Long Road Out Of Eden

WELCOME BACK EVERYONE!

"Kev" (that's me) is a bit tired today from last night's show, so please enjoy this review (which I am in agreement with). If you get a chance to catch the show, I think you will enjoy it a lot.

Also, as you know from yesterday's post, our dear friend, "Princess" caught Duran Duran last night at the Rosemont Theatre (and their "special guest" who happens to be "Princess's" former next door neighbor, BILLY CORGAN! The irony of this - I am stealing her thunder - is that when they were teens, Billy would criticize Princess for the fact that she liked Duran Duran. Now he is their special guest! We will be sharing her pictures as well!

This is all exciting stuff, isn't it?

Anyhoo, HAPPY THURSDAY!

Adios friends.

"Kev"

The brand-new Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre at Encore Park hosted its very first big concert with The Eagles "Long Road Out of Eden" tour on Wednesday, May 14, 2008 in Alpharetta, a small upscale suburb north of Atlanta, Georgia. There are three more sold out shows at this venue: May 16, 17, 20 so the Eagles will be in little Alpharetta a week entertaining about 60,000 fans and grossing between 6-7 million! Many TV cameras were on and off stage, including a boom camera, so a DVD of this tour may be happening during the four concerts here.

Below is the set list from the 5/14 show, which began at 8:12 PM and didn't end until 11:29 PM, more than three hours including the intermission.

Tonight, The Eagles did not perform like their previous shows. They were not good. They were not great. No, tonight's Eagles were incredibly better than any previous Eagles live tour or TV performance and far better than anything they've ever recorded on wax, CD, or DVD which no longer can do them justice. Now live on stage they simply are the best they've ever been. If you miss the "Long Road Out of Eden" tour, you've missed the best Eagles ever. Unlike the other rock bands of the 70's who today perform a reminder of what they once sounded like, today's Eagles are actually better on this tour than they were in the 70's or on the Farewell 1 tour a few years ago.

The boys took the stage in black suits, black ties on white shirts, very formal. Following the intermission and the acoustic set that starts the 2nd act, the suits finally came off and they rocked in white shirts, no ties. But on the second encore, Henley returned to solo in the spotlight on Desperado again very formal in black jacket, so appropriate for the closing moment when the spotlight finally winked out for the night.

Don Henley is my all-time favorite singer, and he was stunning on vocals hitting every high note and razor sharp on drums. Glenn Fry sounds sweeter than ever on his tender songs, and wonderfully nasty raspy on tunes like "Somebody" and "Heartache Tonight."

But the superstar who dominated the cheering crowd this night hands down was Joe Walsh. Whatever vitamins Joe took today, he needs to take again! Joe's energy level, improvisations on guitar solos, singing, and stage antics had the crowd cheering loudest on "Walk Away" and "Funk 49" and "Life's Been Good," and Don and Glenn knew it and sure let Joe shine in the spotlight by having many songs on this set list.

Timothy was a bit frail on his first song, and I was worried his voice was in need of some rest, but not to worry -- by his third song he was stronger than ever and it was just a case of needing to warm up. Don't miss this tour…

Alpharetta, GA Set List on 5/14/08
1. How Long
2. Too Busy Being Fabulous
3. I Don’t Want To Hear Anymore
4. Guilty Of The Crime
5. Hotel California
6. Peaceful Easy Feeling
7. I Can't Tell You Why
8. Witchy Woman
9. Lyin' Eyes
10. Boys of Summer
11. In the City
12. Long Run
Intermission
(acoustic guitar setting)
13. No More Walks In The Woods
14. Waiting in the Weeds
15. No More Cloudy Days
16. Love Will Keep Us Alive
17. Take It To The Limit
18. Long Road Out of Eden
(coats removed, ready to rock now)
19. Somebody
20. Walk Away
21. One Of These Nights
22. Life’s Been Good
23. Dirty Laundry
24. Funk 49
25. Heartache Tonight
26. Life in the Fast Lane
(encore 1)
27. Rocky Mountain Way
28. All She Wants To Do Is Dance
(encore 2)
29. Take It Easy
30. Desperado

On stage when Glenn announced the band: Steuart Smith (guitars, mandolin, keyboards, backing vocals), Michael Thompson (keyboards, trombone), Will Hollis (keyboards, backing vocals), Richard Davy (keyboards), Scott Crago (drums, percussion), Al Garth (sax, violin) who "just returned from the hospital", Bill Armstrong (Horns), Christian Mostert (sax), Greg Smith (sax, percussion).