Post by jesse on Jul 25, 2008 20:45:30 GMT
Not exactly Southern Rock, but close. I hope this is the right forum for this.
It was almost like a DVD: Eagles @ Wachovia Center 7/14/08
Well, the Eagles band brought their hit parade to Philadelphia Monday night July 17th, 2008 and played to a near sold out crowd at the Wachovia Center. Start time was 8pm, but with no opening act, the band took their sweet time getting to the stage as I don't think the center even turned the houselights down until about 8:15.
Now, before you start calling the Eagles a mere nostalgia act, it should be noted that they DO have a new album out, "Long Road To Eden", and their single, "How Long" has been climbing the country charts (and, from the rate I've been hearing it, it seems to be the #1 add-on to in-store muzak). So, they ARE still a force to be reckoned with in the music world.
So, now the houselights are down and through the dim stage lighting we can see the silhouettes of the backing band coming out on the stage. Soon after we see the silhouettes of the 4 "official" Eagles members come onto the stage. After a few more seconds, which seemed like eternity, the stage was lit up as they burst into their newest hit, the aforementioned "How Long". Pretty good, Country-ish song, typical of early Eagles material. The 4 "official" members of the Eagles (originals Glen Frey and Don Henley, and latter-day members Timothy B. Schmidt and Joe Walsh) were in suits and ties with white shirts. Looked like they were running for president or something. The rest of the backing band wore suits and ties with black shirts. The rest of the band included a drummer/ percussionist, 3 keyboard players and guitarist/vocalist Stuart Smith who took the place of long-time member Don Felder. (Later in the evening, they would be joined by a 4 piece horn section bringing the total to 11 members on the stage!) Frey and Henley opened the show on acoustic guitars, Walsh was playing electric and Schmidt on bass. The four of them, plus Smith and 2 of the 3 keyboardists sang harmonies. I must say, they really sounded good.
"How Long" was followed by another new song, then another sung by Schmidt, then another sung by Walsh (other than "How Long", Walsh's was the only one really note worthy.) After 4 new songs in a row, we got a trumpet solo which turned out to be the intro for "Hotel California". Henley was on drums by this time, keeping the beat while singing every line as we've heard it on record. Walsh and Smith finished it out with the classic twin guitar leads and from there it was one hit after the other. "Peaceful Easy Feeling", "I Can't Tell You Why" (with Frey and Walsh on keyboards, for a total of 5 keyboardists!), "Witchy Woman", "Lying Eyes", Henley's "Boys Of Summer", "In The City" and "The Long Run". To be honest, it was quite boring. Very little emotion, next to zero banter with the audience, perfect note for note renditions of the hits. Smith played all the leads, the guy was really good, but I, for one, paid my $85 to see Joe Walsh play guitar, NOT Stuart Smith. Being up in the nosebleeds, I spent a lot of time looking at the big screen where the performance was being simultaneously filmed and showed so those of us who couldn't afford the $185 for better seats could see some close up shots of the band. I dunno, for some reason, I was beginning to think that I shoulda just waited until a DVD of this tour came out. Even if the thing costs $50-$60, it's still a bargain compared to shelling out $200 for my lady and I plus gas, parking and a couple $8 beers to watch the equivalent of a DVD on a big screen at the Wachovia Center.
Everything was good, but bland, even the audience was kinda ho-hum about the whole thing. Things picked up slightly for Walsh's "In The City", but then Henley came to center stage and announced that they were only gonna do one more song, then take a break. Seemed like a short set, but I counted up, they DID PLAY 12 songs, it just didn't feel that way cuz most of us didn't start paying attention until "Hotel California". "The Long Run" closed out the set. Henley actually played drums for most of the hits, but he came out and did his impression of the most boring frontman ever for "The Long Run". My word, put a guitar on and pretend to strum or sit behind a piano or something. All four of them really, for a group of guys who've made their careers in the spotlight, they sure seemed uncomfortable on that stage, though Walsh got somewhat animated for his 2 songs.
