The Eagles
Sprint Center
Kansas City, Missouri
March 28, 2009
by Chris Murphy
How Long | I Dont Want To Hear Anymore | Guilty Of The Crime |
Hotel California | Peaceful Easy Feeling | I Can't Tell You Why
| Witchy Woman | Lyin' Eyes | The Boys Of Summer |In The City |
The Long Run
Intermission
No More Walks In The Woods | Waiting In The Weeds | No More
Cloudy Days | Love Will Keep Us Alive | Take It to The Limit |
Long Road | Out Of Eden | Somebody | Walk Away |One Of These
Nights | Life's Been Good | Dirty Laundry | Funk #49 | Heartache
Tonight | Life In The Fast Lane
ENCORES-
Take It Easy | Desperado
The Eagles
made their second stop in the last 5 months at Kansas City’s
Sprint Center on Saturday, March 28. The classic American rock
band played to another nearly sold-out arena and put on the
quality of show that would easily bring the fans in attendance
back again and again. On tour since last year in support of
their fantastic album Long Road Out of Eden, the band has
been pleasing audiences with a nice mix of new songs and
classics from their huge catalog of hits that has been expanding
since releasing their self-titled album in 1972.
The four main
members of the band, Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Joe Walsh, and
Timothy B. Schmit, took the stage in black suits with guitars in
hand and opened with three new songs. The first, “How Long,”
showcased original members Henley and Frey on lead vocals. Frey
then welcomed the crowd and let Schmit take over lead vocals on
“I Don’t Want to Hear Anymore.” Schmidt, an Eagle since 1978
after leaving the band Poco, is to me the most under-rated
Eagle. He sounded great during every solo performance and his
silky voice is also a great compliment to the rest of the band,
especially when they sing acapella. Walsh, who would prove to
bring the most cheers from the crowd all night, was next on lead
vocals with “Guilty of the Crime.” Many in attendance seemed
familiar with the new material, which says a lot about the band
and their ability to be relevant in today’s music scene.
After the
three new songs, the stage went dark. A lone spotlight then
illuminated a trumpet player as he played a Latin-sounding intro
to the next song. As the stage lit up, Henley would be back in
familiar territory, behind the drum kit, and the band would play
their signature song, “Hotel California.” The fact that they
could play their biggest hit early in the set says a lot about
the quality of the songs they have at their disposal. As the
song played, the picture from the Hotel California album
cover was shown on a huge semi-circle screen behind the stage.
It was at this point that I realized just how full of musicians
the stage was. In all, there were 13 members, 3 guitarists, one
bassist, three keyboardists, two drummers, and a four person
horn section. After “Hotel California,” Frey would take back
over with “Peaceful Easy Feeling,” a hit from their debut
album.
The band would
stick with the hits as Frey took a seat at the keyboard in front
of the stage and let Schmit take over on vocals for his first
hit with the band, “I Can’t Tell You Why.” The end featured
Schmit and guitarist Stuart Smith jamming as Smith played the
guitar solos. This would prove be to my only problem with the
concert all evening. While Smith is a very talented performer
and was very involved in the making of the new album, I would
much rather see the majority of guitar solos played by the one
and only Joe Walsh. As it turned out, Smith played well over
half of the solos. You could feel the energy level rise when
Walsh played a solo, and I think the band should have Smith and
Walsh switch roles on many songs.
As the band
started “Witchy Woman,” the entire stage floor lit up below
them. It was a great effect that was rarely used this evening.
The song, the band’s first top 10 hit, was the strongest song of
the first set. After the song, Frey spoke to the crowd about
the next song, “Lyin’ Eyes,” which he dedicated to his first
wife, “Plaintiff.” It is a joke he has told countless times,
but it still brought some laughs. The biggest cheer of the
first set came for the next song, “The Boys of Summer,” the 1984
solo hit by Don Henley. This would be the first of several
non-Eagles hits of the night.
