Don Henley Solo Tour 2004/2005

Anchorage, AK

Don Henley will be appearing in Anchorage, Alaska on August 13th. Ticketmaster is handling the tickets for this show. If you will be going to the show or have questions about the show, hit the comments button below and add a message.

Henley Classics as Strong as Ever (Ancorage Daily News)

STRONG: Former Eagles singer keeps singular sound fresh.

By LAURA CARPENTER
Daily News correspondent

(Published: August 15, 2004)

"I'm going to take you back now, back to when the Dead Sea was just sick," said Don Henley in a scratchy growl. The Eagles singer and solo musician transported audience members back decades on Friday night at the Sullivan Arena. A trip to a burger joint in Los Angeles with "Sunset Grill." A flight to fern-filled apartments with "Witchy Woman." Each introduction earned a few squeals and "Yeah! Yeah!" as tell-tale clues gave away the upcoming song.

Listeners could recall the pain of expired love as Henley sang, "You still wanna hold her/You must not be drinking enough." He confessed the lyrics came from an album in the '80s, but added, "can't remember which."

With three guitarists, two keyboard players and one drummer on stage, plus a flashy light display, the crowd grooving on the packed arena floor wasn't the only set feeling a blast of nostalgic electricity. Audience members -- ranging from adolescents to folks older than the Eagles -- wriggled in seats to "Boys of Summer." The show wasn't sold out, but fans filled seats elbow-to-elbow in the middle of the second tier, with a smattering of seats occupied at the arena's far end and up on the third tier.

"Life in the Fast Lane" brought many to their feet. Henley sang "Sit down/Sit down/You're rockin' the boat," but small clusters of couples migrated to the aisles and other sparsely populated sections to sway their hips. Others stayed seated but clapped enthusiastically to the beat. Rhythm didn't seem to matter much as the audience warmed to songs full of memories. Even those unable to rattle off Henley's hits could recognize songs they'd been singing along to for years, as if dropped into a live-radio rock station.

Going strong at 57, Henley jammed on a guitar, gripped the mike, bent with emotion and strutted with a tambourine, all with the precision of a football player at the Super Bowl. He needed no opening act to get the stadium in the mood to jam, pleasing the crowd from the first familiar number. He performed for almost two hours without intermission. The audience forgave the arena's poor acoustics as Henley managed to replicate the feeling found on his and his band's popular albums.

While his personal life may have evolved to soccer dad and environmental activist, he came to Alaska to rock.

"I don't care what car you drive/I want to know what you believe in," Henley sang. When a fan tossed a T-shirt on stage, he gave it a twirl overhead before dropping it. Security kept fans and photographers at bay.

Whether hoping for love or recalling a place, mellow or quick, recent or classic, each song moved with a similar, signature sound, almost unchanged through the years. Even lyrics from less popular songs had a catchy way of staying in the mind.

Fans joined Henley as he thrust his fist into the air during The Who's "All She Wants to Do is Dance."

Most of those still seated rose to give standing ovations. Earthquake-like rumbling from enthusiastic foot stomping, whistles and cheers brought the musicians back for not one, but two, encores. Favorite songs not yet heard came just as people began to think the night was over.

The lead guitarist picked an acoustic guitar for the slower "End of Innocence." Lighters blinked like stars in a hazy night. Then he shook it up until eardrums begged for "Forgiveness" because "we all need a little tenderness." More lighters sparkled in what could be heaven or hell with "Hotel California."

Henley stays sane in careers' fast lane (Anchorage Daily News)

By JOSH NIVA
Anchorage Daily News

(Published: August 13, 2004)
Don Henley is racing along faster than ever. But this isn't life in the fast lane -- Henley exited that Hollywood superhighway decades ago. Henley is now speeding though life in the dad lane.

"I was in Kroger pushing the cart around at 2 a.m.," Henley, 57, said of a recent shopping adventure near his Texas home. "And there's this thing where you can scan your own groceries -- there were no clerks working! I was in there for an hour and a half. It was like an episode from 'The Twilight Zone.' The computer was talking to me, and if you don't do it right, you have to put the item back in the bag."

