Wednesday, August 18, 2010

The Eagles Landed!

Eagles Farewell I
Saturday, November 20, 2004
Sydney SuperDome
A Brief Play by Play

By The Metro Gnome

The Eagles are:

* Don Henley
* Glenn Frey
* Joe Walsh
* Timothy B Schmidt

First of all, you'll notice that Don Felder isn't part of the Eagles anymore; some people thought he just didn't make the trip out to Australia, but the fact is he was fired by the band in February 2001 (underlying reason: researched but unknown - lawsuits and counter lawsuits are still in progress - a rumoured "tell all" book by Felder may have been at the core of the issue). In his place on stage was Steuart Smith, from Arlington, Virginia - a very gifted performer who played well along side Joe Walsh.

There were extensive instrument changes for every song. I couldn't keep track of all the guitars.... Frey played a Takamine acoustic and Fenders - Strats and Teles - and he brought out a Les Paul every now and again. Fender dominated the stage with everyone playing one at multiple points throughout. Walsh played a Rickenbacker a few times.

Here's what happened....

Set 1 (10 songs)

In the Long Run - Frey

Frey - "The sun is shinin' in here, people. Let's have a good time."

New Kid in Town - Henley

Wasted Time - Henley

At the mic - gruff, his throat sounded a bit raw - like he needed to swallow after each line.

Peaceful Easy Feeling - Frey

I Can't Tell You Why - Schmidt - beautiful

"Where's Felder?" from the audience

One of These Nights - Henley - from the kit

Frey - "Don and I wrote these songs during out satanic country rock rhythm and blues period. I'll dedicate this one to my first wife, Plaintiff."

Lyin' Eyes - Frey

Boys of Summer - Henley - brought back Miami Vice memories

Walsh - "I'll tell you, I had a tough day watching cricket - wore me out. I've been thrown out of some of the finest hotels in Australia. Drank most of the minibars, too. I have some very good friends out there tonight, who invited me over for a summer, and then, uh, deeply regretted that. But we're still friends. I'd like to dedicate this song to them."

In the City - Walsh

Already Gone - Frey
Set 2 (12 songs)

All 5 (including Steuart Smith) sitting down

Tequila Sunrise - Frey - With a nice, deceiving keyboard intro

Schmidt - "Well it's time for a syrupy love song."

Love Will Keep Us Alive - Schmidt

Henley - "I'd like to a song for you now that is relatively new. We recorded it a few years back. And there's a little story that goes with it. In August of 2001, we had just returned to the States from a very gratifying tour of Russia and Western Europe. And we were scheduled to go into a recording studio there in Los Angeles on September 11. Needless to say, we didn't go into the studio that day, nor for many, many, many days after. But the evening of September 11 we started writing this song. We didn't finish it until 2002. Glenn helped me finish it - I got stuck. We finished it, recorded it, and made a video and a DVD. This features 5 part harmony and is called Hole in the World."

Hole in the World - Henley

Take it to the Limit - Frey

Chairs go - all standing

You Belong to the City - Frey

Begins with a beautiful duet between the sax and the keys - great guitar jam between Walsh and the Stuart Smith at the end

Walk Away - Walsh

Sunset Grill - Henley

Frey - "Now it's my privilege, my honour, my duty to introduce you to the members of the band."

* Steuart Smith, guitar
* Will Hollis, keys
* Greg Smith, baritone sax
* Billy Armstrong, trumpet
* Chris Mostert, tenor sax
* Al Garth, tenor sax/violin/percussion
* Scotty Crago, drums/percussion
* Michael Thompson, keys/vocals

"Well Joe, how you feeling?"

Walsh - "I feel great. (To the audience) Good morning! Now, this is the helmet camera. There's a camera in here. In the middle of the song I'll be around to visit with you folks. And you'll be on the big screen. So it's time to be silly, OK. Here we go...."

Life's Been Good to Me - Walsh

Dirty Laundry - Henley

Walsh leads a swingin', almost unrelated, blues opening.... then transitions to....

Funk No. 49 - Walsh - huge, free feeling solo - felt like he said, "Play until I signal."

Heartache Tonight - Frey

Life in the Fast Lane - Henley - another fantastic guitar improvisation opportunity taken at the end
First Encore (1 song)

Trumpet opening with a Mexican feel - We all wanted it - We were all waiting for it. We all knew it had to be....

Hotel California - Henley

Fantastic guitar harmonies, perfect timing, and ended just like on Hell Freezes Over. Steuart Smith played a double necked Fender with a capo on one neck and open on the other....

Second Encore (2 songs)

Rocky Mountain Way - Walsh

All She Wants to do is Dance - Henley
Third Encore (2 songs)

Take it Easy - Frey

Desperado - Henley

With that, the four of them stood arm in arm and took in the crowd's accolades.

Interesting quote from the Sydney Morning Herald review (http://www.smh.com.au/news/Review/Slick-hits-taken-far-too-easily/2004/11/21/1100972255277.html):

"But all this professionalism, while it was designed to please the fans, ensured, for anyone who cared to apply even a miniscule amount of discrimination, that the whole show was devoid of any real warmth, emotion, spontaneity and genuine passion. This was playing music by numbers. Instead of a real band playing real songs and singing with real emotions about things they really cared about, this was an animated human jukebox playing note-perfect songs which evoked no emotion more complex than moist-eyed nostalgia."

The Gnome's response - I suppose, to a degree, I have to agree, but with Timothy B Schmidt and Joe Walsh as notable exceptions. Schmidt instantly acknowledged and adopted as his personal fan base the people in the section next to him; he would frequently look over and smile or wave or something throughout the performance. He made us feel at home. Henley and Frey didn't really acknowledge the audience much and their conversation and playing seemed very scripted. Smith and Walsh looked like they had a blast and it felt like improvisation was actually happening on stage during Walsh's songs - Walsh messed around intelligently with the guitar solos and the lyrics. I did notice that when Walsh did go off the path a little, Frey would break into laughter - like a release - he was enjoying Walsh's creativity as much as the audience.

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