The Eagles were at the Oakland Coliseum on Saturday. I remember seeing Sting there when I was in college. The place hasn't changed a bit. Don Henley is 63 years old. Musically, his performance hasn't changed a bit. I've always been impressed with drummers- anyone who can split their body into four rhythms...then sing on top of that?
When the concert opened, four of the more original members sat in a row, with guitars, on stools. For a second, it looked like they were tapping their walkers to the beat. They were backed up by a greater number of musicians (poor Don, he can't be expected to keep playing and singing the whole time, right? There was a younger back up drummer) Joe Walsh changed guitars every song- my favorite was a Rickenbaucher. Only a Tiger Maple Fender made it for two songs, not even twice in a row. And as a blast from the past, he pulled out a Vocoder, which really confused the young people in the audience.
The audience was fascinating: ever generation was represented. There were beer swilling,($10 bucks for Bud?) Disney going middle Americans. There were great grandparents. There were Silicon Valley exec types. There were college students. A few people, inexplicably , brought kids- for the price of the ticket you couldn't get a babysitter?
The concert was long- or I'm really getting too old (let's go with the concert was long, okay?) with some overly indulgent stuff each Eagle had written- like did we really need to hear Timothy Schmidt (the bass player) sing "Love Will Feed Us"- a song apparently about homeless cats? Or their new song, "Waiting In The Weeds" (which apparently some concert-goers were) - a disturbing song, for those of us who could understand the lyrics- about some stalker following his would be girlfriend around.
Joe Walsh, the guitarist with bad plastic surgery, though was great with "Life's Been Good To Me So Far". And there were so many other great songs to sing along with.
Still, the talent of the Eagles is amazing- they started of as studio musicians in LA- I hope they keep playing, walkers and all.
Monday, October 4, 2010
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