The concert in Knoxville was the best Eagles show of all we've ever seen.
Jamie and I, and a good friend, Marijon, sat beside the stage, four rows back,
on Tim's side.

The band started with Seven Bridges Road, and had more energy than I have ever
seen them display. Glenn shook his bottom during one song, and danced wildly
during the choruses of All She Wants To Do Is Dance. This alone was worth the
trip!

The guitar work, always so awesome, was definitely top notch. I did not hear
anyone boo Stuart, and I was glad. Everyone was very animated, especially
Timothy, who really played to the crowd on our side. The crowd was very
enthusiastic, but the concert was not a complete sell out, although it was very
close.

We had an interesting experience going into the venue. Jamie doled out our
tickets, and the ticket collectors looked at them oddly, but went ahead and
ripped them apart. Then I noticed that they were the Louisville tickets!! The
kind lady fished back out our stubs, and Jamie called Louisville's Freedom Hall
to make sure we were going to be okay with our torn tickets!! Only we could
manage to get into such a scrape.

We're very excited about tonight, and are looking forward to seeing old friends
and making new ones as our little mini-tour continues.

Jerry's Review

The Eagles have gone from simply performers to showmen.  I have never seen the group so animated as I saw tonight.  They opened with Seven Bridges Road and closed with Desperado.  Joe Walsh is the consummate performer.  He is the heartbeat of the Eagles.  His antics were sensational tonight.  He has more energy than men half his age.  He was the obvious crowd favorite.  He seemed to feed off the energy of the crowd, and the same was reciprocated.  Except for a few glitches in the sound  system and broken  vocals     everything    went very smooth. Some reviews I have read tell about no interaction among the principals.  Well, things have changed.  They were enjoying themselves immensely.  Don's voice was at the top of his game, Glen struggled early but ended fine.  Timothy struggled a little but recovered.  Steuart Smith is one heck of a guitar player.  He seems to be getting comfortable with his role.  The brass section was fabulous.  This probably won't mean much to anyone outside of Tennessee, but my fellow onlookers (seated next to me) where Casey Claussen, David Keith, and Kenny Chesney.  Fun was had by all.  

Amanda's Review

Wow! Just got back from the Knoxville concert, and it was so amazing. I've
never seen the Eagles live before, and I was floored. Great, great show (even
with crummy seats)!

Okay, from the beginning. I guess they started playing about 8:20 (I was
there waaay too early waving around my glittery posters in my nosebleed
seats, and playing with binoculars) with Seven Bridges Road. This is one of
my favorites and I was ecstatic when they played it. Harmonies and everything
was very together, and they did it with a violinist, actually they put him
behind a lot of songs and it worked very nicely. (I think it was the
violinist, I know it was the guy who did saxophone, I thought he bore a
very strange, uncanny resemblance to a certain dictator in German history...
not that it's his fault or I particularly care, I just thought that was
interesting).

The first few songs were great, Wasted Time especially seemed to make people
happy... though I do think that they needed to start the concert off with
some harder stuff. The Knoxville suburbanite crowd (sigh) was really sleepy
and quiet and didn't move much till about halfway through the second set, and
even then they were very, very docile.

One of these Nights was the highlight of the first set. Don Henley can still
hit those notes! (Joe Walsh, though, chickened out on a few in "In the
city.") I missed Don Felder's guitar playing especially here, though Stewart
Smith did a fine job.

Witchy woman was a good way to start the second set (the definite, definite
stronger of the two. Definitely needed some Felder guitar in I Can't tell you
why. I thought Smith's playing was just kind of dry, it needed something...
but who knows. Anyway, Walk Away was awesome, the crowd was happy with that.
(Joe stole the second set completely, or until Glenn started dancing with the
brass section.)
You Belong to the City was great, I could tell that it must have hurt to hit
those notes but it was really well done. And the next little bit was all Joe
Walsh. I don't know if every show was like this, but the whole band just kind
of got this crazy vibe, there was one part when they were all lined up with
guitars and jumping up and down (really jumping! high!), and Joe did the
"wasssup!" thing on Life's Been Good and danced across the stage. His guitar
playing was (as usual, I'm guessing) absolutely flawless, and crazily good.

