Tito's review of the Eagles concert September 24 - Chicago
Posted: Fri Sep 26, 2008 3:37 amI went to the Eagles concert last night after only deciding earlier in the day I would be going. It looked like there was still good seats left, so I thought I was going to get in the door at a good price as scalpers would try to unload tickets. WROOONG!!!! Nota one. I walked around that place forever and did not see one. So I had no choice but to go to the box office. I asked for their best seat and they had 7th row Sec.1, so I forked over the $185. At least I got a good seat and in the end it was worth it. Plus, I saved on parking as I parked in the street. However, I did have to keep looking over my shoulder as it was a little "darker" than I thought over there still.
As I walked in, Saint John was right. I bet if we took a vote Obama would win 90-10. Obama shirts and bumper stickers were seen and the people were either hippies are uppity snobs for the most part. I also saw additional printed signs on all the doors that said (paraphrasing), "The artist does not allow cameras" and that would just be the start of it.
Before the concert started, a voice come on the P.A. and said, "Photography and video recording are prohibited." That's a first. But I did like when they said, "The concert will be starting shortly so please take your seats." This was a very formal and structured event, I guess it justifies the prices.
The show starts and BAM! they hit you with 4 new songs. I love it! They start with How Long. Oh, oh. The "background vocals" sound "pretty good." I ain't saying just saying (in case Henley reads this and I don't want to get sued). Actually it just sounded that way, for the most part, on the new songs. Now, I don't have that much of a problem with backing tracks (IF they were used in the first place) but when you have 9 additional musicians can't they sing (which they did). What's the point. Either use tracks or use backing musicians but not both. But that's just me. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed the performance and do not mean to start the interview on a negative tone but I just wanted to get that out there and out of the way.
After the second song, Glenn Frey welcomes us and saids this is The Eagles Assisted Living Tour. LOL Then I could not believe what he said. He saids, "Your welcomed to take as many still photography pictures as you would like but please don't videotape the performance. We don't come to your jobs and videotape you in your office and talking on the phone or posting on Melodic Rock." Alright I made the MR part up. "If you see someone videotaping please tap them on the shoulder at tell them to stop." Now, I can appreciate the fact they overruled their own rule and allowed picture taking but to go out of your way like that and say no videotaping was too me over the top. I did see security stop a few fans but I think those were false alarms. He also asked how many people had the new CD, which got a good response.
They played a ton of new songs, which I liked, and played in the neighborhood of 3 1/2 hours (with intermission). The started at 8, now I wasn't paying attention to the clock so I don't know if it was sharp or later than 8 but it wasn't that much after 8. When I started to leave it was 11:41. The intermission was in the 20 minute range so lets call it a 3:15 show. Again, makes it worth the money.
The first set was a little mellow and formal. As the show went on, I understood this as they were just pacing themselves. The crowd was starting to piss me off with the stand up, then sit down, then stand up, etc. routine. Lets pick a lane people. Lets either stand (which I prefer) or sit down. The crowd was into Joe Walsh the most. When it was his turn to sing they cheered. All in all they played 12 songs in the first set (set list below). Glenn Frey did break one of his guitar strings on of the songs. The roadie was going to run out there to give a new guitar and Henley pointed and gave him an angry look to stay over there and not come out there. LOL
Second set started with an acoustic style set and again BAM! 3 new songs to start. I still love it! Overall, they played the good new songs too. I liked hearing Take It To Limit with Glenn's vocals. After that, they plugged it back in and BAM! two more new songs which gives us a total of 9 new songs. They also played 3 Don solo songs, 4 Joe Walsh/James Gang songs (all in the second set), but no Frey solo songs. There weren't any deep cuts, only the hits (and not all of them by a long shot) plus solo hits. If Journey has the dirty dozen, the Eagles have buy one dozen get another dozen free, if not two especially when you count the solo stuff. The crowd got into it big time for the last hour or so. Basically on their feet the whole time and it all started with Joe Walsh. The crowd loved him and he look like the one with the most energy. They should've given him more mic time as he got the crowd going. I would give my right nut to hear a Joe Walsh and Ross Valory conversation. They could be a comedy team. Again, it became clear they were pacing themselves early on to get to this point. The band seemed more energized at this point too. Frey was dancing around, Joe was jumping, Timothy was doing his thing, and Don was still a prick.
The backing band was good and mostly goes unnoticed which is good. Don't get me wrong they compliment the Eagles but do not stand out. Stuart Smith is the only one that gets his share of the spotlight, he's basically the fifth Eagle...almost.
Overall, it was a great show that I would highly recommend seeing. If you like the new album, you'll definetly love it. The price is a little steep but it's worth going if you can. You get your monies worth by the length and quality of the show/songs.
One more thing, I saw one of the creeps from Enuff Z Nuff in the crowd. At least I think it was him. It looked like him, I can't imagine there's another j@goff in Chicago that dresses like that.
Set list has been the same I guess recently, I copied this from another site for a previous show although they left off Rocky Moutain Way before Take It Easy and maybe one more?:
Eagles' Set List:
1. “How Long”2. “Too Busy Being Fabulous”3. “I Don’t Want to Hear Anymore”4. “Guilty of the Crime”5. “Hotel California”6. “Peaceful Easy Feeling”7. “I Can’t Tell You Why”8. “Witchy Woman”9. “Lyin’ Eyes”10. “Boys of Summer”11. “In the City”12. “The Long Run”
Intermission Break
This section of the show was acoustic (13-17):
13. “No More Walks in the Woods”14. “Waiting in the Weeds”15. “No More Cloudy Days”16. “Love Will Keep Us Alive”17. “Take it to the Limit”18. “Long Road out of Eden”19. “Somebody”20. “Walk Away”21. “One of these Nights”22. Band introduction / “Life’s Been Good”23. “Dirty Laundry”24. “Funk 49”25. “Heartache Tonight”26. “Life in the Fast Lane”
Eagle's Encore:
27. “Take It Easy”28. “Desperado”
As I walked in, Saint John was right. I bet if we took a vote Obama would win 90-10. Obama shirts and bumper stickers were seen and the people were either hippies are uppity snobs for the most part. I also saw additional printed signs on all the doors that said (paraphrasing), "The artist does not allow cameras" and that would just be the start of it.
