The Eagles will play at the Twickenham Stadium near London on June 17th.
Tickets go on sale November 11th. See the Ticketmaster.uk site (we're guessing) for information and prices (note: if you are reading this prior to November 11th and don't see the Eagles listed, be patient. Shows get added right before they go on sale).
Use the comments button below to chat about this show and to post reviews after it happens.
Link: Independent Online Edition > Reviews.
"Welcome to our Farewell 1 Tour - suspicious-sounding, isn't it?" So quips the Eagles' Glen Frey, acknowledging the numerical disclaimer built into his band's supposed last hurrah. They have just opened with "Take It Easy", a classic country-rock tune that underlines why the Eagles once sported T-shirts bearing the legend "song power". It is the perfect summer's day for a 55,000-strong karaoke party, and the Eagles are the perfect hosts.
Tanned and sporting a meticulous coiffure, Frey still comes on like a Californian surfer dude. The drummer and other lead vocalist, Don Henley, is more surly and portly, while the guitarist, Joe Walsh (think W C Fields in orange combat trousers), relishes the role of band joker. Together with the bassist, Timothy B Schmit, each of these men is a world-class singer in his own right. When all four harmonise on the chorus of the waltz-time ballad "Take It To The Limit", they could charm the Byrds from the trees.
The group's 1976 album, Hotel California, was a sussed critique of hedonism made by a band indulging (almost) every vice their decadent peak had to offer. Little wonder, then, that they have rarely been critics' darlings. They have been accused of avarice as well as double standards, and with tickets for tonight's show costing £75 and Frey dedicating "Lyin' Eyes" to his first wife, "plaintiff", money issues continue to resonate.
To borrow from a certain lager advertisement, however, you could argue that the Eagles are just reassuringly expensive, a class act that punters are happy to splash out upon. "One of These Nights" is wonderfully slick, Henley singing and drumming with ease and finesse. Further in, even the security guards are singing along with his anti-holiday-romance solo hit, "Boys of Summer", and Henley vacates his drum stool to strum a supportive Telecaster up front and cracks a rare smile at the applause that ensues.
Like the distance runners they are, each band member takes a turn leading the pack. Walsh's rendition of his self-parodying solo hit "Life's Been Good" is another highlight, the guitarist donning a "helmet-cam" that relays shots of ecstatic punters to video screens book-ending the stage. On "Rocky Mountain Way", meanwhile, he uses a "talk box" effects device à la Peter Frampton's Seventies hit "Show Me the Way". Truly, the Eagles are an act from another era - but what an act and what an era.
Only the two new songs, "No More Cloudy Days" and "Hole in the World" fail to seduce, the latter a 9/11-inspired gospel tune with a Eurovision-style key-change that fails to inject much interest. "Our little prayer is that when we get some new leadership in the US, it will be wiser," Henley says, before revealing that "Hole in the World" took more than a year to compose. Writing-wise, strained intra-band relations have transported the Eagles from fast lane to hard shoulder. And while one could imagine the career-reviving producer Rick Rubin "doing a Neil Diamond" on them, Henley and Frey's egos would probably never allow it.
In a live context, however, the Eagles remain superb. And what better way to conclude an arena show than with two stone-cold classics? A lone mariachi trumpet introduces "Hotel California", and then the session guitarist, Steuart Smith, picks its familiar opening chords on his double-neck. All mystical lyrics and duelling guitars, the song is a most welcome anachronism. Next, we get "Desperado", the massed voices of Twickenham joining with Henley's as he delivers the song's stinging payoff: "You better let somebody love you / Before it's too late." To my left, a fortysomething in a pink cowboy hat has a tear in her eye.
Link: The Eagles - First night reviews - Times Online.
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Link: Telegraph | Entertainment | Eagles soar to rapt applause.
Eagles soar to rapt applause
(Filed: 19/06/2006)
Marc Lee reviews The Eagles at the Twickenham Stadium
There were fireworks before the main event on Saturday night as the Dixie Chicks, country music's most belligerent belles, turned in a fizzing display of barely contained fury and indignation.
They refrained from the sort of speech-making that landed them in so much trouble on a previous visit: no repeat of chief Chick Natalie Maines' outburst expressing dismay that they shared a home state with George W Bush. But the songs showed that, boy, these three stroppy Texans are still mad as hell. And unrepentant.
