Watching the Eagles fly in HK - INQ7.net

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Watching the Eagles fly in HK

Updated 09:58pm (Mla time) Nov 07, 2004

By Danee Samonte

Inquirer News Service

GUITAR overload.

In my entire life, I had never seen so many guitars on stage. There were at least five being played at any given time, and these were changed after every song. This Eagles concert in Hong Kong might as well have been subtitled, "Guitar Wars."

My introduction to the music of the Eagles happened in the summer of 1972, when I was a young DJ learning the craft in San Francisco. Back then, the group had Randy Meisner in the lineup. They had shot up the charts for the first time with "Take it Easy." Their country-flavored vocal harmonies, soothing to the ears, made them heir apparent to the constantly feuding Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.

The Eagles' recording career lasted about 10 years, almost as long as that of the Beatles. They produced seven studio albums, one live and two greatest hits compilations. "Greatest Hits 1971 to 1975" has been certified by the Record Industry Association of America as the best-selling album of all time in the United States, with 27 million units sold. Worldwide, they have sold more than 120 million albums. They have also won four Grammy awards and landed No. 1 hits five times.

Sold-out shows

Since they started performing live in the '70s, they've constantly sold out their concerts, too. Today, 30 years later, they're doing much better still. All Austral-Asian cities in this tour were sold out well ahead in advance at ridiculously high rates.

The Hong Kong Coliseum was filled up wall to wall, top to bottom. Enthusiastic fans like us-there were nine in our group composed of Joey and Eileen de Leon, director Bert and Brenda de Leon, Kitchie Benedicto and hubby Robert Paulino, Long Tall Howard, midnight radio "queen" Marie Guttierrez and this writer-had traveled over a thousand kilometers to watch the show.

"Farewell 1 Tour," the concert series is called. It's a good guess that the number "1" has been inserted just in case they change their minds in the future and decide to tour again. Then they could call it Farewell 2, 3, and so forth. The tour kicked off in Bangkok on Oct. 15. A friend of mine who watched that one reported that it was "totally sold out." Indeed, were it not for their prohibitive (six figures, in dollars, of course) talent fee, it would be great to bring them to the Philippines for even one night.

All roads to the Hong Kong Coliseum were at a near standstill three hours prior to the Oct. 20 performance. We entered a few minutes late, wielding HK$1,500 tickets that sat us high up in the hall.

We missed "The Best of My Love." Thank heavens for the giant video screens, without which we would have needed high-powered binoculars to see what was going on.

Four turned up

Onstage were the four Eagles who had agreed to tour-Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Joe Walsh and Timothy Schmit (minus Don Felder and Randy Meisner). They were backed by a dozen musicians, including a violinist and three saxophone players.

Henley was the serious one. He alternated between drums and guitar while singing. Frey was the joker who played a range of guitars, sang with verve and even danced gracefully while at the keyboard. He joked most of the time about his ex-wife, and seemed to enjoy the gig more than the rest.

Schmit, with his long, tangled locks, concentrated on his bass playing chore and sang the lead in some songs, like "I Can't Tell You Why." Joe Walsh, one of my rock heroes from his early days with The James Gang, provided comic relief and played the tastiest guitar licks.

Collectively, the guys sounded almost flawless, their harmonies just short of heavenly. I closed my eyes intermittently and felt like I was listening to a CD.

The concert, almost three hours long, was divided into two segments. First came the Greatest Hits part, which consisted of songs like "Peaceful Easy Feeling," "One of These Nights," "Lyin' Eyes," etc. The second part, after a 15-minute break, started with the quartet seated a la Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, with acoustic guitars (except Timothy who played electric bass). They opened the set with "Tequila Sunrise," followed by their new song, "Hole in the World" which the audience applauded with gusto. "Take It to the Limit" made the crowd sing along.

Three encores

And then it was time to rock to "non-Eagles" hits, songs recorded individually by the members. Frey did an up tempo version of "You Belong to the City," followed by Walsh with "Walk Away." Schmit and Henley did solos, too. Henley sang "Dirty Laundry," which sent the crowd clapping and stomping their feet.

Pandemonium broke when the quartet erupted into "Heartache Tonight," their last No. 1 hit prior to the first breakup in the early '80s. They reunited briefly in 1994 for the "Hell Freezes Over" album and tour.

The whole coliseum seemed to vibrate by the time they ended the set with "Life in the Fast Lane."

And then ... lights out!

There was thundering clamor for an encore, and the guys obliged with "Hotel California." The audience sang as one. Lights went off again, but the crowd just got louder. The group returned with two more songs and left. The third encore took a while. This time, they performed "Take It Easy" and finally-finally-"Desperado." They bowed after the song and headed straight for their limos.

Eagles Soar High in Singapore (The Star Online)

The Star Online Malaysia Entertainment: eCentral: News & Features

Legendary rock outfit the Eagles played Singapore for the first time on Monday night, and it was truly a massive evening to take home as ONG SOH CHIN discovered.

It lasted seven minutes and 36 seconds, about a minute and a half longer than the original album version. These facts may mean nothing to the average reader. But to the 11,300 avid fans at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, it was a moment worth waiting a lifetime for, hyperbole be damned.

