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Thread: Crosslake, MN 6-14-08

  1. #1
    Administrator sodascouts's Avatar
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    Default Crosslake, MN 6-14-08

    OK, here's the review!

    First things first - the set list:
    Peaceful Easy Feeling
    Lyin' Eyes
    Some Kind of Blue
    The One You Love
    Tequila Sunrise
    No More Cloudy Days
    Take It to the Limit
    I'll Come Runnin' Back to You
    You Belong to the City
    Smuggler's Blues
    Who's Been Sleepin' in My Bed
    The Heat Is On
    Get Over It (Deacon)
    Heartache Tonight
    Hotel California (Deacon)
    Take It Easy
    I Hear You Knockin' (Deacon)
    Desperado

    I pulled up to the Manhattan Beach Lodge about 2:00, and when I got out of my car to go up to the play area, I heard the opening chords of "Hotel California." At first I was confused, then as I got closer, I heard Deacon's vocal and I realized that he was going to appear! I guess the whole gang was up for Father's Day Weekend, although I didn't see Taylor, so Glenn gave Deacon another chance to perform.

    As I stood by a tree and listened to soundcheck, a couple cute kids came barreling past me with a couple blond ladies chasing after them. The little boy practically ran into me as he spun around to yell something. It was Otis and a little friend of his! Later, he went back on the stage with the little girl and danced around, after which Glenn came over and said "You were really rockin' out!" and laughed. Very cute!

    I headed over to the VIP area at 3:00 and met some really nice people there who I talked to while the opening acts were playing and all that. Shout out to Mike!

    The lodge had made up all sorts of T-shirts to celebrate what one of the locals told me was "the biggest thing to ever happen around here." They were pretty clever, so I bought two - a tank top that said "I was Frey'd at Manhattan Beach Lodge" and another that said "Making the call to his agent: Pennies; Finding a way to get him here: Thousands; having Glenn Frey play in Cross Lake: Priceless." I also snagged a souvenir cup - they were serving beer in them, but since I don't like beer, I asked just for the cup and they obliged. The cup says "The Heat Is On at the Big Trout Tavern."

    The opening acts were pretty good. The first was GB Leighton who came out with just himself and a female violinist (her violin was purple!) and the second was Rockie Lynne. Both were country-type local acts. Leighton gave away free CDs (he ran out before I was able to get one) and Lynne finished with the Star-Spangled Banner, which I thought was nice.

    Then it was time to line up at the stage for Glenn. It was starting to cloud over and what had been a lovely day threatened to turn ugly, but I crossed my fingers and staked out a spot up front. I wound up right under the keyboard where he would sit for a few songs.

    I was once again surrounded by friendly people and had two young girls next to me - one 13 and one 10. Their parents were somewhere in the back. When other people tried to get in front of them, I told the girls they could get in front of me since they were short and would not impede my view. One of them told me her parents knew the guy who owned the place, Rick Born. I heard from people around me that Glenn and this guy were friends because they had once worked together in some capacity - opinions varied as to what that was.

    At around 7:30 he came out wearing black jeans, black dress shoes, a hot pink button-up shirt that had a button undone, and the black jacket with the bit of embroidery on it that he recently wore at a photo shoot. While most of the VIP crowd was somewhat boozy from the limitless free alcohol being served, the audience was enthusiastic.

    They started off with "Peaceful Easy Feeling," but the song's mellow romance was somewhat spoilt because Glenn spent almost the entire song glaring at people who were trying to video him and shaking his head "no" at them sternly. He practically radiated displeasure and after he glared at some person near us, the young girls looked up at me wide-eyed in alarm. I think they might have thought he was mad at the whole audience, including them. Luckily I had not yet pulled out my camera, but I knew then the jig was up regarding video. At least I could still take a few photos.

    Sure enough the first thing he did after the song was ask people not to take videos, but he say photos were OK. Gone was the charm of the request at the Eagles show, and gone were the jokes for the entirety of the show! He said he wasn't going to tell jokes because he wanted to beat the weather.

    He did have time for a few default jokes, though, introducing the next song with a dedication to "Plaintiff" - "Lyin' Eyes." The audience enjoyed this one, and Glenn did seem to lighten up a tad.