Encores were all great, but it seemed like it would have been better to maybe
just do Hotel California, Take it Easy, and Desperado and put the rest of
them in the normal show, because a LOT of people really thought it was over
after the first one or two and left. All She wants to do is dance was the
surprise standout, very, very fun, even up high we were dancing. :)

Anyway, I guess that is about it. As for what they were wearing, I thought
Glenn's blue suit was absolutely hideous. Definitely should get rid of that
one. Funniest was Joe's red glittery slippers, and it looked from what my
binoculars could see that Timothy was wearing some sort of jangly bracelets?
Hmm. And they all could use to grow out their hair a little, I don't really
like "short and spiky..." but all in all they looked great. I was at a CSNY
concert a few months ago and I though David Crosby was going to fall over in
cardiac arrest in the middle of the concert. The Eagles looked in much better
shape!
Overall this was a fantastic, spontaneous show... Great!

Connie's Review

It's the morning after...I'm still hearing EAGLES tunes in my head. Oh,
yeah, I guess that's because I can't stop playing my library of EAGLES
CDs.

This concert review is especially provided for all first-time Eagles
concert attendees who haven't seen, but will be attending a performance
during the 2002 tour......

GET READY TO BE BLOWN AWAY!

My husband and I attended the concert last night held at the
Thompson-Boling arena in Knoxville, TN. The EAGLES far surpassed
anything I could have dreamed them to be. I'm 42 yrs old so I've been
captivated by EAGLES tunes since their beginning. Every song has a
poignant memory attached to it, so every song during the performance
last night was a trip back in time. I was in awe from the moment SEVEN
BRIDGES began and I felt tears in the corners of my eyes. I didn't even
know why at first, but I guess it was the thrill of seeing actual
LEGENDS in person and what they symbolize in my life. I know, this may
sound corny to some, but I know others can understand and will feel the
same.

I just wanted to mention a few highlights---

SEVEN BRIDGES - What beautiful harmony after all these years!

Our initial view of the band members was a surprise. It was 93 degrees
yesterday in Knoxville and these guys are wearing suits! We were
thinking they'd shed some clothes during the night, but no. We love Joe
Walsh's red and black patent sneakers. He was a treasure to behold
during every moment of the show!

I must say something right now about the backup musicians that were
with the EAGLES last night.....WOW, AWESOME, FANTASTIC, SUPERB! Do you
get the picture? They were all great and truly contributed more than
your ordinary backup musician. We were especially impressed the lead
guitar player, I think his name was Scott, maybe??? The horn section
was out-of-this-world. Their coordinated dance moves were impressive
and we liked the musical horn piece at the intro to Hotel California.

NEW KID IN TOWN - What a treat to hear so many great Eagles songs.
Again the harmony sounded so incredible and the high notes were hit -
just like on your radio!

It was a real pleasure to hear Timothy Schmidt sing Love Will Keep Us
Alive and I Can't Tell You Why. He has a beautiful voice and every
note sounded perfect.

Boys of Summer is my personal Don Henley favorite and I was on my feet
with the rest of our section during this one. Don Henley is awesome and
I was spellbound to hear this one live.

Take It to The Limit is another favorite from my High School days..
Glenn Frey's comment about his ex-wife's credit card relationship
received wild applause and laughter from everyone!

When the Intermission arrived, it was our chance to get a good look
around the crowd. The arena looked sold out to us and it was pretty
much a "middle-aged" group. Oh, no....I am one of those middle-agers
now!!!!!! No way!!!!!
It was a devoted, well-behaved crowd. Most, especially all floor fans,
were on their feet the second half of the concert. Out of
consideration for the boring couple seated behind us, I tried to sit
down every once in a while!!

The second half of the concert really got the audience on a
roller-coaster of slow and fast paced tunes. You could hear the
audience singing every word of Lyin' Eyes and Tequila Sunrise. But when
Joe Walsh started up Life's Been Good, everyone was ready to party and
laugh with Joe! He was great all night! We were close enough to see
the hilarious facial expressions he came up with and we loved him.
After the concert, we agreed that Joe Walsh's songs and his superb
guitar playing were one of the highlights for us.