Before the concert started, a voice come on the P.A. and said, "Photography and video recording are prohibited." That's a first. But I did like when they said, "The concert will be starting shortly so please take your seats." This was a very formal and structured event, I guess it justifies the prices.
The show starts and BAM! they hit you with 4 new songs. I love it! They start with How Long. Oh, oh. The "background vocals" sound "pretty good." I ain't saying just saying (in case Henley reads this and I don't want to get sued). Actually it just sounded that way, for the most part, on the new songs. Now, I don't have that much of a problem with backing tracks (IF they were used in the first place) but when you have 9 additional musicians can't they sing (which they did). What's the point. Either use tracks or use backing musicians but not both. But that's just me. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed the performance and do not mean to start the interview on a negative tone but I just wanted to get that out there and out of the way.
After the second song, Glenn Frey welcomes us and saids this is The Eagles Assisted Living Tour. LOL Then I could not believe what he said. He saids, "Your welcomed to take as many still photography pictures as you would like but please don't videotape the performance. We don't come to your jobs and videotape you in your office and talking on the phone or posting on Melodic Rock." Alright I made the MR part up. "If you see someone videotaping please tap them on the shoulder at tell them to stop." Now, I can appreciate the fact they overruled their own rule and allowed picture taking but to go out of your way like that and say no videotaping was too me over the top. I did see security stop a few fans but I think those were false alarms. He also asked how many people had the new CD, which got a good response.
They played a ton of new songs, which I liked, and played in the neighborhood of 3 1/2 hours (with intermission). The started at 8, now I wasn't paying attention to the clock so I don't know if it was sharp or later than 8 but it wasn't that much after 8. When I started to leave it was 11:41. The intermission was in the 20 minute range so lets call it a 3:15 show. Again, makes it worth the money.
The first set was a little mellow and formal. As the show went on, I understood this as they were just pacing themselves. The crowd was starting to piss me off with the stand up, then sit down, then stand up, etc. routine. Lets pick a lane people. Lets either stand (which I prefer) or sit down. The crowd was into Joe Walsh the most. When it was his turn to sing they cheered. All in all they played 12 songs in the first set (set list below). Glenn Frey did break one of his guitar strings on of the songs. The roadie was going to run out there to give a new guitar and Henley pointed and gave him an angry look to stay over there and not come out there. LOL
Second set started with an acoustic style set and again BAM! 3 new songs to start. I still love it! Overall, they played the good new songs too. I liked hearing Take It To Limit with Glenn's vocals. After that, they plugged it back in and BAM! two more new songs which gives us a total of 9 new songs. They also played 3 Don solo songs, 4 Joe Walsh/James Gang songs (all in the second set), but no Frey solo songs. There weren't any deep cuts, only the hits (and not all of them by a long shot) plus solo hits. If Journey has the dirty dozen, the Eagles have buy one dozen get another dozen free, if not two especially when you count the solo stuff. The crowd got into it big time for the last hour or so. Basically on their feet the whole time and it all started with Joe Walsh. The crowd loved him and he look like the one with the most energy. They should've given him more mic time as he got the crowd going. I would give my right nut to hear a Joe Walsh and Ross Valory conversation. They could be a comedy team. Again, it became clear they were pacing themselves early on to get to this point. The band seemed more energized at this point too. Frey was dancing around, Joe was jumping, Timothy was doing his thing, and Don was still a prick.
The backing band was good and mostly goes unnoticed which is good. Don't get me wrong they compliment the Eagles but do not stand out. Stuart Smith is the only one that gets his share of the spotlight, he's basically the fifth Eagle...almost.
Overall, it was a great show that I would highly recommend seeing. If you like the new album, you'll definetly love it. The price is a little steep but it's worth going if you can. You get your monies worth by the length and quality of the show/songs.
One more thing, I saw one of the creeps from Enuff Z Nuff in the crowd. At least I think it was him. It looked like him, I can't imagine there's another j@goff in Chicago that dresses like that.
Set list has been the same I guess recently, I copied this from another site for a previous show although they left off Rocky Moutain Way before Take It Easy and maybe one more?:
Eagles' Set List:
1. “How Long”2. “Too Busy Being Fabulous”3. “I Don’t Want to Hear Anymore”4. “Guilty of the Crime”5. “Hotel California”6. “Peaceful Easy Feeling”7. “I Can’t Tell You Why”8. “Witchy Woman”9. “Lyin’ Eyes”10. “Boys of Summer”11. “In the City”12. “The Long Run”
Intermission Break
This section of the show was acoustic (13-17):
13. “No More Walks in the Woods”14. “Waiting in the Weeds”15. “No More Cloudy Days”16. “Love Will Keep Us Alive”17. “Take it to the Limit”18. “Long Road out of Eden”19. “Somebody”20. “Walk Away”21. “One of these Nights”22. Band introduction / “Life’s Been Good”23. “Dirty Laundry”24. “Funk 49”25. “Heartache Tonight”26. “Life in the Fast Lane”
Eagle's Encore:
27. “Take It Easy”28. “Desperado”
Good review, though.