    Next, he went over to the keyboard. I could look right up at him - or at least the top half of his face - the stage was so high that I couldn't see more than that from my position directly under it. He introduced "Some Kind of Blue" by saying that not everyone may have heard the song, but he liked it, and that it was off of his second solo album, Prelude to Obscurity. (Oops Glenn - wasn't that your third solo album? ) I didn't get to hear a lot of the song due to some audience drama, but what I did hear was good.

    Al Garth got to shine during the next song "The One You Love" and I thought Glenn's vocals on it were very strong. In fact, I think it was one of his best vocals of the night.

    As Glenn got up to get his guitar, "Silent Spring" began to play, and when the guy asked me what was coming up, I said "Tequila Sunrise." When Glenn tried to start strumming, though - no sound! They quickly got everything turned on and he started, to the audience's delight.

    As the song ended, though, the rain started to come, and Glenn temporarily suspended the show so we could all seek shelter. A few people, myself included, were loath to leave their good spots by the stage even in the rain, knowing it would be difficult to get them back. I told the two girls I would save them a spot, then got under the canvas covering the keyboard with a couple really friendly women. After the rain started getting worse, we wound up seeking shelter underneath the stage with a few other people. It was dirty and muddy down there, but hey, afterwards, we did indeed still have our places by the stage!

    The little girls came up again and started talking excitedly about a boy off to the side of the stage. "Who's that?" I saw who they were talking about. "That's Glenn Frey's son, Deacon." "What's his name?" "That's his name - Deacon - like in church." "Oh, Deacon! OK! I think he was looking over here!" "Maybe he thought you were cute!" I grinned. They asked how old he was, and I said 15, and I joked that he might be too old for them. One girl quickly told me that she was 13 so he wasn't too old for her!

    Fittingly, when Glenn finally came back on, the song he did was "No More Cloudy Days." He introduced it with the fact that it was from the new album - "Don't know if any of you have it - is there a Walmart around here?" - and he said that it was definitely appropriate to re-start the show with. A rainbow had come out at that point, which added a nice atmospheric element.

    The first time the crowd really went wild was for the next song, "Take It to the Limit." He intro'd it with his credit-card joke, then added, "I love my wife!" who was over to the side of the stage. She filmed a large portion of the show - hope Glenn wasn't mad. We all got into it!

    Earlier in the show, a guy near me had offered to take a picture of the setlist for me, so I knew that the only "special" song that was getting played that night was "I'll Come Runnin' Back to You." He said it was unreleased but he really liked performing it, and even did a bit of localization by throwing "Brainerd, Minnesota" into the part where he talks about how he'll come runnin' no matter where he is. He did a bit of a jog – very cute! It was one of the few songs were he seemed to get into the spirit of it (no offense to Glenn but, while his vocals were strong, it seemed a lot of the performances didn't have that extra bit of spirit that takes a show to the next level).

    "You Belong to the City" rocked, largely due to an awesome instrumental duo between Danny Grenier and Al Garth. Unfortunately, something must have happened to the sound, because I could barely hear Al from where I was. I also would have some trouble hearing Glenn's vocals later, which was a bummer for me. I wonder if it was just where I was standing? I hope so.

    He did "Smuggler's Blues" slow and with a funky voice - I guess the guy in the song is now smuggling downers. Of course it was enjoyable, but it's nothing compared to the real rockin' version, IMHO!

    Things picked up with "Who's Been Sleepin' in My Bed" - I don't care what you think of that song on the album, it plays great live. Folks really got down to it.

    He finally brought out his "favorite guitarist" Deacon for the next song, "The Heat Is On." I gotta tell you, Deacon looked pretty bored - maybe he was trying to project the "too cool to care" attitude! Anyway, this song always kills live and got a great reception. The show started to pick up energy and got better from there.

    Deacon sang lead for the next song, "Get Over It," and folks were rocking out to it so much that at the end Deacon actually cracked a smile! Everyone was really impressed with him.

    Glenn pulled out "Heartache Tonight" and with the audience clapping and singing along, it was lots of fun. This was one of the songs where I had a hard time hearing his vocal, but unless I'm mistaken, he reversed the bridges "We can beat around the bushes" etc. and "There's gonna be a heartache tonight, the moon is shining bright" etc. Still, it sounded fine.