I must say this...At the start of EVERY song, my husband and I would
quickly look at each other and say "Oh, I LOVE this song!" (OK, it was
usually me saying this.) It is the only concert I've attended where I
knew the melody and lyrics to every song. Just wait, you future concert
goers will be on the edge of your seats with anticipation!

At the end of the second set and before the encores began, I was
starting to feel anxious, knowing that the concert would be ending, and
wanting the night to last forever. I knew that Life in the Fast Lane
was their last song and my husband immediately pulled out my his
cigarette lighter. There were several hundred lighters flickering
across the arena and the EAGLES returned to bring us joy for another 25
minutes of encores! We were thrilled with the anthem Hotel California,
my husband was ecstatic over Rocky Mountain Way (his personal Joe Walsh
fav) and I danced like a total idiot to All She Wants To Do Is Dance.
But I don't feel too bad, because Glenn Frey did too! He was great and
so entertaining! As hoped for, Desperado closed the concert for the
night. Flames flickered and everyone sang the words. I bet there are
lots of memories attached to that one!

As we left the concert and walked with the crowd to our car, my husband
and I discussed whether or not we'd have the chance to see another
Eagles concert. Our hope is that the Eagles will perform again in a
couple of years and we'll be able to take our 2 year old. A new
generation of Eagles fan was born in 2000 and will be blessed to grow up
 

Michael's Review

Kenny Chesney at the show!

Hey, Man, I'm Freaking Out

July 4th, Kenny Chesney took his mom and a few close friends to see the

Eagles when they played near their hometown. While his mom was really looking

forward to meeting smokey voiced writer Don Henley -- "who couldn't have been

more charming to her," Chesney reports -- the young man whose No Shoes, No

Shirt, No Problems debuted at #1 on Billboard's Top 200 chart had crazier

game in mind: notorious gonzo guitarist Joe Walsh.

"When I was in college, I used to listen to that live album ALL the time

-- and right before 'Life In The Fast Lane,' you'd hear Joe Walsh go, 'Hey

man, I'm freaking out," Chesney explains. "I'd gotten to meet Don Henley and

Glen Frey on the West Coast, but somehow didn't get to spend any time with

Joe Walsh.

"So when we were backstage, I actually asked him for his autograph. When

I looked down and saw what he wrote, I started laughing so hard -- because

Joe Walsh has actually written, 'To Kenny... Hey, man -- I'm freakin' out!

Joe Walsh.'

"I told him the whole story, and he thought that was hilarious. The idea

of a college kid sitting in their dorm room, listening to that song over and

over and saying it along with him."

But that was hardly the end of the line for Walsh. Later that night when

the band swung into Walsh's James Gang classic "Walk Away," the wiry musician

looked out into the crowd and offered up to the sold-out house: "This is for

Kenny. Hey, MAN, I'm freaking out..."

 

Billy's Review

As an Eagles fan for too many years to count, can hardly express the true feeling of pleasure and enjoyment that I experienced upon attending this particular concert, except to say that I still am quite numb and awestruck for having been able to actually BE THERE !
I suppose if I had to put into words, my state of mind from the beginning to the end of the performance, I would have to say that the experience was something like : hearing each song for the first time but somehow knowing every word, every chord, every drumbeat by heart.
These guys were in a word: FANTASTIC !!!
I have waited nearly 30 years to watch and hear these legends perform live and believe me, it was well worth the wait.
The only dark spot on the entire experience, was to afterward, read some of the reviews from supposed 'fans', but I use the term loosely.

{{Edited to remove slam of another fan reviewer}}

I enjoyed the Eagles concert (every moment of it), I hope that the opportunity will again be presented to me, at some point in the future, whereby I will be able to once again enjoy an "Evening with the EAGLES" .

Han and Chewie's Review

Chewie and I were all but too ready to see our
favorite band in Knoxville on the 4th of July. I had
seen the Eagles in '94 on the HFO tour but this would
be Chewie's first live show. This review will be from
a little different angle than most of the others
posted. As a musician and producer Chewie and I are
quite familiar with the recording process and the
sounds and feel one goes for when recording. And the
Eagles are masters at said process. So we will be
commenting on some of the things that made/make the
Eagles so great both live and on vinyl. But be warned,
if you do not care to read strong opinions about
production and performance, both good and bad, and
prefer to just read shining reviews of the tour, then
you need not read further.

