Old Way...New Way Those of you who have thumbed through the pages of a Yahoo! Magazine have probably noticed the "Old Way, New Way" column. pick out a It,s a funny little look at weather or not computers really make life easier. The author will attempt to do something like works new way the Sometimes it online. doing by and then methods traditional by using cleaner wine or Ouy Oetts for his vacuum went better, som-etimes the old way is best. We thoughl we'd look at this summer's tour by comparing it to the last time the Eagles fan experience. the shows and the going the band, to look at We're out on the road here in the US "big time" during HFO.
Getting Tour lnformation
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We actually tried to remember how we did it back in 1994. We asked several people who were involved ih the infamous road trip in '96 (5 of us rented a minivan and drove up the Eastern Seaboard) how we knew that the band was on tour. After drawing some blanks, we think it was because several people from around the country collected local dates and we pieced them together. Rolling Stone may have printed a partial lineup of dates as well. Whatever the case, all tour information was assembled by hand. We remember going to the local public library to scour out of state yellow pages to find venue information. We joined AAA in order to get maps' This time around, ihougl^r, the band made it quite easy. Using Yahoo!, they published an actual list of dates and cities. They also did an all out media blitz conducting interviews with local TV stations. We also can't forget the power of the lnternet to organize the dates. People from all over the country sent information to us and we published it on the Fastlane. Much easierl
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Securing Tickets Complain about Ticketmaster all you want, but we are eternally grateful for the online ordering. Back in'94, you had to sit on the phone for hours and hours to get seats. You had to take what they gave you and usually didn't have a seating chart to work with. once, we got the idea to actuitt-y go wait in line for iickets. We went to a record store in San Antonio, thinking we'd end up in ifre front row or something, but ended up with the same seats we could have gotten on the phone. For this tour, you could log on to Ticketmaster, see what was available, consult a seating chart and buy tickets with ease! Yes, there were a few panicked moments, but everything did work out okiy. Now, of course, we should mention the "Yahoo Presale". what a joke! Sometimes the passwords weren't updated and sometimes, the people putting the tickets up for sale forgot what time zone they were in. It was best to avoid the presale, though, because regardless of what the flashy advertising said, these were NoT the best seats.
Ticket Prices Ah yes, the controversy of ticket prices. The Eagles have been labeled as greedy bastards by fans and press alike. They are credited for breaking the $100 a ticket barrier. To get a handle on if ticket prices have changed, we got all of our ticket stubs for HFO and all of our stubs for this time out. We did the math, averaged them out and....nothing's really changed. The average price both times was right around $90. Now, we did have some seats for HFO that were nJt the best available (we've stopped sitting in the rafters after being spoiled...once you sit in front, it's probably psychologically damaging not to ever again) so we added a bit to each of the ,'cheap seats". We iound that figure kind of interesting seeing as how almost 10 years have passed and other prices have risen (we had to pay $20 to park in St' Paul!)
Cell Phones! Just {or the record, we aren't big cell phone users. Nobody really has our cell numbers. They are just for emergency and traveling. We don't know what we would have done without them this iime around though. First of all, they make last minute travel plans a breeze. Back in '94, we decided to go to the New Orleans show at the last minute. We were driving there from Wisconsin. We hab hooked up with a broker and needed to get to him to get the tickets. We must have stopped at every pay phone between Peoria and Lake Pontchartrain...in the rain no less! This time when we decided to head up to Wichita with no tickets, we simply used the cell phone to call ahead io the box office and get tickets. We wondered, though, how dependent on the cells we had gotten when 5 of us were parked in front of a seafood restaurant in Biloxi all dialing the box office when we heard on the radio that new tickets had been released. We must have looked like a bunch of Hollywood producers in Park city or something!
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Motels (or Lack Thereof!) We're wondering how many people are in different places in their lives this time around than they were for HFO. We sure are. Back in '94, we were fresh out of college...still paying off loans and not really making enough to feed ourselves, but we needed to see the Eagles. Thus, our idea of sleeping in the car came about. We would save money on hotels! Let's flash back to the show in Houston. We got to Houston the day before the show. We walked around Galveston during the day and then parked ourselves at the food court of a mall half way back to Houston. We read books there until closing time and then decided to drive around for a while. We did an experiment and found that it took about 45 minutes to drive the lnterstate loop around Houston. Then we headed east out of town and camped at a rest area. lt must have been by the sewage plant! The rest of the tour was spent at Motel 6s. Scariest one? Conroe, TX. This time around, we splurged and stayed mostly at La Quintas. You get breakfast in the morning (though most times that consisted of a stale muffin....but at some of them, you got to make your own waffle!!!) I wonder if the Eagles got to make their own waffles at the fancy places they stayed at?