BUT, the show is only half over. It is around 9:30 and Henley promised that the second set would be longer. By quarter to 10, the houselights were down again and the Eagles returned to the stage......on stools.......with acoustic guitars........to do more new songs......oh boy. They actually weren't too bad. They did 2 new songs, then a song from "Hell Freezes Over" that was just as forgetable, then a fairly lame attempt at "Take It To The Limit". I think that was originally a Randy Meisner song, I don't know if Meisner or Frey sang the studio hit, but Frey sang it here and I didn't think he did a very good job of it. This was the last of the sit-down songs as the stools were removed and I think it was at this point that the guys removed their coats, rolled up their sleeves and loosened their ties in order to "rock out" I guess.
The next song was the title track to "Long Road Out Of Eden". Kind of a long, tedious thing that wanted to be "Hotel California", but had none of the magic of "Hotel California". Even the guitar jam between Walsh and Smith fell flat.
I'm thinking they did a few more hits then, but the only one I remember them doing was "One Of These Nights". At some point, the hits stopped and they did a whacky version of Walsh's "Walk Away". Not sure if I liked the way they did it or not, but it was the first song they did where I wouldn't have heard the same damn thing sitting at home listening to it on CD. This was followed by Henley's "Dirty Laundry" complete with a 3-way guitar solo at the end of it. Walsh was wound up by this point, strutting around, making goofy faces and playing guitar like I had expected him to all night. Walsh then lit into the James Gang hit "Funk #49" and it was becoming clearer with every song that the audience was there for Joe Walsh every bit as much as I was.
I believe it was after "Funk #49" that Frey began introducing the band starting with the no-name backing band and ending with Henley. Schmidt then introduced Frey.. Walsh still had not been introduced. I was starting to think they forgot about him, but apparently from other shows, they knew to save the best for last and Frey introduced Walsh as "The next President Of The United States". Walsh laughed and said that if he were President, he would begin every Yankees home game with, "Ladies and gentlemen, would you please rise for our National Anthem....", Walsh then proceeded to play the opening lick to his semi-theme song "Life's Been Good". Wow! Great version of this one. Walsh wore a "helmet-cam" for this song and the big screens showed everything he was looking at.....including a pair of 40-ish boobs that he stared at for several seconds!
Next up, we got a rousing version of "Heartache Tonight", a song I never really liked, but it came alive here. This was followed by my favorite Eagles tune "Life In The Fast Lane". By this time, Walsh is the show. Stuart Smith who'd been stealing all the limelight for the first 1/2 to 2/3 of the night was reduced to sideman and it became all about Walsh. Again, somewhat surprisingly, Henley was on drums for almost everything except "Dirty Laundry" where he played guitar. Even the Walsh tunes he seemed to be enjoying his role as "just the drummer".
"Life In The Fast Lane" ended the set, but you KNOW they had to do an encore. After several minutes of audience cheering, they hit the stage again with.....you guessed it, another Joe Walsh song! "Rocky Mountain Way" it was and I was getting the feeling that Walsh coulda rocked this crowd on his own! Not to be out done, Henley steals another solo spot with "All She Wants To Do Is Dance" next. Both songs are complete with the 4 piece horn section which actually brought a lot out in the songs.
"....Dance" is brought to a close and the band leaves the stage once again. I kinda wish they had stayed off the stage, because I really enjoyed that section of the show. When they returned for their final encore, it was back to what we started with: tit for tat version of the classics. We got a boring version of "Take It Easy" and an anti-climactic version of "Desperado". Both were good, but a letdown after the fun and energetic second half performance.
Overall, I guess I got my $85 worth just seeing Joe Walsh. He's a great guitar player, underrated singer and entertaining performer when they let him be. By the end, Stuart Smith won me over too. No, he was NOT the guy I was paying to see play guitar, but he WAS very good, in some ways, maybe better than Walsh. The harmonies were great, but you'd expect that from a band with as many as 7 people singing at any given time and a million dollar sound system. The second half really blew me away a far as the whole band really coming out of their shell. I wish the first half was like that and that they woulda kept it up until the end. But then again, they are all pushing 60 and I guess they gotta leave some gas in the tank for the next show. After all, they didn't get done until about 11:50.....almost midnight! About 3 1/2 hours of music and almost all hits, yeah, I got my money's worth! I'm glad I went and I would recommend them to anyone even remotely a fan, but I'll pass on seeing them again. It was good once, but for a second helping, I'll wait for the DVD.