As the boys strolled on stage we were holding our
breaths that they would kick off with "Seven Bridges."
Sure enough, when we saw them gather around close to
one another through the shady darkness, we knew it was
coming. We listened...Wonderful! Just wonderful! We
were in owe. Don and Glen looked confident, Timothy
looked pumped and ready to jam, and Joe seemed mildly
sluggish. The sound was soft but the sound guys would
continue to tweak through the night until it was as
good as one could possibly get it in the venue we were
in. I will take this opportunity to say that the sound
overall was better on the HFO tour than this one.
There are several reasons for this, the biggest being
the difficulty of sounding this venue as well as
seating, etc.. But this is still a review not tech
talk. So on we go.

Glen was sporting his now infamous powder blue suit
and the other guys were in black. Though Henley shed
his sport coat in favor of his black dress shirt as
soon as he got behind the kit.

"Long Run" was cool. I really missed this one on the
HFO tour. Chewie was quick to spot and memorize some
of the more elusive licks Joe used in the slide solo.

"New Kid in Town" was sang to perfection. This is the
song that we were waiting for. Our chance to see how
the Lyle Lovett look a like, Stewart Smith, was going
to do as fill in guitarist for Don Felder. In this
number he had his first "Felder Song" to make or
break. As professionals, we gave him the benefit of
the doubt and listened objectively through the solo
and near to the end. That's when Chewie leaned over to
me and said, "He's not Don." That pretty much summed
up my feelings as well. All of you players out there
who want to make it in the music business and all of
you guitar and music lovers alike listen to what we
have to say here. Consider it free production advice.
Stewart is an incredible session player. Very
technically accurate. However, we are talking about
style, and emotion and sound. He played Felder's notes
pluck for pluck. But playing all the notes isn't
enough. Any session player in Nashville could have
done the same thing. But the sound and mood wasn't
there. The sounds Felder can get from his guitars. The
emotion and ownership of the licks. The passion of
playing something you wrote that comes from you and
bleeds into the song. None of that was there. It was
merely a cold, mechanical reproduction of those same
licks played on a different guitar. Sort of like a
printed reproduction of the Mona Lisa verses the
actual painting itself. Yes, to the casual observer it
looks great and it certainly will pass for most every
occasion. However, it pails in comparison to the real
thing. The same applies here. Stewart is a great
player. But as Chewie said, He's no Don Felder.

"Wasted Time" was next and I have to tell you, there
is something about 16,000 people singing "Wasted Time"
that puts chills from the top of your head to the tips
of your toes... Wow!

On "Peaceful..." Chewie blurted out, "So he DOES use
the B7!!" referring to Glen's rhythm fingering in the
song. Apparently there were discrepancies on some tab
he had seen. B7 or no B7, the song was great.

When they got to "Pretty Maids..." our original
observations of Joe seemed to be confirmed. He seemed
tired, a little drained. This became even more
apparent when he played the solos very different than
the record. Something you hardly EVER see him do on an
Eagles song. In fact, it almost seemed as if he lost
his place at one point. Though he would pick it up
later, here in the first half of the first set, we
thought Joe needed a nap.

The crowd was really into the show. The energy from
them was great and it was clear it fed the band and we
think is the thing that got Joe out of his early funk.

