a special chemistry. And each time they played together, it got
stronger. Finally, the quartet told their pop-diva boss, Linda
If numbers mean anything, their risk paid off. The foursome,
who settled on the name the Eagles after finishing Ronstadt’s 1970
tour, have sold more than 120 million albums worldwide over the
past 34 years. The only groups to outsell them are the Beatles and
Led Zeppelin. One album, Eagles: Their Greatest Hits 1971–1975 , sold
some 28 million copies, making it the bestselling album of all time.
Between 1971 and 1979, the Eagles basked in a magical time as a
band. Five number-one hit singles and four bestselling albums testify to
their popularity. But, as a new decade emerged, the magic began to fade.
The business side of their successful recording career began to dilute the
band’s creative juices. In 1982, after 11 years together, they called it quits.
Band member Glenn Frey famously stated that the Eagles would get
back together “when hell freezes over.”
In 1996, the underworld must have been a winter wonderland
when the Eagles began to play and record again. They soon
released a DVD and accompanying CD appropriately titled Hell
Freezes Over. The mostly acoustic collection of songs signaled the
JIM SHEA
The Eagles are dressing snappier these
days (a side effect of age?), and, after
more than 30 years, their vocal harmonies
ring as true as ever. They haven’t forgotten how to play electric guitar either.
Eagles’ return.
The Costco Connection recently joined 17,000 Eagles fans on a ways to the main floor, where I listened to the Eagles’ sound check.
blustery night in Raleigh, North Carolina, for a concert. Today’s So much for being prepared. All my questions went out the win-incarnation of the Eagles is not a group of guys playing acoustic dow as I listened and watched the Eagles—the same band whose
guitar for a wonderful night of mellow memories. You can see that huge poster graced a wall in my room when I was a kid—hammer
side of the band on their Hell Freezes Over DVD. At the perfor- out details for the show.
mance I saw, blazing electric-guitar lines, pounding drums, driv- While the band ran through a few songs in the cavernous arena,
ing bass, melodic piano and a myriad of other instruments Bob Wiebel, the Eagles’ sound man, explained that crew members
formed a rich tapestry for three hours as Frey, Don Henley, were workingbehind the scenes fine-tuning sound and lightingsys-
Timothy Schmit and Joe Walsh led fans on a musical journey that tems. Wiebel said that for the Eagles’ 74 crew members, the current
spanned the band’s entire career. tour, humorously dubbed “Farewell 1,” is a 24-hour-a-day, seven-
day-a-week job. The show requires 11 semitrailers and five buses to
Before the show transport the necessary gear and crew members.
While I was going over notes and mentally preparing for the The huge cabinets I saw around the stage turned out to be a
concert and subsequent interview with Joe Walsh, the phone rang in fraction of the band’s gear. “Look toward the ceiling,” Wiebel said,
my hotel room. It was only about 2 in the afternoon, but Larry pointing up. “All of the dark cabinets you see were suspended ear-
Solters, longtime Eagles’ marketing rep, asked if I could be at the lier this morning.” Looking above, I saw rows and rows, 90,000
venue in 15 minutes so he could show me around. pounds in all, of speaker cabinets and lighting gear. “It all goes up at
Several citable traffic maneuvers later, I eachshow,” Wiebel added.
arrived at a local sports arena where the con- After the sound check, I was taken onto the empty stage. Passing
cert was to be held. Solters escorted me several extensive arsenals of guitars and basses, I looked over a high-
A front- through a complex labyrinth of hall- end drum kit and an extensive percussion setup. I stood in front of a
row seat
JIM SHEA
The Eagles’ new DVD, Farewell 1
Tour: Live From Melbourne,
brings a riveting concert to your
living room. On it you’ll see 30
songs that span the band’s entire
career, plus hits from the solo
careers of Don Henle y,
Glenn Frey and Joe
Walsh and two brand-new Eagles songs.
Special features take
you behind the
scenes, into the
unseen world of the
Farewell 1 tour.
