Martin's Review

Here are my thoughts on the show in Albuquerque. The Pit was ready for the boys to knock us out. And they did, and then some! From the very start the energy from the band was great. As usual Henley and Frey had the crowd movin, but my man Joe Walsh stole the show! When it was time for him to do his stuff, he delivered strong! He had on this green and black striped long sleeved shirt on. It also had a drawing on the side (could have been a "Joker" logo) but Joe played to the crowd and changed the words to "lifes been good", he was the #1 star of the show. (Thought I would use a hockey term for the Stanley Cup). With every song, i'm sure it has and will be for every show, the crowd (including myself) sang along with the boys. It was like karaoke night!

The T-shirts ranged from $30-$40 bucks.
Programs were $20
Caps were $25 or $30
Keychains were $10

All in all this is in a tie for #2 in my all time list of best concerts I have ever seen. To me the Eagles are America's Beatles. (Henley & Frey) vs (Lennon & McCartney). I do believe I saw a once in a lifetime event. If you have to pay double the price for a close to the stage floor seat, don't even think about it....DO IT YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT!!

Later,
Martin A(Albuquerque, NM)
 

Ken's Review

Well, I'll start with the "bottom-line" first: The Eagles concert at The Pit in Albuquerque was simply outstanding. As a believer in the idea that nothing is ever absolutely 100 percent perfect, I will say that there were some very very minor nit-picks on my part, but I'll get to those later...

My wife and I were lucky enough to see the Eagles last summer while we were still in Germany, and while a lot of aspects of the show last night were nearly identical in most respects (song order being the primary difference), it was interesting to note some of the subtle differences (when I wasn't completely and totally absorbed in the music, that is). But anyway, on with
the review...

First, as far as the set list, it was pretty much identical to the El Paso show. The differences between their European tour set lists and the current tour highlight the different impact of certain songs. In Germany, where the Eagles are popular, but not quite to the extent they are here in the U.S., it was pretty much a given that the Eagles had to start off with as huge a
bang as possible, which meant "Hotel California" (their biggest international hit) right at the beginning to win the crowd over, and then coast on cruise control from there. On the other hand, the love for this band here in their home country is such that they can save that song for the encore, and get just as big (and loud!) a reaction from nearly every other song they play before it. I couldn't believe the crowd volume difference between the show in Köln (Cologne), where it was politely enthusiastic, versus at the Pit where it was nearly deafening on occasion.

As far as overall sound quality, here's my first nit-pick. All of the Eagles were in fine voice last night, but something about the sound mix didn't completely do their voices justice. Their vocals (especially Henley's) occasionally sounded a bit trebly or "tinny", and not as rich and
full as I remember hearing at Köln. This may have also had something to do with the acoustics of The Pit (this was my first concert there), or perhaps where I was sitting with relation to the main speaker arrays. But overall the quality of the singing was generally high enough to make up for the shortcomings of the PA or the acoustics.

Now, on to individual performances...

Glenn Frey: Glenn was in great form, and as usual, was pretty much the front person introducing songs and offering up any brief chatter or commentary. His vocals were generally spot-on, with the possible exception of some very slightly off notes on "Heartache Tonight", and his singing was overall a bit stronger than when we saw them in Germany. I was curious how he would do with "You Belong to the City", which I had thought was his weakest song during the Köln show. I was pleased to hear a better rendition this time; he still uses his falsetto on the chorus, but he's worked on his technique to where it sounds more convincing and less, well, wimpy, for lack of a better term. And it was good to hear him belt out the very last part of the song, full force, and in perfect pitch. Though he does a fine job on it, I still have a hard time getting used to hearing his voice on "Take It To the Limit"; the song will always have that Randy Meisner stamp on it. Glenn seemed in good spirits, occasionally clowning around with Joe and smiling at the others.

Don Henley: His usual self, meaning his usual strong vocals ranging from terrific to spectacular, together with his normal scowling face and more serious demeanor than the others (though he did crack the occasional smile). Don normally has a somewhat grim look on his face, but the altitude (higher than Denver) may have been getting to him during songs when he was drumming with a lot of gusto; when the big screens would show close-ups of him, he occasionally looked like he was nearly in pain. Not that it mattered; his drumming and singing were superb, and as in Köln, he probably gave the best overall performance of the bunch, technically speaking (Joe Walsh's guitar playing notwithstanding...but more on that in a moment). I do wonder why he likes to strap on that Tele so much, other than for visual effect. I'm a guitar player, and I usually like to listen for and scrutinize each players playing, but if they ever turned up Don's guitar, I sure couldn't hear it in the mix through the other guitars and crowd noise! But that's just another little nit-pick that essentially made no difference whatsoever in the enjoyability factor (and most non-guitarists wouldn't even notice or care).

