Eagles.... 3.0

[FreyFollower]

UTW, I'm sure you are right about direct donations often being more profitable for a charity than benefits. I have seen costs of fund raisers actually leave a deficit when all is tallied.
On the "Family and Friends" topic---I don't see a problem with actual family being included in the stage band or even featured briefly. I would enjoy seeing them, and it would make it seem more like a special event. It's only two shows. The guys have good taste---I don't think it would be gratuitous or cheesy.
Any of their friends would be fine with me as long as they didn't take up too much of the show. Mostly I am glad they are not billing as simply Eagles.

[Dawn]

There are individuals and entities who can and do underwrite benefits all the time. How the Eagles choose to honor Glenn is their call and I'm not suggesting they have no right to do as they please.

[Freypower]

Dawn, I have agreed with pretty much everything you have posted.

If this is supposed to be a tribute how can it be when I would guess a large proportion of the audience won't even be there specifically to see it? It will just wash past. No community, no sense of loss, no real acknowlegement of Glenn's legacy.

I see that people are now coming around to it as it may not be billed as 'Eagles' but to me the venue & the occasion appear entirely inappropriate. They may prove me wrong; who knows. What they do is up to them.

[Dawn]

Thanks FP, your post is much appreciated and I think your point well taken.

From my perspective, the simple truth is the East/West Classics festival is happening with the Eagles and FM headlining because of Azoff and other industry heavy hitters who have the financial resources, concert promotion experience and many other connections neccessary to support an event of this magnitude. This is a business and frankly there will be a lot of invoices to pay. The Talent budget alone must be through the roof.

Second, the location and size of the venues selected are clearly intended to accommodate many thousands of people from all age groups but in particular baby boomers who like last year's Desert Trip festival where according to Forbes the average age of stage acts was 72 are major consumers likely to spend the big bucks on high priced seating, VIP packages, meet and greets, etc.

I haven't given a lot of thought to how a tribute to honor Glenn Frey at this event and other concerts down the road might be structured but in light of JW's statement it would seem The Eagles Family would include the remaining members and persons related to them and the late Glenn Frey. Friends would be performers with special ties to the band both long and short term but I'm only guessing. Bob, Jackson and others may be considered family.

Paul McCartney and opening act Neil Young joined together for a medley of Beatles songs and performed a tribute to John Lennon at the Desert Trip festival. I'm thinking something along those lines with Eagles Family and Friends but really who knows in this technically advanced era there are many options.

All I know for certain is I won't be going the time to honor Glenn with a special concert in a venue I would find more condusive to celebrating his extraordinary career and legacy has come and gone. The Hollywood Bowl would have been a good choice or another amphitheater under the stars ... wow can't even imagine how beautiful that would be with Glenn's songs from his solo albums along with Eagles classics. Maybe that will happen in the future but really it's late in the day ... Feels strange already. I'm over it.

Dawn

PS The costs involved for putting on a benefit tribute concert or even an annual golf tournament could have been absorbed by benefacors and sponsors along with a customary percentage of ticket sales/entry fees.

[New Kid In Town]

Hi all. I have very mixed feelings about this, especially after Don spent the last year(as late as Dec. during the KCH) denying the guys would ever play together. I know people make statements they say in grief but Don was so firm about not doing something like this. I just feel if they wanted to honor Glenn, they could have done it in another way.

IMHO Citi field is not really the best place to hold such a festival. It only holds around 45,000 people. Met Life Stadium(Giants Stadium) holds 80,000 people and has train and the NJ Turnpike to hold the traffic. Citi Field requires train/bus to the subway if you do not drive. This whole thing just sounds money driven to me.

Question: Just saw an interview the other day where Don said he had been "estranged" from Glenn the last few years. Hah, what do you all make of this
Tina

[MaryCalifornia]

Hi Tina, I think by "estranged" he meant that they literally never speak to each other unless they are on stage performing or doing a required promotional activity. Like Mick and Keith. I don't think it means they disliked each other, but they were not close outside of work, to the extent that they probably did not directly communicate at all.

I don't think they are doing these shows to honor Glenn, I think they're just doing them.

[Freypower]

Hi Tina, I think by "estranged" he meant that they literally never speak to each other unless they are on stage performing or doing a required promotional activity. Like Mick and Keith. I don't think it means they disliked each other, but they were not close outside of work, to the extent that they probably did not directly communicate at all.

I don't think they are doing these shows to honor Glenn, I think they're just doing them.

If that's the case, in my honest opinion, that makes it even worse. They just can't be bothered honouring Glenn. They have had a year to do so and they haven't.

If we are going to bring up the stuff about Don & Glenn only communicating when they were working that is not an excuse to just continue on as if Glenn never existed.

Glenn's fans deserved something, I thought. Some sort of DVD tribute like Concert for George. Not this huge heap of absolutely nothing. Thank goodness for Seger & Tempchin who at least made an effort.

[MaryCalifornia]

FP, I wasn't trying to link these two different topics to each other or imply that lack of a proper tribute is due to communication issues between the guys. I don't think these two topics have anything to do with each other - was not trying to say the one is an excuse for the other. Was just addressing two things in the prior post in different paragraphs.

[New Kid In Town]

Thank You Mary Calif. JMHO, but sounds like Don and Glenn just had a "working relationship" and had not been friends for years. Tim did not have many nice things to say about Glenn in that last interview posted on the board. Makes me wonder any of them were friends or just "business partners". In that interview with the Washington Post for the KCH, JB stated he had been estranged from Glenn for years too. I know that the Henley/Frey relationship has been complicated for years, but friends ? Maybe not so much.

FP, I also hope they do some kind of memorial concert to honor Glenn. Two huge stadium concerts billed as "Eagles Family And Friends" do not fit that bill for me. This just sounds like a money grab for all involved.

[thelastresort]

I thought it was quite well-known that the Eagles weren't all best friends, as I suspect is the same for many bands. It was a different case back in the early 1970s but since Hell Freezes Over I can very well imagine they just treated each other in the same way the rest of us treat work colleagues. I believe it was the case that Henley didn't partake in any post-show meals etc near the end.