Letters to the Editor

Eagles’ Long Road Out Of Eden Tour 2008

After a stop in Philadelphia, The Eagles’ two-night-stop at the Borgata Hotel in Atlantic City was sensational. I had seen the show listed in the City Paper and got myself on the list for the Wahcovia show, but was unable to attend due to health issues.

So my only chance to see them was in AC and I struggled to go using a cane and a walker. The Los Angeles band - who laid down their first tracks in 1972 in their self-titled debut - sounded better than ever. More energetic. More harmony, sensational sounds.

Tight, together and having fun, they delivered a bunch of tunes that won’t soon be forgotten by a sell-out crowd, many paying more than $1,000 a seat for front section tickets, some front-row-centers selling for $1,500. As we were invited guests we caught the act close-up from the 14th row.

Moments after the show began, on time at 8 p.m. with no opening acts, The Eagles did everything they were allowed to do. Even the old Grateful Dead had nothing on this band when longevity of show is considered. After 3.5 hours they were given the hook, as the crowd sat expecting yet another encore as the lights stayed dark for five or six minutes, indicating a debate on the issue.

But economics of casinos revenue must have won out, as they finally didn’t come back and the lights came up. Just prior to that they kicked-up a light and young rendition of Take It Easy, and the show ended with Don Henley stepping to the edge of the stage to close it out with a sad-ballad-warning to all with the haunting lyrics of Desperado.

Personally, I go back all the way with these guys. They were Linda Ronstadt’s Band, prior even to her Stone Pony‘s hit, Different Drum, and played a couple of nights a week, down the street from where I lived on Canon Drive, at a club called Troubadour. Back then, this band, as all the bands did, would hang out in the grassy center strip that divided Santa Monica Boulevard between sets. We’d hang out with them, as they were like the coolest older people we knew. Linda would come out too and they passed the joints of Acapulco Gold and Panama Red, and we’d end up with many a roach.

By the time I moved East in the early 1970s, I was losing interest in my harmonic hometown bands, like the Eagles (Troubadour), Doors (Cheetah), Byrds (Gazarris), Buffalo Springfield (Pandora’s Box), et al.

By now, I had been exposed to Bruce Springsteen and the stench that emanated from Max’s Kansas City, which included Blondie, Talking Heads, Lou Reed, The Ramones and hundreds of others. The Cars took me up and Marshall Crenshaw was a sound and tempo that represented my tastes a lot more than the Eagles. Then it was on to Europe, Alphaville; Elvis Costello and Joe Jackson.

Long before I became a journalist, my tiny, but diverse, firm actually had a couple of top name national touring acts under contract.

So it was culture shock ending up with this invitation to the Eagles. I insisted it should be a fun night, but honestly had no interest in their music whatsoever. I have a trove of their albums, but haven’t pulled them out in decades. Was I wrong?

Wrong couldn’t be further from reality. This show was the shit. You wanna rock? Can you stand rock and roll? Then welcome home The James Gang: Joe Walsh, never second-fiddle to Henley and Glen Frey, stole the show. But “stole” isn’t the fair word as Henley and Frey often just turned the entire thing over to him and cameras caught them smiling and just enjoying Walsh as much as the audience, as he jammed with myriad guitars from 1950s Fenders to custom-made jobs, changing boards as often as most change ass-position on folding seats. It was one punch after the next, with tempo changes, drops to ballad and accelerations to “arena rock,” with stops in between using false endings and 4/4 alternatives intermingled with 3/4 and fading keyboards and quiet drum accompaniment from Henley.

This must be said: Joe Walsh has a signature as honest and easy to recognize as George Harrison’s. And, Walsh, 60-years-old, is the greatest guitar picker in the USA. He’s alone. Doing all his hits - accept Rocky Mountain Way - Walsh put on a helmet cam and goofed with the enthused audience, putting them on-camera on the two giant screens that flanked the stage. During Life’s Been Good the backdrop behind the stage showed old photos of the band for about five minutes, and when he sang, “ . . . they write me letters and tell me I’m great,” Glen Frey was rolling his eyes. Haha! Walsh did Walk Away and Guilty of the Crime as if in a confessional. His guitar work on Heartache Tonight, Life In The Fast Lane, and Dirty Laundry were beyond description. One can only say, men like Clapton or even the youngest guns had better not get into a Battle of the Bands with this fella.

The set was complete:

Take It Easy
Witchy Woman
Peaceful Easy Feeling
Desperado
Tequila Sunrise
Already Gone
The Best of My Love
I Don’t Want To Hear It
Love Will Keep Us Alive
Lyin' Eyes
One of These Nights
Take It to the Limit
Hotel California
Guilty of the Crime
Walk Away
Life in the Fast Lane
Victim of Love
Boys of Summer
Dirty Laundry
The Last Resort
New Kid in Town
Heartache Tonight
The Sad Café
I Can't Tell You Why
The Long Run
In the City
Hole in the World

Also an acoustic set where Henley, Frey, Timmy Schmit and Walsh were down front on barstools ala CSNY. Nice. They did a number of songs off the new album and these
tunes were actually some of their best work ever. Schmit has always been a real singer. Henley and Frey were on edge and exciting. The hired hands included a guitarist (Stuart Smith from Arlington, VA) almost as good as good is.
Schmit did three songs: ‘I Don’t Want to Hear Anymore’, ‘I Can’t Tell You Why’ and ‘Love Will Keep us Alive’. His voice a tad shaky on the first song.

Glenn Frey announced the band: Smith (guitars, mandolin, keyboards, backing vocals), Michael Thompson (keyboards, trombone), Will Hollis (keyboards, backing vocals), Richard Davy (keyboards), Scott Crago (drums, percussion), Al Garth (Manassas), Bill Armstrong (Horns), Christian Mostert (sax), Greg Smith (sax, percussion). These guys were from all over the globe, one used to be with Loggins and Messina.

I don't recall a tour where tickets have began at one set of prices and have gone up 10 fold on the face as the tour progressed. Tickets are hard to find, but if you can find one, buy one. You'll never forget this show.

They killed, just like the Philadelphia City Paper does. Had I not seen your great art/concert coverage I would have missed the show! When I can't get a City Paper, I always can read it via your emails. Thanks!

-dusty nathan