Don and Stevie will be appearing at the Giant Center in Hershey, PA on June 13th. Tickets will be handled by Ticketmaster. If you have questions about this show or find other fans attending the show, please use the comments button below. Remember to return here after the show to share your review, setlist and photos.
Link: PennLive.com's Printer-Friendly Page.
Don Henley and Stevie Nicks, two of rock's heavyweights, on the same double bill is an intriguing idea.
In reality, it's two stars past their primes who can still put on a decent show.
At times inspired, at others sounding tired, the dynamic duo came to Hershey's Giant Center Monday night.
Henley, the Eagles' drummer, led off the festivities with the foreboding sounding "The Genie."
Jangling a tambourine, he picked up with the pace with his old band's "Witchy Woman," matching any version the Eagles could produce, and sounded in fine voice, which was tested on the song's falsetto parts.
On the line "there she stood in the doorway" from the classic "Hotel California," Nicks emerged from the shadows for a trio of duets that included Henley's solo hits "New York Minute" and "Last Worthless Evening."
Nicks' voice seemed to fill the arena, and her more energetic persona added badly need animation to the stoic Henley.
There is no banter from the Texan, just the sporadic "thank you" through an hour-plus greatest hits set.
His voice sounded raspy but serviceable on "The Heart of the Matter."
His stellar band gave real punch to "Dirty Laundry," "Life in the Fast Lane" and "All She Wants To Do Is Dance."
Henley used a nice, delicate touch on The Eagles' "Desperado" and played to the crowd, letting them sing back the line, "you better let somebody love you" before stepping aside for Nicks.
With a more elaborate stage set, a larger band and back-up singers, Nicks, using a microphone draped with beads and scarves, opened her uneven set with Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams."
A nice acoustic intro to "Rhiannon" slid into a strange, high-pitched, train-whistlelike refrain, and then Henley was back to assist on Fleetwood Mac's "Gold Dust Woman."
He took Tom Petty's part on "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around," but Henley's voice is not as distinctive as Petty's, making their take more lackluster than the original.
Henley exited after their rendition of Bonnie Raitt's "The Circle Dance," and Nicks seemed to leave the stage after every other song for a subtle wardrobe change -- flowing skirts of different hues and capes of varying colors, perfect for her signature whirling dance move.
When she was center stage, "Stand Back" was followed by Nicks providing the soundtrack for a "Beauty and the Beast" film.
"Edge of Seventeen" closed out the set, and Nicks ended the night shaking hands with fans in the front row and kissing a young girl on the head.
In total, it was a three-hour show that had its moments, just not enough of them.
Link: PennLive.com's Printer-Friendly Page.
Don Henley, the voice of "Hotel Cali fornia," protector of Walden Woods, a man who's seen a "Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac," drives a car pool.
The Eagles drummer and renowned solo artist is a 57-year-old dad like millions of others trying to juggle the demands of family and work.
"When we were young and single, our time was our own to listen to music, talk about music and create music," Henley said from his home in Texas. "Now I'm up at 6 to get the kids to school. They need picked up at 3. There's homework to do, cars to wash and gas up, things to do."
Music is still a priority but one that struggles alongside a list of other priorities that compete for his time.
He's involved in a variety of environmental and preservation causes, most notably the Walden Woods Project. The Eagles begin a three-month tour in August, solo and band albums have been discussed, and he's now on the road with Stevie Nicks.
The dynamic duo comes to Hershey's Giant Center at 8 p.m. Monday.
Tickets are $95, $75 and $45 and are available at all Ticketmaster outlets, at www.ticketmaster.com or by calling 534-3911 or 260-2000.
Several weeks ago, Henley began rehearsals for the 10-date tour with Nicks with mixed emotions, not about working with the Fleetwood Mac vocalist or performing at the shows themselves but at the prospect of more travel and being away from home.
Touring, he said, "is just like anything else, you have your good days and bad days. I can only take about two weeks at a time, then I get burned out. But it's better than working at the local convenience store or digging a ditch."
The Eagles' 120 million albums sold, a greatest hits package that's the best-selling record of all time, four Grammy Awards, his solo successes ("Building the Perfect Beast," "The End of the Innocence") and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame membership have assured Henley that he won't be working for minimum wage anytime soon.
Over the past 15 years, he has used his celebrity to organize events and raise money for the Caddo Lake Institute, a group dedicated to protecting the Texas wetland; the Recording Artists' Coalition; and, most famously, the Walden Woods Project, which, according to its mission statement "preserves the land, literature and legacy of Henry David Thoreau" and the famed Massachusetts pond and surrounding forest.
That seed of activism was planted in Henley long ago.
"My family was involved in their community, and they taught me it was important to vote and be involved in the democratic process," he said. "Back then, it wasn't called activism, it was called being neighborly. My parents and grandparents taught me to be generous."
His worlds often collide in benefit concerts and in another common challenge -- making people aware of new material or a cause.
"It's harder to get people's attention across the board for anything," Henley said. "There is so much data and information, people are just numb, they are overwhelmed to a degree."
Henley is not immune from the distractions of day-to-day life, especially when it comes to writing new music.
"There is a lot of stuff competing with my time," he said. "Things are not that simple and carefree anymore. To create you have to eliminate that clutter in your mind, but I'm still determined that my greatest creative years are not behind me."
Time will always be a challenge, but personally and professional all is well in Don Henley' world.
"I don't make goals, but I've surpassed all the goals I would have set anyway," he said. "The Eagles have gone longer and further then I could have ever imagined. ... I sometimes wish my life was a little simpler and I had more time at home with my kids. There's the occasional stalker and the loss of privacy. But I just had a checkup, and my health is very good, and I have a very full to overflowing life."