It was almost like a DVD: Eagles @ Wachovia Center 7/14/08
Well, the Eagles band brought their hit parade to Philadelphia Monday night July 17th, 2008 and played to a near sold out crowd at the Wachovia Center. Start time was 8pm, but with no opening act, the band took their sweet time getting to the stage as I don't think the center even turned the houselights down until about 8:15.
Now, before you start calling the Eagles a mere nostalgia act, it should be noted that they DO have a new album out, "Long Road To Eden", and their single, "How Long" has been climbing the country charts (and, from the rate I've been hearing it, it seems to be the #1 add-on to in-store muzak). So, they ARE still a force to be reckoned with in the music world.
So, now the houselights are down and through the dim stage lighting we can see the silhouettes of the backing band coming out on the stage. Soon after we see the silhouettes of the 4 "official" Eagles members come onto the stage. After a few more seconds, which seemed like eternity, the stage was lit up as they burst into their newest hit, the aforementioned "How Long". Pretty good, Country-ish song, typical of early Eagles material. The 4 "official" members of the Eagles (originals Glen Frey and Don Henley, and latter-day members Timothy B. Schmidt and Joe Walsh) were in suits and ties with white shirts. Looked like they were running for president or something. The rest of the backing band wore suits and ties with black shirts. The rest of the band included a drummer/ percussionist, 3 keyboard players and guitarist/vocalist Stuart Smith who took the place of long-time member Don Felder. (Later in the evening, they would be joined by a 4 piece horn section bringing the total to 11 members on the stage!) Frey and Henley opened the show on acoustic guitars, Walsh was playing electric and Schmidt on bass. The four of them, plus Smith and 2 of the 3 keyboardists sang harmonies. I must say, they really sounded good.
"How Long" was followed by another new song, then another sung by Schmidt, then another sung by Walsh (other than "How Long", Walsh's was the only one really note worthy.) After 4 new songs in a row, we got a trumpet solo which turned out to be the intro for "Hotel California". Henley was on drums by this time, keeping the beat while singing every line as we've heard it on record. Walsh and Smith finished it out with the classic twin guitar leads and from there it was one hit after the other. "Peaceful Easy Feeling", "I Can't Tell You Why" (with Frey and Walsh on keyboards, for a total of 5 keyboardists!), "Witchy Woman", "Lying Eyes", Henley's "Boys Of Summer", "In The City" and "The Long Run". To be honest, it was quite boring. Very little emotion, next to zero banter with the audience, perfect note for note renditions of the hits. Smith played all the leads, the guy was really good, but I, for one, paid my $85 to see Joe Walsh play guitar, NOT Stuart Smith. Being up in the nosebleeds, I spent a lot of time looking at the big screen where the performance was being simultaneously filmed and showed so those of us who couldn't afford the $185 for better seats could see some close up shots of the band. I dunno, for some reason, I was beginning to think that I shoulda just waited until a DVD of this tour came out. Even if the thing costs $50-$60, it's still a bargain compared to shelling out $200 for my lady and I plus gas, parking and a couple $8 beers to watch the equivalent of a DVD on a big screen at the Wachovia Center.
Everything was good, but bland, even the audience was kinda ho-hum about the whole thing. Things picked up slightly for Walsh's "In The City", but then Henley came to center stage and announced that they were only gonna do one more song, then take a break. Seemed like a short set, but I counted up, they DID PLAY 12 songs, it just didn't feel that way cuz most of us didn't start paying attention until "Hotel California". "The Long Run" closed out the set. Henley actually played drums for most of the hits, but he came out and did his impression of the most boring frontman ever for "The Long Run". My word, put a guitar on and pretend to strum or sit behind a piano or something. All four of them really, for a group of guys who've made their careers in the spotlight, they sure seemed uncomfortable on that stage, though Walsh got somewhat animated for his 2 songs.
