Marvin's Review

Last night's show in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, was as good as any Eagles show I've seen (and this is the 5th time that I've seen them since 1972) - and being in the 10th row from the stage was an emotional high. They actually looked like they were having fun and not just going through the motions, which seems to be a constant criticism. I guess not having Felder  around might have been the reason for this. Maybe you have to be a musician to understand this, but for me, Don Felder and his playing had always been a highlight. Steuart Smith is incredibly versatile, but there's a musical quality and stage presence that  Felder brought that I believe is missing with Smith. Here's the set list and some comments:

1. Seven Bridges Road
2. The Long Run - I know there were horns on this song, cos' I could see them, but they were buried so far down in the mix,  they might as well have not been there.
3. New Kid in Town
4. Wasted Time - fabulous vocal by Don. How does he still hit those notes?
5. Wasted Time (Reprise)
6. Peaceful Easy Feeling
7. Pretty Maids All in A Row - the backing vocals were lost in the mix.
8. Love Will Keep Us Alive - as usual, Timothy had everyone in the palm of his hands with his vocals.
9. The Boys Of Summer - the first song to get the crowd on their feet. As time passes, my appreciation for this song increases.
10. Take It to the Limit - Glenn does a fine job on this song, but given that it was sung so well by Randy Meisner with that high tenor, I'd like to see Timothy take a shot at it.
11. Already Gone - another crowd pleaser. Nice solo by Smith
12. In the City
13. One of these Nights

INTERMISSION

1. Witchy Woman - great falsetto by Don
2. Lyin' Eyes
3. I Can't tell You Why
4. Walk Away - fabulously played and sung by Walsh
5. Tequila Sunrise
6. Sunset Grill
7. You Belong to the City
8. Life's Been Good - another highlight.
9. Dirty Laundry - another crowd pleaser
10. Funk 49
11. Heartache Tonight
12. Life In the Fast Lane

ENCORE

1. Hotel California - considering that this is arguably their most popular song, the version didn't cut it for me.  The coda guitar solos by Walsh and Smith just didn't have the fire that it used to have with Walsh and Felder.
2. Rocky Mountain Way
3. All She Wants to Do is Dance
4.Take It Easy
5. Desperado

So there you have it. If it were up to me, I'd take out a couple of the solo songs, and put in more Eagles stuff, but I guess you're never gonna please everyone. Other than McCartney and the Stones, I can't think of too many acts that can do a non-stop "Hits" show from beginning to end like the Eagles can.

Here is some info on the cost of some merchandise:

Programme: $25 (Cdn)
t-shirt - $40
baseball hat - $45
baseball jersey - $150
Hotel California lithograph - $50

 

Sue's Review (Sue also provided us with the great scans from the Herald)

Some thoughts on the Calgary concert

The reviewer in the Calgary paper wrote this concert off as "a huge catalogue of well-crafted country-rock hits, exactly as you'd hear them on the radio". And said that although the Eagles were "tight", "there's such a thing as being too tight...leaving no room for spontaneity, looseness, fire and excitement". I don't think he was at the same concert I was. From my seat in the 3rd row on the floor, this was an absolutely awesome concert!

From the opening blend of voices in Seven Bridges Road I was mesmerized. The fans on the floor were on their feet from Already Gone til the end of the show, dancing and singing along. And the band seemed to be enjoying themselves as much as we were. I was really, really, impressed with the vocals at this concert. This is a band known for their Grade-A vocals and flawless harmonies, but they seem to just keep sounding better and better. Glenn's voice sounded the best I've heard it in 10 years. As other reviewers have mentioned, the falsetto on the chorus of You Belong to the City is a bit jarring. But that's a minor criticism. He's a solid performer. He really is the glue of the band. Don proved once again what a powerhouse singer he is, with that notable range and control. I still have a major crush on this man so I'm not unbiased. Listening to him sing makes me weak in the knees. I saw him 2 years ago in Vancouver at the end of the Inside Job tour when his voice had had months and months of workouts. This was such a treat to hear him sing so early in the tour. I was curious, and a little nervous as to how Steuart would fit into the mix. I was actually holding my breath waiting for that guitar solo to come sailing into the middle of One of These Nights (I couldn't picture anyone but Felder playing that). But Steuart did a stellar job. He's a fleet guitarist and I was very impressed.