Timothy B. Schmit: His usual solid but smooth bass playing, and as always, incredibly consistent vocals. More than any of the other Eagles, his voice doesn't seem to change any with age; hits all those beautiful high notes effortlessly. And he still comes across as a genuinely friendly and down-to-Earth individual. "I Can't Tell You Why" and "Love Will Keep Us
Alive" were flawless, as were Tim's harmonies. Arena shows tend not to do Tim's bass playing proper justice; while I could generally make out the notes he played, there was too much boominess that took away from the subtlety of his playing. But it's just a fact of life that the acoustics of a live performance in an arena, with added crowd noise, will never match the sound quality of a recording, so oh well.

Joe Walsh: Absolutely on top of his game, and as usual, the show-stealer of the bunch. The man was on-fire with his playing last night, and everyone went nuts with every facial contortion and stinging riff. He was at least twice as animated here as he was in Germany, and the only Eagle to make a point of running around to all corners of the stage (during "Life's Been
Good") to say "hello" to every part of the audience. The man is no spring chicken anymore (and hasn't been for a while!), but I can't think of a single young guitarist from any current Top 40 band that can touch the man in terms of both his playing and stage presence. Even if I didn't like the Eagles so much (which I do, of course), I would pay the admission just to see this man perform. His singing was good too, especially on "Pretty Maids...". On a minor nit-pick, I'm still not sure I like the updated version of "Walk Away"; it's still a fun song either way, but I'm a huge fan of the original version. Oh, and for those who keep track of his wardrobe, Joe was wearing black trousers, and a shirt that bore a striking resemblance to the top of a multi-colored track suit. I'm just glad he wasn't wearing those blue hospital scrubs that he wore at Köln!

Steuart Smith: He may not be "officially" considered an Eagle, but he definitely deserves mention, as his playing is absolutely indispensable to the music and the show. He plays Felder's parts nearly flawlessly, though he's obviously been given some flexibility to vary his solos a bit on certain songs, and occasionally plays with a bit more edge than Felder. The "classic" signature solos and riffs are as identical to Felder's parts as you can get without being Felder (and by the way, I'm a big Felder fan). Steuart's playing and "stage presence" are probably one of the more obvious changes from the show we saw in Germany (in a good way). In Germany, it was obvious Steuart was the brand new guy, and though he played brilliantly, he
was somewhat stiff in his stage presence, and frequently the stage crew forgot to even spotlight him during solos. He was definitely more in the spotlight this time, and played with a lot more visual energy and emotion. It was also obvious that Steuart and Joe are a lot more comfortable together, more in-synch with each other both playing-wise and visually, and traded a lot more smiles and looks between each other. Their interaction during "Hotel..." was a thing of beauty. The only misgiving I'll repeat from the show in Germany, and it's not directed at Steuart, is that I still miss some of the other instrumentation that Felder used to provide, such as mandolin and steel pedal guitar. It seems the Eagles have decided to completely drop those aspects of their music altogether, which I personally feel is a shame.

Horn Section: I like this touch. I liked them in Germany as well, though they were just on the edge of being intrusive on some songs. I had read one of the other reviews here where someone had expressed their disapproval of the Eagles use of horns on certain songs. And prior to the show last night, I also had my misgivings, and was mildly concerned that the horns might detract from certain songs. I was pleasantly surprised to see (and hear) that the horns last night, while used quite extensively, were used with discretion and taste, and did not detract from the songs at all.

And of course, the other supporting musicians (keyboards, piano, and Scott Crago on drums/percussion) were all terrific.

Overall performance and interaction as a band: Better than what I saw in Germany, and what I saw there wasn't bad at all; it was just that much better this time. This band still amazes me with what they can accomplish vocally and instrumentally as a group; that many guitars and voices can easily become a disaster quickly if everyone isn't perfectly in-synch with each other. I did notice that they are using their additional musicians (keyboardist and pianist, for example) to add more backing vocals. Out of 30 songs, I think I may have heard only 2 songs in which someone was just barely off on their vocal (and one of those was the aforementioned bit on "Heartache Tonight" when Glenn was just slightly off for part of a verse).

Well, you just can't get much better for an elder band rehashing it's considerable catalog of terrific music (as well as their solo hits). But as I'm sure the Eagles fully intended, this only whets my appetite for the release of their upcoming album of new music, and the expected subsequent tour. Wherever I am at that time, you can bet I'll do whatever I can to see
them again. Good show, Eagles!