    They went off for a brief encore break, then came back on again. Glenn said, "Here's a song I never do" and they began "Hotel California," with Deacon singing lead. Deacon did a great job with it, especially on the end when he did the duet with Danny Grenier. When the crowd went wild at the end, Danny just indicated Deacon and smiled.

    Glenn then launched into "Take It Easy," which is always a crowd-pleaser, getting everybody dancing around and singing along. They went off for one more encore break, to thunderous applause.

    Then they returned again, with Glenn asking the crowd, "Who wants to hear Deacon do one more song?" The crowd cheered, and they did the bluesy number "I Hear You Knockin'." I noticed that we had a couple more percussionists in the back as Otis and his little friend were banging tamborines on a platform near the drum kit. Too bad Taylor wasn't onstage or it would have been downright historic.

    Desperado was the last song, and the nice guy next to me put me in front of him when some ladies tried to push past me. Otis and his friend attempted to continue banging tambourines, but that didn't last too long as this song was not very conducive to tambourine dancing. Glenn indicated the crowd for the final "Let somebody love you" and held out the "too" before the last "too late" for dramatic effect. Afterwards, he hugged Deacon - aw!

    I wouldn't call it his best show ever by any means - he just didn't seem to have as much fun with it as he usually does - but I enjoyed it and I'm glad I went.

    However, my experience afterwards was pretty scary. As I was leaving, I got a call from the lady who was running the tent that she still had my extra ticket if I wanted to pick it up. I returned to the tent and, as I picked it up, everyone started screaming “Tornado – get inside!” I started freaking out. TORNADO?! What about my car? Was I going to be stranded in freaking Brainerd, Minnesota?! I was so freaked out that even though I saw Danny Grenier and Jonathan Clark in the restaurant inside, I was too agitated to talk to them. I couldn’t make small talk about the show while envisioning my Honda being thrown around by tornado-force winds. About fifteen minutes later, we got the all clear – no tornado – whew! But I almost had a freaking heart attack! Not even a Glenn show is worth having your car destroyed by a tornado.

    Always in our hearts, Never forgotten

  2. #2
    Moderator Brooke's Avatar
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    OMG Soda! I'm so glad you FINALLY got there! What a trying time for you. That reminds me of my Colorado skiing vacation a couple winters ago when we had to drive at a snails pace because of slick roads making the 14 hour trip more like 18 hours.

    The flooding "up there" is predicted to cause disastrous flooding all along the Mississippi valley "down here" through Missouri. I live about 20 miles from it, so I'm not in danger, but it will affect my hubbies work on a nearby bridge. He had to go help dismantle a crane Friday to get it out of the possible flood area.

    At least you did enjoy the show and got to see Deacon perform again! Sounds like it was a nice family affair for Glenn for the Father's Day weekend.

    And I'm so glad the tornado didn't get you either! Sheesh! Please have a safe trip home!


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    "They will never forget you 'till somebody new comes along"
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    Oh goodness, Soda, what an epic adventure! Floods on the way up and a tornado threat after the concert. Strange weather indeed, isn't it?

    If it wasn't one of his best shows, maybe he was a bit nervous about introducing Deacon. I think that is very cool to give his son a chance to perform at one of his solo shows. The HC solo with Danny sounds awesome. How sweet to see Otis as well, and that he and his little friend contributed to the percussion.

    A great review, and thanks from all of us who would have loved to have been there!


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    Moderator Glennsallnighter's Avatar
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    Well I'm delighted that after all your trials and tribulations you managed to make it and have such a good night Soda. Otis sounds spectacular! And I'm sure Deacon did his daddy proud. Even if you feel it wasn't one of Glenn 's better gigs its great that you made it there. Great review anyway. I'd KILL for one of those t-shirts.

    I wonder was this gig gotten together in a bit of a hurry and maybe thats why Glenn seemed a bit on edge.

    I'm so glad for you that the tornado didn't materialise either and that your trusty Honda was safe.