BUT, the show is only half over. It is around 9:30 and Henley promised that the second set would be longer. By quarter to 10, the houselights were down again and the Eagles returned to the stage......on stools.......with acoustic guitars........to do more new songs......oh boy. They actually weren't too bad. They did 2 new songs, then a song from "Hell Freezes Over" that was just as forgetable, then a fairly lame attempt at "Take It To The Limit". I think that was originally a Randy Meisner song, I don't know if Meisner or Frey sang the studio hit, but Frey sang it here and I didn't think he did a very good job of it. This was the last of the sit-down songs as the stools were removed and I think it was at this point that the guys removed their coats, rolled up their sleeves and loosened their ties in order to "rock out" I guess.
The next song was the title track to "Long Road Out Of Eden". Kind of a long, tedious thing that wanted to be "Hotel California", but had none of the magic of "Hotel California". Even the guitar jam between Walsh and Smith fell flat.
I'm thinking they did a few more hits then, but the only one I remember them doing was "One Of These Nights". At some point, the hits stopped and they did a whacky version of Walsh's "Walk Away". Not sure if I liked the way they did it or not, but it was the first song they did where I wouldn't have heard the same damn thing sitting at home listening to it on CD. This was followed by Henley's "Dirty Laundry" complete with a 3-way guitar solo at the end of it. Walsh was wound up by this point, strutting around, making goofy faces and playing guitar like I had expected him to all night. Walsh then lit into the James Gang hit "Funk #49" and it was becoming clearer with every song that the audience was there for Joe Walsh every bit as much as I was.
I believe it was after "Funk #49" that Frey began introducing the band starting with the no-name backing band and ending with Henley. Schmidt then introduced Frey.. Walsh still had not been introduced. I was starting to think they forgot about him, but apparently from other shows, they knew to save the best for last and Frey introduced Walsh as "The next President Of The United States". Walsh laughed and said that if he were President, he would begin every Yankees home game with, "Ladies and gentlemen, would you please rise for our National Anthem....", Walsh then proceeded to play the opening lick to his semi-theme song "Life's Been Good". Wow! Great version of this one. Walsh wore a "helmet-cam" for this song and the big screens showed everything he was looking at.....including a pair of 40-ish boobs that he stared at for several seconds!
Next up, we got a rousing version of "Heartache Tonight", a song I never really liked, but it came alive here. This was followed by my favorite Eagles tune "Life In The Fast Lane". By this time, Walsh is the show. Stuart Smith who'd been stealing all the limelight for the first 1/2 to 2/3 of the night was reduced to sideman and it became all about Walsh. Again, somewhat surprisingly, Henley was on drums for almost everything except "Dirty Laundry" where he played guitar. Even the Walsh tunes he seemed to be enjoying his role as "just the drummer".
"Life In The Fast Lane" ended the set, but you KNOW they had to do an encore. After several minutes of audience cheering, they hit the stage again with.....you guessed it, another Joe Walsh song! "Rocky Mountain Way" it was and I was getting the feeling that Walsh coulda rocked this crowd on his own! Not to be out done, Henley steals another solo spot with "All She Wants To Do Is Dance" next. Both songs are complete with the 4 piece horn section which actually brought a lot out in the songs.
"....Dance" is brought to a close and the band leaves the stage once again. I kinda wish they had stayed off the stage, because I really enjoyed that section of the show. When they returned for their final encore, it was back to what we started with: tit for tat version of the classics. We got a boring version of "Take It Easy" and an anti-climactic version of "Desperado". Both were good, but a letdown after the fun and energetic second half performance.
Overall, I guess I got my $85 worth just seeing Joe Walsh. He's a great guitar player, underrated singer and entertaining performer when they let him be. By the end, Stuart Smith won me over too. No, he was NOT the guy I was paying to see play guitar, but he WAS very good, in some ways, maybe better than Walsh. The harmonies were great, but you'd expect that from a band with as many as 7 people singing at any given time and a million dollar sound system. The second half really blew me away a far as the whole band really coming out of their shell. I wish the first half was like that and that they woulda kept it up until the end. But then again, they are all pushing 60 and I guess they gotta leave some gas in the tank for the next show. After all, they didn't get done until about 11:50.....almost midnight! About 3 1/2 hours of music and almost all hits, yeah, I got my money's worth! I'm glad I went and I would recommend them to anyone even remotely a fan, but I'll pass on seeing them again. It was good once, but for a second helping, I'll wait for the DVD.
