The EAGLES Fly High - Concert Review - Saturday Night at Madison Square Garden

It was an older crowd that started out mellow for the third sell out night of the Eagles shows at Madison Square Garden this past Saturday. By the second set they were pretty much all on their feet singing & dancing away, as the Eagles rocked New York and put on a hell of a show.

They played well over 3 1/2 hours up until the midnight hour with an short intermission sandwiched in the middle. The band was decked out in black suits with white shirts and black ties. A long time gone from their early California hippie days playing behind Linda Ronstat.

After five number one songs, six number one albums, (two of which are in the top ten of all time best sellers), sucessful solo careers, television acting appearances, and massive sell out concert tours they have become distinguished Eagles, total pros totally on top of their game. There was the pop, rock, love songs of Don Henley, who's diverse musical talents had him playing drums, bongos, and guitars, to the counrty rock style of Glen Frey who also served as the bands M.C. and played both acoustic & electric guitars as well as some piano.

Then the mellow love songs of the long haired Timothy B. Schmidt who besides singing so smoothly also plays a mean bass. He got huge ovations as has become quite the popular Eagle. Together as a whole the harmonies were sensational. All the lead vocals and back ups sounded perfect, and the shows sound as a whole was clear & crisp.

But it was Joe Walsh who stole the show. Walsh quietly played guitar and only did two songs during the first set. A new tune and The Long Run's "In the City", complete with a video of New York City street scenes playing behind him.

By the second set he was on fire playing exceptional leads and jaming to his old James Gang hits "Walk Away" & "Funk 49", then his solo hits "Lifes Been Good" & "Rocky Mountain Way". The crowd loved him, singing along to his every word, as he got the biggest ovations of the night. His guitar playing was masterful. For "Life's Been Good" the video monitors showed old pictures of Joe & the Eagles in their long hair partying days. Walsh wore a helmet with a camera on top of it for a segment called "Helmet Cam". He ran around each part of the stage and filmed the crowd as they were shown live on the large video screens. Awesome. During the encores he played the elctronic straw through the guitar for the leads on "Rocky Mountain Way". Again Awesome!!-Better than the way we had!

The Eagles are promoting a new album "Long Road Out Of Eden" which has sold four million copies since its 2007 release. It has some of the classic Eagles sound to it and is thier first studio album since "The Long Run" in 1979. They started out the show with four new songs and began the second set with two new songs. Maybe a few to many for us who wanted more of the classics.

There also were five other musicians on stage with them plus a horn section. 2 keyboardist, another drummer when Henley wasnt drumming, a piano player and guitarist Stewart Smith who on tour replaces former Eagle Don Felder who was fired in 2001.

The Eagles are definatley worth the price of admission , and lets hope we dont have to wait for Hell to Freeze Over again to get another tour. There are so many other tunes they have to play live because there wasnt enough time for them this tour.

SET LIST: How Long (Frey) new song

Busy Being Fabulous (Henley) new song

I Dont Wanna Hear No More (Schmidt) new

Guilty of the Crime (Walsh) new song
Hotel California (Henley)

Peaceful Easy Feeling (Frey)
I Can't Tell You Why (Schmidt)

Witchy Woman (Henley)

Lying Eyes (Frey) -one of my all time favorites

Boys of Summer (solo Henley)

In the City (Walsh)

The Long Run (Henley)

~~ INTERMISSON~~

Acoustic Set- Waiting in the Weeds (Henley)

No More Cloudy Days (Frey) - new songs

Love Will Keep Us Alive (Schmidt)

Take it to the Limit (Frey)

Long Road Out of Eden (Henley)

Walk Away (Walsh)- henley back on drums

One of These Night (Henley)
Lifes Been Good (Walsh with Hemet Cam) crowd singin every word

Dirty Laundry (Henley solo) this has become a huge crowd favorite- henley on lead mic

Funk 49 (Walsh) great cartoon video of walsh underwater playing guitar with the fishes

Heartache Tonight (Henley) (a huge hit in my 8th grade summer) crowd all up singin & dancing

Life in The Fast Lane (Henley)(one of my favs & the old theme song of life) crowd still up roaring!

1st Encore: Rocky Mountain Way (Walsh with straw thru the guitar)

All She Wants to Do is Dance (Henley solo) crowd up dancin & singin

2nd Encore: Take It Easy (Frey) another biggie with the crowd
Desperado (henley) wows 'em