Rummaging through my collection of PVG (Piano, Vocal & Guitar) songbooks this evening, I forgot I had this lovely compendium of Eagles songs. Like Queen, Eagles are one of those universally popular iconic bands; if you were to pick bands that best represent the USA and the United Kingdom, you could do worse than to choose these two, although Eagles’ song lyrics often reveal their deep cynicism about American society and culture.
Unsurprisingly, my mum and stepfather also love Eagles and after attending two local concerts by U.K. tribute band B-Eagles, I was thrilled to be able to take them to hear the real deal on the Glasgow leg of the Long Road Out of Eden world tour in 2009. As you can see from the ticket in the photograph above, we were at the very back of the Hampden Park stadium. Although binoculars were required to see the stage, the sound was certainly loud enough. Eagles were supported by Paul Carrack who played some catchy Mike and the Mechanics tracks. My wife was at least five months pregnant with our son, Ben, so he attended his first rock concert before he was even born!
Media reviews noted the “grimly professional” nature of the performance but we enjoyed the experience and the on-stage antics of Joe Walsh as they worked their way through their established hits interspersed with tracks from the new album. In hindsight, after the untimely death of Glenn Frey in January 2016, I am very glad we were able to hear the Eagles play when their main songwriting partnership was intact.
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