Grand Rapids Fan Review (Jim W.)
Thursday, May 13, 2004 at 7:17AM At 8:12 PM EST, the lights went down, and Glenn screamed, "Hello, Grand
Rapids! We're the Eagles from Los Angeles, California!!" What a night and
what excitement! Making their second appearance in Grand Rapids in the
last twenty-three months, they had the audience on their feet right away
with "Take it Easy". Let's get right to the set list:
"Take it Easy"
"New Kid in Town"
"Wasted Time"
"Wasted Time Reprise"
"Peaceful Easy Feeling"
"I Can't Tell You Why"
"One of These Nights"
"Lyin' Eyes"
"Boys of Summer"
"In the City"
"Already Gone"
Intermission from 9:05 PM to 9:27 PM
"Tequila Sunrise" (Acoustic)
"Love Will Keep Us Alive" (Acoustic)
"Hole in the World" (Acoustic)
"Take it to the Limit" (Acoustic)
"You Belong to the City"
"Walk Away"
"Sunset Grill"
"Life's Been Good"
"Dirty Laundry"
"Funk #49"
"Heartache Tonight"
"Life in the Fastlane"
First Encore: "Hotel California"
Second Encore: "Rocky Mountain Way" and "All She Wants to Do is Dance"
Third Encore: "The Long Run" and "Desperado"
Don sang the last note of "Desperado" at 11:16 PM. The stage was basically
the same set-up from the last two years with the two video screens (one on
the left and one on the right). Everyone looked good and
healthy--especially Glenn Frey. He is so classy--he obviously is working
out, looked cut, and was full of energy. His voice has never sounded
better. He was dressed in a black sportcoat and jeans. Timothy was in
jeans and a black leather vest. Joe was dressed in a long sleeve dark
shirt with army/camelflouge pants while Don wore an untucked white shirt
with dark pants. Don at one point said, "This is a great town here...not
too big...not too small....and clean". What a compliment for those of us
that reside here! It was very apparent the Eagles truly enjoy themselves
here--they arrived on Monday for rehearsals. My guess is that they were
impressed with our newer arena's acoustics when they were here in June of
2002 and decided that this was the best place for them to kick of their
tour. And as Glenn said last night, this is one of only thirteen shows
they are doing in the US this year!! I also do not know if Glenn's
relatives (who live here in town) were in the audience like they were in
2002--yet another reason why they may have started their tour here.
For about the first six songs, it was just the four Eagles, Stuart Smith,
and four other musicians. Then the four horn players (three sax and one
trumpet) finally showed up for "One of These Nights"--the seventh song. It
was hotter than blazes inside the arena--they finally turned on the air for
the second half, but it did not seem to help much. It was still in the low
80's outside the arena at showtime. The crowd numbered about 8,000 to
8,500--a small crowd but a very vocal one. The Eagles once again set the
tone for a tremendous concert scene here in G-Rap this year: Alabama,
Shania Twain, Simon and Garfunkel, Van Halen, etc. are all on their way and
will have to somehow top what the Eagles did last night for us! This was
my fourth Eagles show and it may have been the best one yet. Everyone was
vocally-superb and Don Henley was very much into the show--going out of his
way to make sure he hit all ends of the stage, even smiling quite a bit,
and just plain and simple having fun. Besides his drumming, his
guitar-playing was very impressive--though it is still kind of weird for me
to see him playing guitar out front on a few songs. Joe, needless to say,
was Joe--always the show-stealer with his impeccable guitar wizardry.
In my last review back in 2002, the only disappointment I expressed was
that they did not reward us with "Seven Bridges Road" after we sold out
that show for them in twenty-two minutes. Well, they more than rewarded
Grand Rapids last night by coming back here and starting their 2004 tour
here. We are forever grateful and start the countdown until the day they
come back here again. Off they go to Peoria.
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