The Vehicle! We've done three MAJOR road trips. There was the one we mentioned that took place in a mini-van. That was pretty decent (if you don't count the part when Melissa fell asleep and woke up with a Hostess wrapper affixed to her face). The bulk of the '94 shows were done in a 10 year old Pontiac Grand Am. What an adventure! Let's see. First there was the overheating problem! We pulled into the parking lot at the Rice show with the coolant boiling over. lt was sure nice of the parking lot attendant to point that out to us. We hadn't noticed the steam and the boiling noises (read that sarcastically). Then the alternator blew coming back from New Orleans. We had to be towedl Then outside of Alpine Valley, we got a flat tire. lt was neat watching 25,000 people roll out of a concert and have not one of them (not even the county sheriff) stop to help. We changed the tire, just fine, though. This time, we had a sport utility vehicle (well sort of...it's a KIA Sportage). Nothing broke. lt was comfortable (Melissa slept through most of Oklahoma).
Venues When the band was talking to local media outlets to promote the tour, Glenn spent a lot of time asking the reporters what the weather was like in their towns. That's for good reasons. Back in '94, they played huge, outdoor venues and it was freaking hot! Who remembers Clemson? lt must have been only 900 degrees there that day. What about San Antonio where most of my thighs actually melted away in a puddle of sweat (they must have grown back, though, because I still have them). Texas Stadium was like a large communal sauna. This time around, the band settled for small, intimate AIR CONDITIONED venues (okay, it didn't feel that way in Little Rock where it was literally almost too humid to breathe down on the floor). Some of the venues were the same. We had previously seen them in Tupelo (yes, we've been to Tupelo twice in this lifetime!) and Birmingham. lt was really nice seeing them in these small places.
Set Design For HFO, the set design was a post-modern, minimalist vision of California (at least we think that's what those highway girders and tires symbolized!). This time it was a minimalist vision of well...minimalism. There really was no set design. lt was just the Eagles and their ummmm stuff. What really had changed and (in our opinion) evolved was the lighting. ln HFO, the lighting was pretty muted and relied on on stage spot lights (built into the set) and trippy animations projected behind the band. This time, the band relied on jewel toned lights to create stunning visuals on stage. lt was beautiful how the dusky purple tones for Sunset Grill became brilliant pinks and oranges of Tequila Sunrise. These lights were carefully thought out. (note to the lighting director...red lights make it difficult to get good photos...see what you can do about that...thanks! ).
Demographic Maybe it's because we're getting older, but the demographic at the shows really seemed to be older than they were during HFO. For the HFO shows we remember a lot more college ageearly 20ish kids. Granted, though, there still is a wide age range at the shows. People take their kids...kids take their parents. ln terms of males and females, we think that depends on where you are. ln Little Rock and Biloxi, there were a lot more females on the floor. ln Wichita, though, we were the only women in our section...lots of guys high{iving each other on all sides. Guess it remains that the Eagles really do attract fans of all generations. Wonder who they will attract next time out?
Fans UP Front! Back in '94 when we sat practically in the parking lot straining to see the band through binoculars, we envied the people in the front rows. What had they done to get such awesome seats? How much did they pay? We found out when we got third row seats through a broker for the State College and Virginia Beach shows. Ouch! At those shows, it seemed as if practically everyone around us had gotten their seats from a broker. This time, though, the band did a wondrous thing. As seats for the shows went on sale, we noticed that the good ones in the first five rows didn't seem to be coming up. None of the brokers had them. We just assumed the band was holding them for their hangers-on. Well, when the shows started, we discovered something amazing! The band was holding seats until the week before the sale. Depending on what town you were in and how your luck ran, you could end up in the first 3 rows by buying your ticket anywhere from 3 days to 3 hours before the show started. The brokers were foiled! People in the front were lucky, and happy and not as broke as if they had gone to a scalper! This is a huge thanks to the band (and it was the band and not the promoters who did this... we personally witnessed a band representative releasing the seats in Biloxi). THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!
Felder You were wondering when we were going to get to this one, weren't you? Probably the most obvious and important difference between HFO and this show was the absence of Felder who had been fired back in'01 . To be honest, his replacement Steuart Smith isn't Don Felder. He's Steuart so of course the songs are going to sound a bit different. Frankly, we aren't huge guitar heads so perhaps we didn't miss what a techie or axe aficionado would have missed. Feldels smile was missed on stage, but for most of the people there, this wasn't really an issue. We're assuming that the woman who asked us who the drummer was in Biloxi probably didn't know that Felder was missing. lf you were into Felder, then you will probably lament his leaving, but if you are more into the lyrics and the entire Eagles experiences, you can treasure your HFO memories and move on just like the band has.