The first set
would finish with two songs from 1979’s The Long Run
album. First was “In The City,” a song Walsh first recorded
solo, but the band rearranged it for the album. It is hard to
believe that song was never released as a single. The
instrumental ending of the song gave opportunity for the horn
section to showcase their talents. The set, which lasted 1
hour, ended with the title song from The Long Run, which
was a top 10 hit for the band in 1979. Henley said the band
would return after a short break and play for a “really long
time.”
During
intermission, four stools were set up on stage for the band’s
return. The second set would start with “No More Walks in the
Woods,” an excellent acapella from the new album, followed by
two more new songs “Waiting in the Weeds” and “No More Cloudy
Days.” Schmit would take over again for “Love Will Keep Us
Alive,” from 1994’s Hell Freezes Over album. As with the
rest of the night, Schmit never missed a note in the song. Frey
would introduce “Take It To the Limit,” as what their wives now
do to their credit cards. The song led to some of the biggest
crowd sing-along’s of the night. This was one of the only songs
that didn’t sound true to the recording as Frey sang an octave
lower than original singer Randy Meisner. The seated portion of
the set would end with the title song from Long Road Out of
Eden. Clocking in at nearly 10 minutes, the band played the
song just as it is recorded and it turned out to be the best of
their new songs all night. The band ditched the stools and
their jackets for their final new song of the evening,
“Somebody,” which vocally was Frey’s strongest of the night.
With the band
now standing, Walsh got the majority of the crowd on their feet
as well with “Walk Away,” his biggest hit with The James Gang.
This song led off seven classics that would end the second set
and would be worth the price of admission alone. Next was
another #1 hit with “One of These Nights,” with Henley back on
drums and vocals. After this Walsh would come out with a camera
attached to his hat. He apologized to everyone in the audience
who was forced to listen to the next song while growing up, but
that the song would explain why they were “different.” He then
lit into his biggest solo hit, “Life’s Been Good,” while a
montage of pictures from the band’s career would show on the
stage screen. It was the best song of the night, despite the
fact that Smith again played Walsh’s solo parts while Walsh
worked the crowd with his hat cam. I would much rather see
Walsh play the guitar than the crowd. Henley would take to the
stage with guitar in hand and play his first big solo hit,
“Dirty Laundry.” During the song, one of Henley’s best vocal
performances of the night, the stage screen flashed pictures of
various tabloid style news stories from the last few years.
Walsh would continue the rotation with another James Gang hit,
“Funk #49,” which was not quite as good as the rest of his
songs. It was still good, but featured the horn section more
than Walsh’s guitar parts, which didn’t quite work for me.
Frey then
introduced the entire band and where they are from. It is
always surprising to me that even though the band is considered
to have the classic California rock sound, only Schmit hails
from the Golden State. After Schmit introduced Frey as the guy
with a thousand jokes, he gave his best one-liner of the night
by saying “Yes, I’m from Detroit, where ‘mother’ is half a
word.” Frey then took back over vocals for the Grammy winning #1
hit “Heartache Tonight” before the main set closed with Henley
taking the lead on “Life in the Fast Lane.”
Just a few
minutes later, the band returned for a surprisingly short and
slow tempo encore. First up was their first hit all the way
back in 1972, “Take It Easy.” You can tell that Frey, who
co-wrote the song with Jackson Browne, still enjoys the song
after all these years. The crowd did too. The band finished
the 27-song, nearly 3 hour performance, with “Desperado.” The
song, which surprisingly was never released as a single, had
everyone singing along, many no doubt reminiscing about the song
in a different time, yet thankful they still have the
opportunity to hear it today.
It is
surprising that a band could not play two #1 hits from their
catalog, “Best of My Love” and “New Kid in Town” and still leave
the crowd thoroughly pleased the way the Eagles did. While
these songs would have been nice, as would Walsh’s “Rocky
Mountain Way,” it was hard to find anyone complaining. I
believe they could return and fill the venue again in another
five months. I’ll be there if they do.