    Hopefully you'll make it safely home.
    'I must be leaving soon... its your world now'
    Glenn Frey 1948-2016 RIP

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    Moderator Glennsallnighter's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by glenneaglesfan
    A great review, and thanks from all of us who would have loved to have been there!
    GEF! We'll make it to a Glenn gig together yet! I wonder could we find a common interest for our hubbies?
    'I must be leaving soon... its your world now'
    Glenn Frey 1948-2016 RIP

  6. #6
    Stuck on the Border
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    What an experience for you Soda. It sounds as if it was worth it overall. He can't always be in a wonderful mood, I suppose.

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    Administrator sodascouts's Avatar
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    Actually the show was quite good - I'm just spoiled because I've seen him when he's really "on" and while he wasn't totally into it on Saturday, he certainly gave folks their money's worth. The vocals were strong, the band was rockin', and the songs were terrific - definitely worth the price of admission!

    Another funny moment I recalled: when Glenn sat down at the keyboard to do "Some Kind of Blue" an inebriated guy behind me reached over my head, leaned forward, and waved his hand up at Glenn. At first Glenn ignored him, but when he persisted, Glenn told him, "I can't touch you," enunciating each word clearly so the guy understood him through his alcohol-induced haze. He put his arm down but it got a few guffaws.

    Also, when they came out for the last encore and Deacon was about to play with Otis in the back with his tambourine, Glenn cried, "Happy Father's Day!"

    I don't think Glenn was nervous about Deacon. He seemed much more nervous at the Roxy. At this show, he kind of let Deacon do his thing without hovering over him so much. Deacon also seemed much more comfortable and as I said, he was coppin' a bit of "rock star" 'tude. BTW, Deacon looked older at this show - maybe he did his hair different or something, maybe it was the lighting, I don't know - but he looked about 17. I was like, "Dang, did I just see this guy in April? He's like a different person."

    Glenn is moody, what can you say? But it's possible the weather got to him. It was pretty icky. Anyway, he's a pro, and as I said he still put on a good show for the audience. I don't regret going one bit. I gotta get my yearly Frey Solo Show Fix, you know. Besides, Glenn on an off-day (and only a slightly off-day at that) is more entertaining than most guys at their best.

    BTW, I found out from a local guy that the gig was announced THREE WEEKS ago! I guess info just takes a while to trickle down the internet!

    Always in our hearts, Never forgotten

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    Stuck on the Border DonFan's Avatar
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    Sounds like you had quite an adventure, Soda!
    But I guess it was worth it to be able to say "I Got Frey'd at Manhattan Beach Lodge."

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    Administrator sodascouts's Avatar
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    Apparently Otis wasn't the only one to bring a friend:

    "As I wrote in the newsletter this month, for many years I’ve enjoyed an extraordinary friendship with an extraordinary man and his extraordinary family. Glenn Frey of the Eagles has more facets than the Hope diamond, and when he invited me up to Cross Lake, I knew it was going to be a hoot with philosophical overtones. Adding to the warmth and meaningfulness we always share was the fact that his wife Cindy and two sons, Deacon and Otis Lincoln Douglas (you got that right — and this six-year-old has the pz-zazz to back that handle up!), and father-in-law Jerry, who can barbecue his way into Hell’s Kitchen, were all there. Deacon stole the limelight at the outdoor concert with his rockin’ guitar and vocals on some of his old man’s hits like “Hotel California.” Not to mention that Otis made his bid to insert “Tambourine Man” on the playlist. Three days of beautiful vistas on the lake, exquisite people, great food, a million laughs and pranks, music to tame the masses, and scintillating conversation. Having the privilege of looking over someone’s shoulder at the high end of another creative art form has afforded me more than a few relevant insights, and the Cross Lake happening was no exception. I’m going to try and write about that next month. Count on it."

    - Thomas Sullivan's Blog on "Storytellers Unplugged"

    As I was reading this, the name rang a bell, and I realized Thomas Sullivan is the guy who came up with the phrase "moral malnutrition" used in "I've Got Mine." Glenn thanks Sullivan in the liner notes.

    Always in our hearts, Never forgotten

  10. #10
    Moderator Brooke's Avatar
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    Cool!

    Otis Lincoln Douglas Frey? That's quite a name to live up to, for sure!
    https://i.imgur.com/CuSdAQM.jpg
    "They will never forget you 'till somebody new comes along"
    1948-2016 Gone but not forgotten

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