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 It was a case of play the songs we know, dudes, and please
don't change anything.
So a lively run-through of "Hotel California", "Tequila
Sunrise", "Take it Easy", "Witchy Woman", "Life In The Fast
Lane", "Desperado", "Take It To The Limit" and more than three
hours of other Eagles standards went down a storm with a packed
crowd at the cavernous O2 Arena.
Which is exactly what the band - founded in 1971 and still
playing, give or take a 14-year split-up - intended.
"We know why our audience comes," co-founder Don Henley told
Reuters. "We are not up there to indulge our musical interests.
We are most interested in making the listener happy."
Indeed, the Eagles' current world tour is called "History of the
Eagles" and is a rare beast in that it is the concert of the DVD
rather than the other way round.
After producing a documentary film about their career - from
Southern California country sound to heavier rock band, through
burnt-out breakup to reformation - the band's manager suggested
that they replicate that evolution on stage.
"(He said) 'It will do more for your career than putting out a
new album'," Henley said.
So the closest Henley, co-founder Glenn Frey, Joe Walsh, Timothy
B. Schmit and guest original member Bernie Leadon got to
something new was a song from the 1994 part-live reunion album
"Hell Freezes Over".
Henley says there are two reasons for this. One is that fans
tend not to go to see famous old bands to hear new music.
"If you play brand new material, it just puts them to sleep,"
Henley said, reflecting on the penchant some reconstituted bands
have to fill the mid-section of concerts with new, unfamiliar
sounds.
AGEISM
The exception to this is if fans become familiar with the new
music through radio play. But here is the second reason Henley
says for sticking to the old stuff:
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"There is a bit of ageism in this business. Radio in particular is
not really interested in new material from old bands. It's not fair,
really. I think that older bands are quite capable of producing new
material."
It helps of course that the Eagles have a repertoire that is large
enough and familiar enough to make all but the biggest rock bands
envious. They are among the world's best-selling bands, having sold
over 150 million records by one calculation.
But Henley also reckons that the band has plenty of other outlets
for creativity in terms of solo projects.
He is working on a country album to come out next year that will
focus on the kind of music he listened to on the radio with his
father and grandfather when he was a child in rural Texas of the
1940s and '50s.
It will feature country greats Merle Haggard, Dolly Parton and
Alison Krauss, among others.
The "History of the Eagles" tour, meanwhile, is finishing up in
Britain, will move on to Germany, Switzerland and Italy, then back
to the United States before finishing up next year in Australia and
New Zealand.
Having famously said when the band broke up in 1980 that they would
not get back together until "hell freezes over" - hence, 1994's
album title - Henley would not say whether this would be it for the
Eagles.
"It’s a big mistake to announce an official retirement. When we do
stop, we will just fade privately into the woodwork."
(Editing by Mark Heinrich)
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