There was plenty of the close-harmony, jingle-jangle mourning that makes country what it is, but the highlights of their mesmerising support slot were Lubbock or Leave It, a thunderous condemnation of hypocrisy in "a small religious town with high rates of teenage pregnancy and STDs", and Not Ready to Make Nice, Maines' defiant response to all the death threats she has received in the past three years.
Then the Chicks flew and the Eagles landed, with the country-rock veterans showing no reluctance to hammer home their politics.
At one point, founder member Don Henley introduced the gospel-tinged singalong Hole in the World, written in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, as "our little prayer that, when we do get some new leadership in America, it'll be wiser". The applause was long and loud.
Mostly, however, this was an occasion for celebration, and the band whose Greatest Hits 1971-75 is still America's bestselling album ever, with 27 million copies shifted, had no trouble filling two and a half hours with crowd-pleasing classics.
They opened with Take It Easy and Witchy Woman, both from their first, eponymous album.
Like much of the Eagles' material, these are songs that conjure up images of the American West: Big Country landscapes, Cadillacs on arrow-straight roads, nights under endless desert skies. Curious, then, as Henley recalled, that they were recorded only three or four miles down the road from here, in the leafy London suburb of Barnes.
All the early hits followed, among them Peaceful Easy Feeling, One of These Nights, Lyin' Eyes and Tequila Sunrise. And they were executed beautifully: Henley and co-founder Glenn Frey have lost none of their precision or passion. The real energy, however, lay elsewhere.
It's easy to think of Joe Walsh, one of the most innovative and most under-rated guitarists to emerge in the '70s, as the new kid in town, even though he's been with the band for more than 30 years. As Walsh's biggest solo hit attests, Life's Been Good to him, and Joe's been good to the Eagles.
He added a droll, edgy roughness to the band's smooth harmonies, and it's no coincidence that their finest album, Hotel California, was their first with him in the line-up. On Saturday night, Walsh's Funk # 49 and Rocky Mountain Way teetered on the edge of heavy-metal cacophony, but they were the songs that brought the stadium to its feet.
Encore followed encore, and everyone knew that there'd be no going home until the final strains of the soulful, anthemic Desperado had wafted into the balmy summer night.
Here are some photos from Twickenham. Thank you WM for sharing and Mr. WM for taking such great photos!
Link: Eagleland // View topic - Twickenham.
Twickenham blew me away! I have never been to a concert that big before and the size of the ground and the amount of people in it was huge. The atmosphere was electric. The crowd were really in a party mood. I missed the Dixie Chicks. I was only in my seat for five minutes before he guys came on stage at around 7.15pm. They headed straight into Take It Easy and then Witchy Woman (which I was thrilled to hear). The crowd were a little slow at this point. Once the alcohol started to flow they soon perked up! Don introduced the Long Run as the last song before the interval. He said in order to play more they would have to take a break and “go to the loo”. At this point quite a few people got to their feet to dance. The interval was a good time to catch up with the other Eaglelanders. The home movies came on. Very cute and enjoyable. The guys came back on stage and the people in the aisle and at the front didn’t go back to there seats. The stewards then came to tell everyone to go back. You were allowed to stand in front of your seats. The guys were on their stools for the next few songs. Hole In the world was introduced with the story of how it was written and Don said hopefully there would be a change in leadership soon. The crowd agreed. He also invited us to sing along. No More Cloudy Days was fantastic. Glenn’s voice was wonderful. He also did a great job with Take It To The Limit. The crowd loved it too as you could here them singing along. The helmet cam was a big hit. Joe told us that as there is so much building work going on he picked up a hat. He said he was good at demolishing but he didn’t know much about building. A really fun song and I was shamelessly jumping up and down when the cam was pointing my way. At this point the crowd were on there feet and they were not going to be moved. The wanted to have a good time and the stewards couldn’t get them back to there seats. We were having a great time!! I spotted Toonie, Midnight Girl, Lisa and Mel on the big screen.
The guys were enjoying the atmosphere. Don and Glenn were laughing and joking quite a bit. Joe was jumping around on stage. Timmy and Stu were exchanging comments and smiles. Scott was his usual self and loving every minute . Will seemed to be a world of his own as did Michael. The horns were very colourful in pastel shirts.
Two things happened that I will never forget. Timmy introduced Love Will Keep Us Alive and said he would like to say hello to a friend of the band’s. Paul Carrick (sp?). He happened to be sitting in the seat in front of me. Close to the beginning Tim noticed Gary (my hubby) had a camera. He looked our way stood, smiled and posed for him! A wonderful concert which sadly had to end.
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