The Eagles @ LG Arena, Birmingham – Thursday 29th May 2014

Review by Dean Pedley, photos by Lisa Billingham

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCdjvTTnzDU

The Eagles kicked off their UK tour with a two night stand at the LG Arena, presenting a three hour show that had a little bit of everything – part history lesson, part laid back acoustic strumming and part fully blown electric rock show. And whilst the temples may be greyer and the lines well defined, the four and sometimes five part harmonies remained as exquisite as ever. Glenn Frey and Don Henley opened the show as a duo, nestled amidst amp cases and reflecting on a song writing partnership that now stretches back more than forty years. They were soon joined by the returning Bernie Leadon who has re-joined the band he left back in 1975 for this current tour, adding even further to the sense of nostalgia.

By ‘Witchy Woman’ bassist Timothy B. Schmit and the evergreen life and soul of the party Joe Walsh have entered from the wings and Henley is sat behind a small drum kit. Five songs in and the backdrop falls and the full stage production is revealed with the quintet expanded to include the touring musicians. Leadon remains for the first half which moves chronologically through the first four studio albums, taking the audience on a journey through the heartlands of the American West and culminating with the richly soaked harmonising of ‘Take It To The Limit’.

If Joe Walsh had been restrained for the first hour or so, he is fully let off the leash for the second set, taking lead vocals on the opening ‘Pretty Maids All In A Row’, dazzling with frazzled electric blues licks for ‘In The City’ and delighting with his use of the talk box for deep cut ‘Those Shoes’. Schmit gets in on the act aswell, stepping up to the mic for an impassioned ‘I Can’t Tell You Why’; further proof that the Eagles may be a band with two leaders in Frey and Henley but the overall sum is much greater than the parts. For the final half an hour or so they are in full flight with songs that for many remain the soundtrack of the ‘70’s….’Life In The Fast Lane’, ‘Hotel California’, ‘Take It Easy’ and the stirring climax of ‘Desperado’.

An iconic band still selling out arenas and performing at the top of their game inevitably comes at a hefty price tag but this was one occasion when no one could have cause for complaint. It may be unapologetically nostalgia driven but the Eagles still deliver a show that has everything you would expect and much more besides.

Setlist:
1. Saturday Night
2. Train Leaves Here This Morning
3. Peaceful Easy Feeling
4. Witchy Woman
5. Doolin-Dalton
6. Tequila Sunrise
7. Doolin’-Dalton/Desperado (Reprise)
8. Already Gone
9. The Best of My Love
10. Lyin’ Eyes
11. One of These Nights
12. Take It to the Limit
—-
13. Pretty Maids All in a Row
14. I Can’t Tell You Why
15. New Kid in Town
16. Love Will Keep Us Alive
17. Heartache Tonight
18. Those Shoes
19. In the City
20. Life’s Been Good
21. The Long Run
22. Funk #49
23. Life in the Fast Lane

Encore:
24. Hotel California

Encore 2:
25. Take It Easy
26. Rocky Mountain Way
27. Desperado

See more of Lisa’s photos here