General Appearance / Wardrobe HFO was about flannel and t-shirts. The North American tour was more about suits, jackets and lookin' spiffy! Glenn's pink and blue prom suits made us long for the days of the sunglass t-shirt! Yes the hair on these guys is a little thinner and Timothy has a few wrinkles. For the most part, though, these guys look to be in fantastic shape. Joe is looking slim and in shape. Henley's arms even looked dare we say it...buff! The stamina they project on stage makes you forget that these guys may be the same age as your dad
Camaraderie The band got along great during HFO, but you always got the feeling that they were still learning to be a band after such a long vacation. You'd also read comments in the press where Henley would say that they got along on stage, but some of the crap that caused them to break up was still there. There really was none of this this time around. The amount of joking around on stage was great to see. They clapped for each other. Henley and Joe clowned around together (they made up gestures for The Long Run!) There was hopping on Dirty Laundry and Glenn grooving during All She Wants to Do is Dance! Watching them onstage you'd have to realize that these weren't the greedy bastards they were made out to be..they loved being up there on stage. We loved seeing them arm in arm bowing at the end of the shows.
Joe's "Statement"
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Joe will ALWAYS be Joe..that won't change. How he reflects his wacky personality does, though. For HFO, Joe put on balloon hats and dragged cardboard culouts of pop culture idols up on stage with him. This time around, Joe showed his unique style by wearing novelty pajama bottoms...a more subtle version of wacky. Joe did let it all hang out in Memphis, however, when he briefly put on mutton chops for his Elvis impersonation.
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Enough about us, let's talk about the band! The reasons for touring this past summer and the summer of '94 are pretty different. Back in '94, the band had a brand new album to promote. There was new music. This time, though, they claimed they were breaking their album making induced cabin fever. We're also assuming that both times, they money didn't hurt either. As Henley said at a solo show in Vegas, they stand to make a "...shitload of dimes" every time they hit the road. We commend them for their honestyl
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Reasons for Touring
Timothy Civilizations will come and go....rivers will rise and fall, but Timothy B. Schmit will forever remain the same...ethereal, friendly, lovely voiced. Tim still looks the same as he did for HFO. He's gotten a few new outfits (the most noted is a grey crinkly tunic that sort of clings to him), but you could take HFO Tim and plop him on stage three months ago and most wouldn't have noticed. His vocals are still flawless on the same lead vocals he sang in HFO (l Can't Tell You Why and Love Will Keep Us Alive). What was neat and something maybe we didn't notice last time was that You Belong to the City is practically a duet with Glenn as Tim provides the vocals that are double tracked on the album.
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Solo Songs There was some talk during HFO that the solo songs seemed out of place. We got a fair amount of e-mail from fans upset that they paid all that money to hear solo songs instead of Eagles songs. This time out, the band still did solo songs, but an interesting transformation has taken place. . ..they've sort of become Eagles songs by default. Boys of Summer features the five man lineup and bunny hop. You Belong to the City now has a SCORTCHING Joe Walsh solo (and it's not that Glenn couldn't hit the high notes... it was a different arrangement!), Joe's songs have been part of Eagles shows for so long now that they really don't seem like solo songs at all (except for Rocky Mountain Way which really doesn't feature any of the other Eagles). Now we just need a Timothy solo song in the lineup.
New Music
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Here again is another obvious difference between the two tours. HFO had 4 new songs as part of the lineup. One of those has survived to the present set list. While we can see why Girl From Yesterday and Learn to Be Still have been dumped (they're good songs...they just don't get fan reaction) , it's a pity that Get Over lt is gone. No new music this time out. Henley says it's because of evil lnternet pirates. Someone has to tell Don ihat the evil lnternet pirates aren't after Eagles music. They'd much rather make Ryan Adams or U2 or Eminem walk the musical plank. The band also thinks that fans can't handle new stuff ...wonder what they'll do about that problem for the next tour?
Hotel California The opening of the HFO show is something that can still get hearts pumping while listening to it on bootlegs (shhh!). That thunder crashing leading into the opening chords of HFO. What a masterf ul beginning. This time out, Hotel California has been relegated to the encore with Seven Bridges Road or The Long Run taking it's place. We actually like this idea. Hotel California is the band's signature song and offering it up to a cold crowd didn't always work. Waiting until the end...making the crowd beg for it makes more sense. We absolutely love the Long Run at the beginning of the show....it gets you up (especially when Henley says, "Get up!'') and gets you dancing from the beginning. lt's also a lovely statement of where the band is currently at (more on that in the next paragraph).
The Past (and Future) During HFO the band seemed a bit uncomfortable with their place in music history. lt was as if they knew they were being judged on their reasons for getting back together and were a bit reluctant lo focus on their legacy. Granted, Henley still doesn't like to think about legacy, but you can tell the band is more comfortable with their past. Opening the show with The Long Run pays tribute to the band's past. They have made it ...in the Long Run. The fact that they've reworked "Take it to the Limit" with Glenn on lead vocals shows that they can accept the fact that the band has undergone personnel changes. Glenn even mentions Randy's namel What is most striking is the honest and heartfelt thank you'd at the end of the show. lt's more than just a "thanks for coming to the showl" They acknowledge the fact that without the devoted fans, they wouldn't be up there on stage. They seemed almost as awed as we are that they are still going strong. Back during HFO, the band's fuiure was sort of up in the air...these days, with the promise of a new album and a new tour, the band seems to be poised and ready for whatever the future holds.
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