"Love will Keep us Alive," Timothy, as usual, sang
like an angel. In fact, he was very much into the show
all night. As for the music in this song...OK, we are
not going to beat a dead horse here, however, there
are some things we need to cover. When you have a
band, contributions from the members of that band are
either minimal or substantial. Frey and
Henley...obviously...substantial. But from two songs
off the "On the Border" album on the Eagles sound
totally changed to, what we as fans recognize now as,
"The Eagles Sound." The heyday sound of the Eagles as
it were. Now yes, that does have something to do with
the songs, however, just as importantly, it also is
all about the sounds of those songs and the way they
are played. What we remember about them. For example,
who would remember "Lyin' Eyes" if it were played on a
trumpet and a harp? So from "Already Gone" and "Good
Day in Hell" off "On the Border" all the way through
the "One of These Nights" record and a lot of "Hotel
California," including the masterpiece itself, through
to "The Long Run," one of the MAJOR contributors, if
not the primary musical one, was Don Felder. Though
this fact is rarely noted by critics or fans, just ask
any record maker or producer. Heck just read who wrote
the songs and played guitars on half that stuff. Now
the reason we said all of this was to set up our
thoughts on this song. They allowed Stewart to play is
own intro and solo in it rather than coping the slide
guitar that Don originally played. We were in shock.
The song didn't even sound right. AND most
importantly, it did not sound like an Eagles song.
That was the interesting part. It sounded more like a
Timothy B. Schmit song off of one of his solo albums
than an Eagles record. Though what Stewart played was
very good, it wasn't what we were use to hearing from
the Eagles. When I said something to Chewie he
quickly, in his own way, reminded me why that was. He
said, "Look on that stage. Do you see Don down there?"
and he was right. We had found the problem. The song
was sung well and all else was good but it just didn't
sound...feel...breathe like the Eagles. Please don't
read an anti-Stewart message into our comments. The
guy can play. We are just making observations that we
found obvious in the things we look for. Which as
we've said, are much different than your normal
concert goer.

"Already Gone" had a cool jam solo and outro, not
anything like the record but still cool though we did
notice that they left the key change off near the end.

The show picked up as it went and for the most part we
felt like the set list was made out quite well. Joe's
songs were among the crowd favorites and certainly
kept Chewie's eyes glued to the stage.

Saving "Hotel..." for the encore was a great move on
someone's part. Because when the band came back out
and the first chords chimed after the trumpet
pre-intro (which we liked) we thought the place was
going to come down. What a roar! The song itself was
good. Stewart used a white, double neck similar to the
Gibson Felder used but the sound wasn't quite the
same. We couldn't tell what he was playing but it
wasn't a Gibson. It is also here that we are going to
disagree with some of the other comments made by some
of the other reviews where they say that Joe and
Stewart play seamlessly together. As a producer, I
would definitely have to strongly disagree. In fact,
we both felt that Joe struggled playing with Stewart
to a degree. Stewart's style is choppy and plucky as
opposed to the fluid and melodic styles of both Felder
and Walsh. Great for songs like "Tequila Sunrise" but
awkward and distracting for beauties like "I Can't
Tell You Why." This not only changes the sounds of
classic solos but it makes the duel guitar work sound
a little more clunky than it did before. If anyone who
has seen this concert goes back and watches the HFO
MTV show they will see exactly what we mean. They will
see a much more relaxed and fluid tandem of guitar
players than you will find on this current tour. It's
the kind of thing you can pick up on if you know what
to look for. So as a result, the solos on this classic
were slightly tainted. But the groove and vocal soul
was still there.

The highlight of the night was without question,
Glen's dance on "All She wants to do is Dance." It was
great and the crowed loved it! In fact, Chewie has
been doing "The Glen" all weekend! Of course Joe had
to add his version of the '80's robot dance for good
measure! It was priceless.

Overall, Chewie and I have two angles:

# 1-Our "As fans" angle: Though the HFO tour sounded
better and was unbeatable in its accuracy and
performance, this show used a lot more of the favorite
Eagles songs we all love. In addition the guys
certainly put on more of a show now. The horn section
is used well and as a result is a good touch. We were
worried about this but they really played behind the
band and didn't ruin any of the songs. Though at times
it did seem like we were watching some of the Eagles
singing their greatest hits with a session band which
made it almost Broadway showish in a way. Still, it
was the Eagles and it was wonderful. Don't miss it!

# 2-Our "As a musician and a producer" angle:
Eagles...if any of you ever read this site...we don't
know what happened and frankly we don't care. You are
all old enough to as you say "Get Over It" and act
like men who can make some of the best music ever
together. But please do it as the complete Eagles.
Bring back Felder. This show makes it clear, he is the
soul of your music. MUSIC! Not arrangements or vocals
or lyrics. You can hide his absents live with someone
trying to play his parts, but just because you put
boots in the oven that doesn't make them biscuits.

Everyone, go see this show! It's a great band who
sings great songs for three hours. Who could ask for
more? Two huge thumbs up from Han and Chewie!