Eagles TourBlog 2006

5/23 Barcelona, Spain

The Eagles will play Palau Sant Jordi on May 23rd.  Tickets are on sale now.

Use the comments button below to chat about this show.

Preview Article -- El Periodico

Translation by Ulli

The Eagles' numbers can also be a burden: Their Greatest Hits is the best selling record of rock history with 28 million copies. Now the Californian band has disappeared from the media's attention, but the tickets for their Barcelona debut has been almost sold out by a considerable minority. Something that isn't surprising for the mild Don Henley, founding member of the band, who confesses: "I'm curious about the reaction that awaits us. Jackson Browne, a friend of mine, has always talked to me about Barcelona."

Your last release is the DVD Farewell I - live from Melbourne. Is there any irony in using the name of a farewell tour?
It's a joke. There are many artists who announce their last tour and they keep returning ... The idea is to have a Farewell I tour, then a Farewell II tour, and so on. We're looking forward cause we're preparing a new record for Christmas. It's the first with new songs after The Long Run (1979). We're not gonna play them on our tour cause they're not registered and would be on the internet in five minutes (he laughs), and therefore we're going to play material that people know.

Why did it take 27 years to finish an Eagles record?
We have been separated for 14 years, and since 1994 we have been touring a lot. And there are other priorities: we have families, little kids, obligations ... I live in Dallas, and Joe, Glenn, and Timothy live in Southern California. When we were young we didn't have other things to care about; we could be egoistic. Now there are your children and your parents who get old. Back then Glenn and I lived together; we got up and sat down to write songs. Today it takes a lot more to find the time. And it's good to wait for the best moment. During the past few years the music has given us hip-hop, electronic stuff ... Now the singers keep returning and it's a good moment for us.

What do you appreciate about it?
During the past years the American music has been very banal, we haven't touched the important topics, only sex, drugs and violence. It's crap. We, the generation 60, made songs about what happened in the world: the civil rights, Vietnam, the ecology. This is forgotten, but now a music in accord with real life returns. We see it in Neil Young who is a leader that influenced Pearl Jam, Green Day ... His new album (Living With War) is very courageous. Since two years there's criticism about Bush having problems. Now he's started to talk straight. On our new album we're gonna have a song about Irak: The Long Road Out Of Eden, that refers to the place where the garden of Eden once was.

That's news: Timothy B. Schmit said last year in his diary that the Eagles were entertainers, not politicians.
That was last year! (he laughs) Things have changed. But we're not gonna have an album that's only political; we want to reflect all aspects of life.

Are you inspired by the collaboration of Bruce Springsteen and Pete Seeger?
I admire Bruce, maybe it's no commercial success, but it's noble and it's worth the pain. It's a good moment to revive the protest song. There's a tradition that has been in the dark and we enjoy the idea of getting back to it.

Are you worried about the missing attention for the Eagles from the media?
The radio isn't that important anymore. We can circulate the music on the internet or via a marketing company. We're not gonna end up on the Rolling Stone cover, but it doesn't matter. Neither do we intend to sound modern nor do we intend to write a new Hotel California. We only want to be the Eagles, and we go on writing country-rock songs like we have done from the beginning in the seventies.

Do you think the people are going to see you for non-musical reasons, like your aura as survivors of the hippie era?
We never have been hippies, rather people who worked hard (he laughs). I believe people will come to see us for the music and the memories that we bring back to them. They associate us with California, but we're an American band with roots in Blues, Gospel, Country, Big Bands, Motown ...

Did you notice that in Europe there's enmity against the American spirit that you represent?
No. When I was young I wrongly thought that the government and the people were the same. I hope that nobody considers us to be like Bush's government. We commit mistakes: Bush is a mistake, the war as well. But we only come to play music and give people happiness.

Preview Article - La Vanguardia

Translation by Otto

Don Henley is a Texan gentleman, well spoken and educated. Getting on in years, he admits to feeling happy being in Barcelona where next Tuesday the group of which he is a founding member, The Eagles, will present their first concert in Spain in their professional career of some 35 years. (Palau San Jordi). The band will perform with 12 musicians whose nucleus consists of henley, Frey & Walsh.

What can we expect on Tuesday?

To see The Eagles in their best state of mind and health. We will begin our European tour in Barcelona with precision, thats why we met up several days ago here to prepare everything for the tour. The idea is to play for 3 hours putting forward everything the crowd expects and two or three surprises.

New Album?

Yes. Glen & I have written it over the last few months. We have had it pending for 4 years and now we have it all. It will be out at the end of this year or early 2007. The title will be “The Long Road to Eden”

So why are you carrying on touring..is it not tedious and exhausting?

Basically to survive.... Without this we would not know how to live. I have to say that for me personally it takes an enormous amount of physical energy to do tours like these, sure we have families and kids, but its equally certain that without the feeling of being on the road it would not be the same.

The new album....will it be politically acceptable?

Acceptable, yes, in the direction that we are not at ease with the politics of our country, especially the war in Iraq.

Why did you not all protest before?

