Someone playing Mandolin offstage??? HOTE

[Jonny Come Lately]

I remember reading that Joe didn't play the smaller stringed instruments as his hands were too large.

Historically after Bernie left band, pretty much all of the country/bluegrass parts (e.g. banjo on Midnight Flyer, pedal steel on The Best Of My Love) were played by Don F in live performances. Joe's hands being too big would partially explain this in case of instruments like the mandolin, although I find it hard to imagine him playing the main country parts of those songs in any case. Would this also explain why Don F played the steel guitar on But, Seriously Folks...?

(As an aside, one thing I've noticed is that in the 1974 Don Kirshner's Rock Concert version of Midnight Flyer Bernie is of course on banjo, with Glenn on slide guitar and Don F playing acoustic, but in the 1976 Houston performance it was all change, with Don F taking over the banjo, Joe playing the slide and Glenn on acoustic!)

[UndertheWire]

Again, it's quite interesting that despite accusations that they sound "just like the record" there have been so many ways they've achieved that sound.

[VAisForEagleLovers]

When Glenn did After Hours, he said in many interviews about how he didn't change up the songs, and even tried to stay in the same key when possible, because there was a reason the song was written the way it was. Reading and listening to all the interviews, it gave me food for thought. Perhaps my imagination is taking off on me again, but it seemed to me that how a song was written, and all the aspects of it, was something to be respected. If you take that one step further, of course they're going to make it sound just like the record, because it's the way they intended it to always sound.

Keeping the sound the same would also cut down on rehearsals. In a joking manner, Glenn has said he uses the same background musicians as a solo artist as with the Eagles to cut down on rehearsal time, but while laughing, there seemed to be an element of seriousness about it. If the rumor is true, or even half true, that they play each song without mistakes 100 times before they stop rehearsing it, then keeping each song the same regardless of who plays what instrument would be critical!

[Brooke]

I definitely remembering hearing the mandolin and wondering who was playing it. I don't really care who is, I just think it strange that they even had it there since they were showcasing Don and Glenn. I think it to be either piped in or Steuart playing.

Doesn't really matter. Just curious!

[chaim]

I definitely remembering hearing the mandolin and wondering who was playing it. I don't really care who is, I just think it strange that they even had it there since they were showcasing Don and Glenn. I think it to be either piped in or Steuart playing.

Doesn't really matter. Just curious!

My guess is that they felt just the two of them strumming acoustic wasn't musically enough.
I'm not sure who came first, Randy or Bernie (I think it was Randy?), but I wonder if Randy had been well enough to tour, would they have started with Glenn and Don, with the other two joining on different songs - one by one.

[Brooke]

Chaim, you are probably right.

And this makes me wonder about Don and Glenn alone on stage in the beginning. They never played alone together on stage in the beginning. It was always the four-them with Bernie and Randy, as far as being a band. They were never a duo.

The two did start writing together alone. I guess that's why they wanted to start the concerts alone.

[VAisForEagleLovers]

I assumed it was a combination of things. Glenn and Don played together with Linda and the two of them decided they wanted to be in their own band. So the two of them talked to Linda and it was she that suggested Bernie. So, in that respect, it really started with the two of them.

Besides that, perhaps it would have been different if Randy's health was up to touring, but since they didn't have all four original members, and they needed to bring on Timothy and Joe, perhaps it was just easier to keep adding with each song.

Also, they are the only two that started and stayed with it (except for those 14 years we don't like to think about). Bernie was an original Eagle, but he's not an official current member (or so it seems), so it was and is the two of them.

I'd like to think it's just the two of them purely so that I can have my own, personal music nirvana at the beginning of each concert, but I really doubt they took my wishes into account. Only because they didn't know how I felt, I'm sure...

[chaim]

Yeah, that's how I've always seen it. Glenn and Don decided to form a band, and that may (or may not!) be the reason they start the show as a duo. But, like Brooke said, Glenn and Don never performed as a duo, so musically it doesn't have to start with just the two of them strumming. So we see Glenn and Don together, because that's kind of how it started, but the extra instruments don't ruin it in any way, because they never actually performed as a duo. So to me it's more like a "symbolic" thing than a musical one. Besides Saturday Night, if I remember correctly, is credited to all the members!
But probably only Glenn and Don actually know why they do it like that. And maybe Bernie!

[sodascouts]

Hmm. It would be a good interview question!

[thelastresort]

Besides Saturday Night, if I remember correctly, is credited to all the members!
!

Indeed, the only song in their ~100 song repertoire that is!