Joe's guitar work, especially slide, was outstanding. Witnessing his performances on Rocky Mountain Way and Walk Away I don't know how the press reviewer could claim there was no spontaneity, looseness, fire or excitement. I agree with L&M that Joe doesn't steal the show, as most of the reviews claim -- the Eagles are too much a composite band for that -- but Joe gives his all and he added so much energy and enthusiasm to the concert. Timothy sang beautifully, as always. I find of all the Eagles, he's the one who makes the most eye contact with the audience, particularly the front rows of the floor where we were sitting. And he seemed to feel very connected with the fans. I picked a couple of songs to just listen and groove to Timothy's bass playing, and he's so good.

Musical highlights? Already Gone, Witchy Woman, Wasted Time, Walk Away. Special moments? Don winking, pointing and laughing at everyone holding out their bic lighters. Timothy giving guitar picks to the two little girls in front of us. Glenn poking Joe in the tummy like the Pillsbury Dough Boy when they all had their arms around each other at the end of the show. So was it worth the steep ticket prices? You bet. Bring on the new album!

Derek's Review

Eagles concert in Calgary -- June 9, 2002

First a little background about me. I've been an Eagles fan since 1985 -- they were one of the first "real" bands that I liked, which eventually led me to many of the other bands and artists that I discovered in my late teens and early 20s. I saw Don Henley in concert in about 1991 and the Eagles in 1994 -- both concerts in Vancouver. I've seen many rock concerts over the years since the mid-80s.

The Calgary concert was more-or-less as I expected -- it was great, but no surprises or anything. The setlist was the one that has been posted on this web site:

Seven Bridges Road
The Long Run
New Kid In Town
Wasted Time W/Reprise
Peaceful Easy Feeling
Pretty Maids All In A Row
Love Will Keep Us Alive
Boys Of Summer
Take It To The Limit
Best Of My Love
Already Gone
In The City
One Of These Nights

Intermission

Witchy Woman
Lyin' Eyes
I Can't Tell You Why
Walk Away
Tequila Sunrise
Sunset Grill
You Belong To The City
Life's Been Good
Dirty Laundry
Funk # 49
Heartache Tonight
Life In The Fast Lane

Hotel California

Rocky Mountain Way

All She Wants To Do Is Dance

Take It Easy
Desperado

I'm not 100 percent certain that this is exactly the order they played the songs tonight, but it probably is.

I was in row four on the floor, about eight seats from the end of the left side of the stage (from the audience's viewpoint). In 1994 my seat was even a little better, so I've been quite fortunate with respect to the two Eagles concerts I've seen. So tonight I had a very good view of Tim and Glenn, and not such a good view of Joe and Stuart -- who were on the right side of the stage (from my point of view).

Probably the biggest thrill for me was that this time around they played three of my favorite songs that they did not play in 1994: Seven Bridges Road, Already Gone, and Witchy Woman.

I was impressed with how well their voices sound, given their ages. To my untrained ear, Don and Tim sounded perfect. Glenn was very good, but his voice seems to have suffered a little compared to Tim and Don. During "New Kid in Town" I noticed that he skipped a lot of the high notes that he hit on the original recording. It reminded me of seeing Paul McCartney sing Blackbird last week at the Queen's Golden Jubilee concert on TV. Paul also skipped the high notes, so Glenn is in good company. I noticed that Glenn would consistently pull his head back from the microphone at the same time as he was trying for a higher note. I'm not sure if there's a reason for that -- is he worried that he'll sound bad and he doesn't want us to hear? I certainly don't want to sound like I'm being hard on Glenn -- I though he was great, but his voice tonight wasn't quite as good as Don's and Tim's. Joe's voice? I guess I'd have to say he sounded as good as ever.

I thought Glenn did a very good job with "Take It To The Limit". That was the song I thought might disappoint me, but even though he doesn't sound like Randy, his version was great. I don't know what Randy sounds like these days, but I'd be a little surprised if he could still hit the same notes that he did in the 70s. (What I'm saying is, sure Glenn doesn't sing it like Randy, but could Randy still sing it like Randy?)

I'll also mention Stuart. He did an excellent job, though I did miss Don Felder a little. I'm really glad that I did get a chance to see Don Felder in 1994, and in my view the band is missing something without him. I suppose it's something intangible, because I can't say there's anything missing from a technical guitar performance perspective. It appeared to me that Stuart can play anything that Don played, though I noticed that he played most, if not all, of Don's solos a little differently. I preferred that approach to him copying every part of Don's solos. His playing on "Hotel California", I thought, came closest to copying Don exactly; but even I (a non-musician) noticed some differences. I'm glad they don't hide Stuart at the back of the stage. He's up at the front, and I don't think most of the audience would even realize that he's not an "official" member of the band. The only difference between him and the other four is that he doesn't since lead -- but neither did Don. However, I agree that Don Felder was expendable, and if the band lasts longer without him then I guess that we're better off that he's gone.