Thats the sad reality. The Press, artists and musicians...we were all totally gagged since 9/11 for some 3 years. We werent either to be or not to be patriotic. The issue was that the law of silence affected all broadcasting.

What is the secret of Eagles perseverance?

There is no secret. The Band has a musical patrimony of the highest level, and we make irreproachable hit records

Barcelona SetList

Submitted by Oboka

Don Henley is a Texan gentleman, well spoken and educated. Getting on in years, he admits to feeling happy being in Barcelona where next Tuesday the group of which he is a founding member, The Eagles, will present their first concert in Spain in their professional career of some 35 years. (Palau San Jordi). The band will perform with 12 musicians whose nucleus consists of henley, Frey & Walsh.

What can we expect on Tuesday?

To see The Eagles in their best state of mind and health. We will begin our European tour in Barcelona with precision, thats why we met up several days ago here to prepare everything for the tour. The idea is to play for 3 hours putting forward everything the crowd expects and two or three surprises.

New Album?

Yes. Glen & I have written it over the last few months. We have had it pending for 4 years and now we have it all. It will be out at the end of this year or early 2007. The title will be “The Long Road to Eden”

So why are you carrying on touring..is it not tedious and exhausting?

Basically to survive.... Without this we would not know how to live. I have to say that for me personally it takes an enormous amount of physical energy to do tours like these, sure we have families and kids, but its equally certain that without the feeling of being on the road it would not be the same.

The new album....will it be politically acceptable?

Acceptable, yes, in the direction that we are not at ease with the politics of our country, especially the war in Iraq.

Why did you not all protest before?

Thats the sad reality. The Press, artists and musicians...we were all totally gagged since 9/11 for some 3 years. We werent either to be or not to be patriotic. The issue was that the law of silence affected all broadcasting.

What is the secret of Eagles perseverance?

There is no secret. The Band has a musical patrimony of the highest level, and we make irreproachable hit records

Review El Periodico

Computer Translation

The Palau Sant Jordi last night undertook a nostalgic trip to California with the successes of the Eagles

	The members of the Eagles, yesterday, during its performance in Barcelona. Photo: ALVARO MONGE

NANDO CROSS
BARCELONA

It would be impossible to synthesize in a single one devises the sense of the concert of last night: it was first of a tour of false goodbye of the Eagles, since they are composing new songs, but also was his presentation of the group in Spain, country where never they had acted. Impossible? Everything was much more simple: the band went to the Palau Sant Jordi to offer a trip in the time and the space to the California of years 70. A flight of luxury, inevitably nostalgic, at which 16,000 scored about fans.
From a principle it was clear that, by much excitation that showed the public, those that were going to mark the rate at night they would be the Eagles. And the Californian group never emphasized by its nerve. They appeared 15 minutes late and with sigilo and discretion easy interpreted Take it. It was a strange, too lukewarm beginning for a so emblematic piece and until energetic in his been moderate repertoire. But the tepidity seemed to be the tactics selected for the night.
During a good short while it seemed that nobody had informed to them into which they were acting before real public. Endorsed by an elegant game of panels and up to eight musicians more, the Californian ones behaved as if they were in plató of television. That volume so contained and pluscuamperfecta sound equipment did not help to clarify if it were a real concert or a three-dimensional DVD. But before Peaceful easy feeling Glenn Frey went to silverplates it. "Hello, Barcelona. Welcome to our first concert in Spain ", it said in English a perfect one.
In the first block of the show the Eagles did not move away a little while nor of the noticeable route. They sounded to One of these nights, New kid in town, I can't tell you why, Lyin' eyes and The long run, among others. All, in sweet and smooth interpretations, fine and safe, of high nostalgic fidelity. After a pause of 20 minutes to recover of it is not known what effort, returned with Tequila sunrise. Soon, Timothy B. Schmidt gained a sonorous applause when going in Castilian before singing Love will keep U.S. alive.

TWO NEW SONGS
The great surprise at night arrived with does not dwell cloudy days, a new song, and Hole in the world, composed by Don Henley after 11-S. But the moment freak wrote down Joe Walsh when being placed a helmet of bricklayer with an integrated minicamera that filmed the public. By then the close guitarist already had lain down the concert to the back and the reinforced volume she offered the most energetic minutes and until estridentes. The block of sparks rock, and the concert, lane culminated with Life in the fast.
The script of the final straight line was written 30 years ago and fell with the precision of the strictest transmitter of adult FM. One cheered introduction of the trompetista (with hat mariachi) announced --"ooooh"-- Californian Hotel, the song by which many had paid the price of the entrance. More than one and more than 500 they occurred by satisfied and they left the enclosure to avoid cloggings. They were lost, among others, the moment for vocoder of Walsh in Rocky mountain way and the sad end with Desperado.

