The Eagles - Amway Arena - Orlando, Florida 1/31/2009

The Eagles - Amway Arena - Januaury 31, 2009

Set List: How Long / Too Busy Being Fabulous / I Don’t Want To Hear Anymore / Guilty Of The Crime / Hotel California / Peaceful Easy Feeling / I Can't Tell You Why / Witchy Woman / Lyin' Eyes / Boys of Summer / In the City / Long Run / No More Walks In The Woods / Waiting in the Weeds / No More Cloudy Days / Take It To The Limit / Long Road Out of Eden / Somebody / Walk Away / One Of These Nights / Life’s Been Good / Dirty Laundry / Funk 49 / Heartache Tonight / Life in the Fast Lane / Take It Easy / Desperado

The Eagles delivered last night at Orlando’s Amway Arena before a sold out crowd.
Dressed in suits the core quartet — Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmit — performed new songs, old epic rock tracks, country-tinged ballads and everything in between.
Over the course of the night the band selected nine tracks from the band's Grammy-nominated Long Road Out of Eden CD and actually opened the nearly three-hour show with four new tracks. It had been 28 years since The Eagles' last studio album, and it has been nominated for a Grammy – a fact that Glenn Frey mentioned several times during the set. I actually found that I enjoyed the new songs much more than the old hits. "How Long" kicked off the set, proving to the audience that "Eden" carries at least a little of the breezy, road-trip atmosphere of the Eagles classic "Take It Easy." The bouncy "Busy Being Fabulous" followed. Frey then greeted the audience and told them to check their ticket stubs, a nod to the concert's official title: the "Assisted Living Tour". This banter continued throughout the show as Frey poked fun at the band's age.
Joe Walsh's "Guilty of the Crime" - the last of the opening new 4 songs flat our rocked. Later during the second set more "Eden" tracks were played with the title track easily being the highlight of them - and perhaps the best song all evening!
A single red spotlight on the trumpet player introduced "Hotel California," and as the audience cheer grew into a singalong it became clear the fans came out to hear the classics. But nobody comes to an Eagles concert expecting anything different.
Frey’s tracks "Peaceful Easy Feeling", "Lyin' Eyes", "Take It Easy" all sounded great. Exceptional backing all evening came from a 13-member band that included three keyboardists, a horn section, an extra drummer and two piano players.
Henley's material, "Boys of Summer", "The Long Run" and "Dirty Laundry" is still the Eagles' toughest stuff, although I would rather have heard some more Eagles tracks than the solo hits. Walsh's prankish behavior was pretty tamed (except for the video cam cap) but not his fingers: Walk Away earned one of the night's loudest cheers; In the City, Life's Been Good and of course his licks on Hotel California are as tasty as ever. Schmit's voice was weak but still pretty smooth on "I Can't Tell You Why". But he was visibly not feeling the greatest for the show – and one of his tracks was actually cut from the set.
Overall, the 27-song set list and three and a half hour length (there was an intermission that lasted about 20 minutes) seemed to satisfy the sold-out audience, proving the Eagles still have what it takes to soar.

Hotel California from Orlando - fan filmed video


ABSOLUTE ROCK BIRTHDAYS FOR FEBRUARY 1
Don Everly is 72; Mike Campbell from Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers is 59; Ron Welty, formerly with the Offspring, is 38;

On this date in 1964 The Beatles hit number 1 on Billboard's Pop Singles chart for the very first time with "I Want To Hold Your Hand". On this date in 1977 Led Zeppelin had to postpone their North American tour because Robert Plant is ill. On this date in 1988 the Cars call it quits. On this date in 2004 Aerosmith and Kid Rock both perform at halftime for Super Bowl XXXVIII. However, I bet you don't remember that because that's the year we got to see Janet's tit. On this date in 2006 a Hurricane Katrina benefit concert put together by former Eagle Don Felder occurs. Green Day drummer Tré Cool, ex-Guns N' Roses guitarist Gilby Clarke and Alice Cooper perform. On this date in 2007 Don Henley says that that the Eagles business partnership with Walmart is good, stating "They can't be any more evil than a major record label."

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