One of the classic rock anthems of all time, Hotel California can be heard anywhere on the planet, from Bedouin camps in the Middle East desert to thatched huts in remotest Africa. As such, it has also become the stuff of bloated cliche – an embarrassing mainstay of too many two-bit cover bands in too many skanky gin joints around the world.

Don Henley (left) and Joe Walsh giving their all at the Eagles concert in Singapore.

But hearing Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Joe Walsh, Timothy B. Schmit and Don Felder replacement Steuart Smith sounding those familiar notes live is an experience that has to be lived to be believed. Felder, for those not in the know, is the ex-Eagles member who co-wrote the song. He was ostensibly fired from the group in February 2001 and his lawsuit against Henley and Frey for wrongful termination and breach of contract is currently in settlement stages.

A sinister mythical paean to the soulless entrapment of a life of excess, Hotel California marked the first of the Eagles’ three encores of the evening. By this time, the crowd, which packed the stadium to the rafters all around the stage, was up on its feet and singing along to every word – prisoners there of their own device, you could say. Never mind that Henley’s vocal chords were no longer as elastic as they once were. So what if he strained a little on the high notes? It was still unmistakeably Henley.

No other rock voice boasts that distinctive power-packed rasp which is the vocal equivalent of tarnished silver – a precious metal tainted to yield its own unique beauty. Just to hear that legendary instrument sing about that infamous dark desert highway was a journey of light in itself.

The evening had begun at 8.30pm with The Long Run. With an eight-piece back-up band that included guitarist Smith as well as Loggins & Messina alumnus Al Garth on saxophone, the Eagles sailed through the song off their 1979 album of the same name.

The crowd, made up of three generations of people of all races, was ecstatic right from the beginning. They would sing along to familiar choruses unprompted, burst out into spontaneous clapping and even erupt into catcalls and cries of “Yeah baby!’’ and “I love you!’’

Indeed, the band didn’t have to do much. Compared to other bands like The Rolling Stones, for example, the Eagles looked positively staid onstage, probably because they’re known for their musicianship, not their showmanship.

It’s hard to prance about on stage when you’re singing and switching between guitars, as well as doubling up on drums or keyboards, as Henley, 57, and Frey, 55, did. The twice-married Frey, however, did inject some wry humour in his banter.

“I dedicate this song to my first wife, Plaintiff,’’ he said, before launching into Lyin’ Eyes. Later on, he pipped: “My wife calls this the credit card song. Here’s Take It To the Limit.’’ The audience, which had paid between S$99 (RM217.80) and S$499 (RM1,097.80) for tickets – the same amount of money Stones fans paid – arguably got more value for their money. The Eagles played 27 songs in a concert that lasted three hours, including a 15-minute intermission. It was a repertoire that was truly impressive.

As the band rolled out hit after hit, it was almost easy to switch off and imagine one tuning in to an easy-listening radio station doing an Eagles special.

Every song was as familiar as a nursery rhyme. Understandably so, seeing as their Greatest Hits: 1971-1975 album remains the world’s best-selling album of all time, with sales of 28 million copies.

In 2001, the Recording Industry Association of America also proclaimed the Eagles the third best-selling band of all time, after the Beatles and Led Zeppelin. To date, they have sold more than 120 million albums worldwide, scoring four American No.1 singles and four Grammy awards.

While Henley’s and Frey’s voices may have seen better days, Schmit and Walsh, both 56, showed they could still hit the high notes with ease. Walsh, the “Ordinary Average Guy’’ of the band, belted out his solo hits like Rocky Mountain Way and Life’s Been Good with all the blustery power of a feisty warhorse let loose in a bar room.

The long-haired Schmit, Walsh’s polar opposite in many ways, delivered the ballads I Can’t Tell You Why and Love Will Keep Us Alive like a rock choirboy, scaling the high (someone once called them “nut-busting’’) notes with effortless aplomb. Together, the band’s harmonies were faultless, especially on numbers like Take It To the Limit and New Kid In Town. Their instrumentation was also tight, proof of which could be heard on Funk #49, a rollicking showcase jam of a track made famous by Walsh’s old band The James Gang.

It was, however, in the slow songs that the band truly shone. Wasted Time, for example, was a stunner, with Henley making the song as poignant and intimate as a confession, even though he was singing to more than 11,000 people.

The most exquisite moment, however, was saved for the last, when the band ended off the evening with what many consider to be its best song. Desperado, an Eagles favourite that was ironically never released as a single, had the darkened stadium awash in twinkling lights created by cigarette lighters and backlit mobile phones held aloft. With 11,000 people singing that plaintive penultimate arpeggio, “let somebody love you’’, the stadium resonated in a truly magical moment that was beyond hyperbole itself. – The Straits Times Singapore / Asia News Network

Photos From Hong Kong

Hong Kong

The Eagles will be appearing in Hong Kong on October 20th. If you will be going to the show or have questions about the show, hit the comments button below and add a message. If you have questions about buying tickets, please see our tour faq.