Yes, it has come to this. Henley, the coolest man with the coolest voice from the coolest band of the 1970s, the Eagles, is now something of a soccer dad and head of a brood of wife and three young children.

Henley said few moments better illustrate the lifestyle chasm between rock 'n' roll fantasy and domestic reality than the evening in 1998 when the Eagles were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

"Someone had just given this big rousing speech and (Eagles bass player) Timothy Schmit turned to me and said, 'About this time last night, I was taking out the garbage,'?" Henley recalled with a subtle laugh. "We live a very ordinary life here, but I happen to have an extraordinary job. I've learned how to reconcile the two very well."

Actually, Henley has two extraordinary -- and extraordinarily demanding -- careers that don't involve parenting: world-famous musician and hard-driving environmental activist. He's constantly juggling his musical and ecological endeavors, and his current schedule is so hectic he typically runs on five hours of sleep. The major sacrifice has come in studio time: Henley hasn't released a solo album since 2000's "Inside Job" and doesn't foresee any new albums in the near future.

"I'm busier than I've ever been; I don't know how long this can go on," he said. "But on the other hand, I'm grateful there's so much to do."

There was plenty for Henley to handle on a recent Wednesday morning. He was stationed at his Texas home for press day, with five telephone interviews scheduled to discuss everything from his upcoming solo tour to the Eagles' fall tour to his environmental projects to the 150th anniversary of the release of Henry David Thoreau's "Walden."

Early in the day, Henley was already running a few minutes behind. Then, his scheduled 15-minute phone interview with 8 Magazine evolved into a 40-minute conversation, occasionally interrupted by a package-toting mailman and a visiting neighbor.

While momentarily placed on hold, we pondered Henley's legendary musical career. His voice, drums, writing and production are stamped on some of popular music's classic songs: "Witchy Woman," "Hotel California," "Desperado," "End of the Innocence," "Boys of Summer" and yes, "All She Wants to Do Is Dance." These songs sold more than 100 millions albums: "Eagles -- Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975" alone stands at more than 28 million copies sold, making it the best-selling album of all time in the U.S.

That music success has

allowed Henley to dedicate his extra energy and resources to activism. Today, Henley is nearly as recognizable as an activist as he is a musician, a tribute to his commitment. He currently has environmental projects in areas from Walden Pond in Massachusetts to the Santa Monica Mountains outside of Los Angeles to Caddo Lake, Texas, near his hometown of Linden.

Henley even has some concerns about environmental issues involving Alaska, a state he'd never visited until preparing for this week's concert at Sullivan Arena.

"But I'm not going to say them to you in the newspaper!" he joked. "I'm not going to talk about (Gov. Frank) Murkowski ... shooting wolves from helicopters, Tongass National Forest, drilling ...

"But you know, things aren't great environmentally in Texas either. Things for the environment are tough all over."

Things aren't quite as bad for Alaska's eagles or Henley's Eagles.

More than 30 years after the emergence of the Eagles -- and 20 years after the group split, launching Henley's equally influential solo career -- the band remains one of the world's most popular concert draws, despite average ticket prices that hover around $100. The group kicks off the international leg of its "Farewell I" tour in Japan and Australia in late October after a wildly successful U.S. tour last year that carried into early 2004.

"It's comfortable -- maybe that's a bad answer," Henley said. "But I think we are much better now than we were in the '70s. We're singing better, playing better, getting along better. And it's fun."

When asked if he misses any aspects of life from the Eagles days, when his band was THE band, Henley says he rarely dwells on the past. But then he starts dwelling.

"There was a lot of conflict -- I don't miss the fighting, bickering and mind games," he said. "But I do sometimes miss the freedom and simplicity of those days, when the road to the future was stretched out before us and everything was possible.

"Not that it isn't anymore," he added. "It's just more complicated to drive down that road to get to where you want to go."

Henley has got to go now. He has a headache -- he's trying to cut coffee out of his life -- and way too much business to handle in the rest of his day. Some of it involves his music, but right now his mind is on his Walden Woods Project. A few land parcels in the hallowed Walden Woods area suddenly came up for sale, and Henley says his group was scrambling to purchase them.

"I've got to raise 2 million bucks by Monday," Henley said. "Right now, I'm at $435,000."