Eagles and Timothy's 2012 tour was about 20% Eagles. So Felder playing 70-80% Eagles songs, played as close to the recordings as he and his band can manage, including many songs that were created long before he joined the band, shows a lack of adventure.

As a supporting act, or playing corporate shows, he may play it safe because most of the audience won't know his solo material but maybe he could headline a few shows in smaller venues aimed at his more hard-core fans and take a few chances.