I've spent the better part of an hour trying to embed this YouTube video on my iPad and finally gave up. If anyone wants to help me out with that there's a thread in the Border News forum called New YouTube Video player. For now here is a link to the Grammys tribute, Glenn video included.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umgcnHBGXkI[/ame]

Enough time has passed that I feel I can review the performance and be a little more neutral.

First of all, I know most of you thought that Jackson looked anguished during the entire performance, and while I agree that he did, I don't think he was as close to tears as we thought. I've seen him live five times or more, and the older he gets the more he struggles vocally. My take is that his facial expressions come from him trying to sing the song well. As much as I love JB (and those here who have known me since the first time I saw him live can attest to that), he is a better songwriter than vocalist. Please don't get me wrong - I love Jackson's voice - but he's no Glenn Frey. I'm sure he wanted to do a good job on this stage with the remaining Eagles backing him. He knew he had big shoes to fill.

As for the second verse, I agree with some here who said that you could hear Timothy much more clearly than you usually can. I listened to that part over and over and did not think the two voices blended nearly as well as when Timothy would join Glenn. It's just another testament to how well the Eagles voices jelled together. Jackson's voice did not blend well with Timothy's. Again, not a dig at Jackson in the slightest. I love him, but he's no Eagle.

After watching it two or three times I finally heard that it's Joe that calls out, "Come on!" to get the audience into it. Maybe he saw that they were looking somber and wanted to hear them singing along (as audiences normally do to TIE). Then, when the camera goes to him you can see him away from his mic mouthing the 'such a fine sight to see' part. As a Joe fan, I really enjoyed seeing that, because it's so unusual to see him mouthing the words to songs while onstage but, as Shun pointed out earlier in this thread, it wasn't unusual to see Glenn doing it. A nod to Glenn? Maybe not purposely, but that's sure what I thought of when I saw it.

As far as the Don looking angry conversation, I bought into it at first, but after watching it over and over, I think he was just being Don. This seems especially clear after we saw the photos of him with a big smile on his face while receiving the Hotel California Grammy.

And finally, Jackson forgetting the words near the end...after watching again and again, I am convinced that when Jackson stopped singing long enough to call out, "Sing it!", he caused himself to trip up and momentarily forget the words. After seeing him live several times over the past seven years, I know that he tends to forget the words. He even jokes about it on his Solo Acoustic CD when he says something like, 'I want you to know that I don't forget the words to the same song every night.' He has his style of performing live, and the Eagles had there way of performing live, and they are very different. Both wonderful, but different.

I just wondered if anyone else has changed their thoughts on any of these points after letting a few days pass.