The Eagles – Amazing Experience at the Las Vegas Sphere
Heading to Vegas I was researching how long I have been listening to the Eagles music. Ok kids, since 1972 when I was 13 years old! I checked myself to make sure I had these numbers right. Where has the time gone? At one time, I owned most of the vinyl albums including the debut album “Eagles”, “Hotel California”, the ever popular “One of These Nights”, which I am sure most of you reading this owned as well. I knew I was going to have to see one of the Sphere residency shows www.thesphere.com to see the creators of so much of the music of the soundtrack of my younger life.
It was a sold-out show on Friday night after Halloween. People were everywhere upon my arrival, ages of all kinds although I would say majority goes to boomers who probably have a similar experience as mine to the music. It was a chill crowd in line for merch, drinks and food. Everyone was taking in the elegant inside of the Sphere lobby and taking photos of graphic signage for the show. My seat was in section 302, which has a great view of the entire Sphere. The Sphere is probably one of the only venues where being in the nosebleed section is the best seat in the house. Downstairs you have a closer view of the band but not the entire Sphere in certain sections. There is a 400 section too, so if you – go high!
Upon getting to your seat, there is a graphic of everything Eagles and the L.A. scene on the screen and cars goings back and forth on a street. At the 5 minute mark for show time, a countdown blimp appeared on the screen floating in the sky. The music started to “Hotel California” and the place went crazy! Everyone was singing along to every word as artistic graphics told the story of the song. Don Henley’s voice sounded strong and his falsetto was right on. They transitioned right into “One of These Nights” which is a personal favorite. Don Henley stepped to the mic and welcomed the crowd and quipped, “We are your house band for the evening” which got a lot of laughs.
It is hard to recover losing founding band member, Glenn Frey, who was also a frontman and songwriter of some of these iconic tunes, but they pay honor to Glenn with respected country star Vince Gill and Glenn’s son Deacon Frey picking up the songs with Glenn’s lead vocals like “Lyin” Eyes” by Gill. Deacon takes over on the Frey/Jackson Browne written, “Take It Easy”. He received a rousing applause for his performance. Timothy B. Schmidt plays a mean bass and sings the beautiful “I Can’t Tell You Why” from the “Long Run” album. Joe Walsh is the crazy, wildman guitarist with hits of his own that he brings to the show with “Rocky Mountain Way”, “In the City” and “Life’s Been Good”. The photos and graphics to the music are simply stellar. Walsh is such a genius on guitar- just wow! Henley said “It’s still all about the music” and he is right. It’s a total package but the video is theatre and the music will stand for many years to come. Together it is a fascinating combination of music and video that has superseded the MTV years. One of the highlights is everyone on acoustic guitar singing “Seven Bridges Road.” The harmonies were sweet sounds.
Don Henley brought it with “Life in the Fast Lane”, the cool sexy jazzy rock of “Those Shoes” and his 1984 solo smash hit “The Boys of Summer” as well as working the skins too. Closing out the two-hour show were “Desperado” and “Heartache Tonight”. There are 164,000 speakers in the Sphere which Henley said is what interested them when they were thinking about taking this gig and let me tell you the sound is perfect! What a great memorable show for Eagles fans! There is so much to take in and Glenn is never forgotten with the tributes to him. A concert experience like no other and I am glad I got to experience it. Check out the Eagles website for all the dates. www.eagles.com
Suncoast Post Photos by Vicky Sullivan