I was a little worried when I heard about the horn section playing an important role. I really did not notice them much, so I didn't mind them. Except for a couple of songs (Long Run, Heartache) they did not add much that I noticed. They had a prominent role in Funk # 49, but I think the song works better without them.

I only noticed two minor technical glitches. After "Pretty Maids All In A Row", Tim introduced Joe, but his mike wasn't working for the first part of the introduction. And during "Rocky Mountain Way", Joe's hose(?) for his talk-box guitar wasn't connected properly, so they delayed the talk-box part of that song a little until the tech guy plugged it in properly.

There may have been a technical problem with Glenn's "You Belong To The City", I'm not sure. It sounded to me like Glenn's voice wasn't loud enough -- it was getting lost in the mix in some parts. But maybe that had something to do with him having trouble singing that song. I was a little disappointed in that song, but the crowd seemed to like it a lot.

"Already Gone" was the first song that got a lot of the audience standing, as far as I could tell. That surprised me, because I thought that "Already Gone" was one of the lesser-known hits. Starting with, I think, "Life's Been Good", most of the crowd stood for the rest of the show.

During "Boys Of Summer", Don played the guitar hero part a bit, and danced around while playing his guitar to get a reaction from the crowd. I thought he looked a little sheepish when he was doing it -- it was kind of funny. Also during the same song, I noticed Glenn would sing along much of the time, though not into the mike. To me, that looked like he was enjoying himself.

I thought the band seemed to interact well together. It appeared to me that Glenn, Tim, and Joe enjoyed each other's company. With Don it's a little harder to tell. Plus, much of the time he's not up front with the others. I only mention this because there is a newspaper review (for an earlier concert) that said something like the band members ignored each other. After Desparado, when the four got together for their bow and wave, Glenn reached over and grabbed at Joe's (slightly large) belly.

What would have made the concert better in my opinion? A couple of new songs would have exciting. They did an intro to "Heartache Tonight" that I didn't recognize, so for a few seconds I got quite excited thinking that maybe they would try out a new song here in the great white north where we don't have Internet access and won't bootleg songs. No such luck though. I see Don's point about giving the audience what they expect, but I think that one or two new songs would be better. I think his concern about songs being bootlegged is a red herring.

Other possible improvements: How about a few surprise guests -- say Don Felder on Hotel California, Randy Meisner on "Take It To The Limit", and Bernie Leadon on "Take it Easy" (return of the banjo solo!). Am I asking for too much?

Those are the only comments I have for now. Overall it was a great concert, and I'm sure that most who attended would agree with me.

Derek Aldridge (derekald@shaw.ca)

Bill's Review

Having missed them when they last came through town in 1994, I was determined to get to see the eagles this time around. Fate conspired to prevent me from getting tickets until a week before the show, so I had to settle for a pair behind the stage, 20 rows back, smack in the centre. As my wife and I made our way to the Saddledome, we remarked on the audience demographic…mostly old farts like ourselves, then when we got into the ‘Dome we got cappuccino and pizza. What a change from the ‘70’s. We took our seats and noted that there were three large screens facing rear so we’d have a good view. The band came on at 8:15 and started into the regular setlist. It took a few songs for the guys to get into the groove, Joe was letting the new guy Steuart Smith take way too many solos for my liking at the beginning, but by the time he got to Pretty Maids he’d taken over the lead role. When Timothy B took centre stage for Love Will Keep Us Alive, my wife went all gooey and remarked how cute he was. I reminded her that he was 54 going on 55 and she muttered something about him making a deal with the devil. The audience was curiously subdued, but when intro to The Boys Of Summer started they livened up tremendously. From Already Gone onwards the whole place was a wild party, the band seemed to take off propelled by Joe who was having a real good time. They played a 58 minute first set, then took a 15 minute break and returned for a 70 minute second set. Joe got to play a few James Gang tunes as well as Don doing his solo stuff, which was nice to see. The band didn’t mess about with the encores, just leaving the stage briefly. I hate it when groups leave for three minutes, we know they’re coming back and they know they’re coming back, so why mess around? Again, my wife didn’t realize they were doing 5 encores and was ready to leave after the second, Rocky Mountain Way. The encore set took another 30 minutes, so we had close to three hours of classic Eagles music. Altogether, an awesome show that I’d recommend to anyone.