Fam Review: Otto

The set list has already been posted, and clearly the reviewer in El Periodico comes from the same egg as all press reviewers, so heres a true fans interpretation.
The venue was amazing, the stage set as standard. The surprise was the variation in order of songs and the early introduction of Witchy Woman.
Sound wise, the volume, bass and mike presence was cleaner than I have ever heard before. The clarity and vocal volume meant you got every ooh, aah etc etc. Band interaction was better than usual, with jams and riffs shared by Walsh & Schmit & Smith joining together centre stage. Don was hidden from view behind drums and Joe, but featured on giant screens almost constantly. He was note perfect except when he missed the first couple of words on a verse in Boys of Summer. He did his usual Hole in the World intro speech, and that song was a delight in loud accapella with all voices heard again due to mic faders being perfect. No One day at a Time and no Wasted Time. Plus no "credit card" jokes or "first wife-Plaintiff" lines.
Timothy spoke a lot as expected in Spanish, and he shouted "whos got the best football team" and "whos got the best Formula 1 driver" both of which sent the crowd wild.
Glenn apologised for leaving it so long to play in Spain...he also commented about the new album, saying it was done and they hope to release it before all their fans pass away!!

Dress code was formal to start, after the interval when they showed a few video footage clips, the attire was changed to Jeans and casual shirts.

Overall the best show I have seen matched with a great crowd. You guys are in for a treat for sure!!

Barcelona Photo

Barcelona Video

http://www.tv3.cat/3alacarta/video.htm?ID=205452796&CAT_ID=154363335

Fan Review: Marc

9.50PM, crowd was starting to get anxious, but the lights suddenly turned down and hysteria set in.  One may say that starting a concert with Take it easy might not be nor daring nor exciting but, let me tell you, the Barcelona audience was far from getting angry for that.  To say it otherwise, the crowd was excited enough and, all through the evening, demonstrated that its amount of patience was enough to apologise any flaw the performance might reveal.  Nevertheless, spanish fans had to be patient for 40 years since this was the first Eagles concert around.

The difference between a classic rock band and a newer one, even those with a lots of tours in their backs, is that this guys know perfectly what they're doing, anytime, from start to end.  So, in the first hour, the mood was set with a mostly calm repertoir.  Witchy woman, Peaceful easy feeling, New kid in town sounded so perfect that one started to suspect that somebody had connected their cd player to the dozens of speakers that hanged everywhere.  It's well known for all the Barcelona people that the Palau Sant Jordi where the concert was taking place was conceived not only to welcome sport venues but also music shows, but all the vocal harmonies where so clearly distinguished that one could nothing but thank architects and sound engineers alike for this wonderful and subtle gift.

The stage showed a very stylish desing, with lots of videowalls showing not only the band members playing but also playful and coloured non figurative images that gave the perfect decoration in harmony with the lights.

The more countryesque songs that were played in this first part of the show where very charming and introduced the crowd in a sort of melodic trance.  The only problem here for the audience was to contemplate a completely bored Joe Walsh, playing his rythm guitar apatheticly, leaving the solos to his guitar sideman.
Nevertheless, by that time, it was pretty clear that the bands habilities where intact through the years, showing their masterful harmonies and not being affraid of high tones, specially mr Frey, whose singing reached everyones heart easily.

Everybody knows that this guys are not youngsters anymore, but everybody was quite surprised when Henley announced a break after the tenth song.  The band was the only one that needed such a break, but the crowd had still enough patience to wait for 20 minutes and get connected again when the guys came back on stage with Silent Spring.

And seriously, the first hour of the second act put the endurance of the audience patience to the test.  The band clearly delayed its major hits and started performing a set of not so well known singles like Love will keep us alive, aside projects's songs (mostly Walsh's) like Life's been good to me, and "new" songs from the band, supposedly part of the forthcoming album, like No more cloudy days.  In between, some major hits like Tequila Sunrise and Take it to the limit to prevent people from booing them; wise move.
And although this part seemed mostly designed for the best fans (the only ones to be able to sign the lyrics with no mistake) the truth is that it was the rock boost the crowd needed.  Mr. Walsh awoke from his initial letargy, took the axe, and decided to have some fun.  Walsh is, no doubt about it, the most rock 'n roll soul of the band nowadays, and while Frey, Schmidt and Henley fight for imposing his country repertoire, Joe (Jose as Frey was presenting him to the audience) knows how to reach heaven with a proper distortion and take the crowd with him.  Even though most of the audience didn't even recognize some of the songs, his performance, perfectly strenghtened by the horn section, leaded the evening towards a climax that everybody was seeing it coming.

The evershining and playful Heartache tonight and a superb performance of Life in the fast lane that rocked every soul in town, prepared the arrival of what everyone in the audience was expecting:  Hotel California.

After that, they could have played anything, the worst tune you've ever known, and people would still have praised them.  Instead of that, they choose Rocky mountain way, All she wants to do is dance and Already gone, just before Desperado closed the show, with an amazing and subtle performance that asked for tears.  The final image of the darkened stage with only a murmuring Henley lit up by a spotlight will remain in my retina for ever.

Not everyday one has the chance to be part of a magic evening like this.  Not everyday one has the opportunitie to watch rock 'n roll history in front of his/her eyes.  But most of all, not every day one has the chance to shed some tears for a sound that lies deep within our souls.

Marc Ambit 23-5-06  Barcelona

Fan Photos: Andy