Nigel's Review

Calgary Concert Review
I attended the Calgary concert with long time friends, Jackie and Howard.
To prepare for the event, I burned a couple of CD's of the songs in the
order of the set list to get me ready for the show. I opted out for
renditions of live songs where possible from my Selected Works set and the
Eagles Live double CD remastered. I was not disappointed. I won't
duplicate aspects of the other great reviews posted on this site and
disagree with some of the comments made by the reviewers in the local
papers.

The concert was held at the Pengrowth Saddledome, home of the NHL's, Calgary
Flames. I was a bit reluctant before the show thinking that the sound won't
be that great. Before the show started we strolled around the arena
checking out the stage. I counted almost 40 guitars all racked and some in
the process of being tuned. We took our seats in eager anticipation with
the rest of the crowd having an average age between of 40 or so.

The three hour show started about 10 minutes after 8 and included a 20
minute intermission. They followed the standard set list posted on the web
site opening with Seven Bridges Road. It has been a favorite of mine since
I first heard it off the Eagles Live CD set as well as hearing it in 5 part
'DTS' harmony from the Hell Freezes Over (HFO) DVD. Tonight there were only
four Eagles but I still thought they sounded great. It was not as rich as
the 5 part harmony on the DVD and thus was the only time in the evening I
can say that I missed Felder's voice. They added a violin into the mix
which I thought fit in perfectly.

Much has been said about the horns on the tour so I paid special attention
to them. I thought the horns accompanying The Long Run and a few other
tunes filled in quite nicely. On Don's DVD there is a horn version of Hotel
California which is radically different from the song we know and love.
Perhaps the horn influence is from Don.

Glen welcomed the crowd and was received with a thunderous applause. He
then broke into New Kid in Town. I don't know if it was me or did time stop
near the end of the song where everyone kinda paused for a split second
perhaps wondering if the song would end or continue on for a bit. Something
just didn't sound right.

Henley was fantastic on Wasted Time another favorite of mine. However, the
strings on WT reprise were from a synthesizer and not like the DVD with the
full orchestra. OK, OK, I know they can't bring a full orchestra on tour
across North America but the song was not as sweet as the HFO DVD version.

Joe did a slide guitar intro for Pretty Maids All in a Row which sounded a
bit flat at the beginning. He was superb.

Timothy B. Schmidt said, "That's about as calm as he's gonna be tonight" and
he was right. I think Joe stole the show in terms of interacting with the
crowd and having the most fun out there.

By the time Already Gone was played everyone was into it. The show does
start of slowly/melancholy. At the end of the song Frey yelled out "Who
likes country rock in Calgary" to wild cheers from the crowd. Glenn
introduced the band and knew the roots of the hockey in the town. One of
the band members was buddies with Mike Vernon, a former Calgary Flame
goaltender.

Memorable Moments in the 2nd Set
* Witchy Woman sounded a bit flat but great percussion pounding on my
chest on the double tom toms. Glenn and Joe strummed each others guitars @
the end of the song.
* Beautiful sax intro and solo in You Belong to the City. Vocals were
sometimes washed out...but that sax!!
* Life's been Good was certainly the crowd favorite from the set
before the encore and when Walsh yelled out "Whatz Upppp"! The fans went
wild.
* One of the lines from Heartache Tonight is "...this nights gonna
last forever". It certainly will in my mind.
* Life in the Fast Lane - great riffs on the guitar from Joe
* The trumpet introduction for Hotel California was awesome. I hope
they make a CD or DVD of the tour. I thought Steuart Smith did a fine job
on this song but not as smooth as Felder.
* Some fans were leaving after Hotel California not realizing that
there were 4 more songs.
* During Rocky Mountain Way, Joe's voicebox isn't working and a
roadie, dressed in the mandatory back dives out onto the stage and fixes it.
The song goes on without another hitch. The concert ended with All She
Wants to Do is Dance, Take it to the Limit and Desperado.

As Desperado was ending I said to Howard and Jackie, "Let's get ready to
leave". When the band took their final bow, Jackie looked back for one last
look and tripped on the stairs. She sprained her ankle - Take It to The
Limit Jackie!!

See you in Columbus, Ohio, Eagles!