Eagles controversy- what are your thoughts?

[Nymuso]

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

Hilariously, Joe Walsh described a typical work day for the band back in 2005-ish: 'The band is in a rehearsal space and we are all waiting. Glenn hasn't arrived. Timothy is on the phone. Don is in the corner. He is mad about something, which means he is writing.' Her described the band politics thusly: 'By the time I joined the band, the members had already taken sides and the rivalries were already set. I walked into all this tension and decided I had to become neutral Switzerland.' So the whole Don Felder vs. "the Gods" thing had its roots in the mid-70s and because of it, lots of fans show up with their steely knives, so to speak. I thought it was funny to hear that after hearing himslef being referred to as an SOB, Glenn wore a T-shirt to sound check that said, "That's Mister SOB to you." And finally, there's the hilarious comment made by Don at their Hall of Fame induction: “I wanna thank Irving Azoff, without whom we wouldn’t be here today. Well, we might still be here, but we wouldn’t have made as much money. As I’ve said before, he may be Satan – but he’s our Satan." The prominent Eagles personalities long ago decided they were going to be all business. Hard, cold business. And that draws criticism. But still, you want to be fair

Bob

Shortly after the passing of Jimmy Buffett I watched a full concert of his on YouTube. Right there on stage next to him, running and jumping, having the time of his life, was Timothy B. What a great gig! What in the world prompted him to return to the Eagles when they restarted? Had to be a boatload of cash.

[fitness1]

Originally Posted by Nymuso

Shortly after the passing of Jimmy Buffett I watched a full concert of his on YouTube. Right there on stage next to him, running and jumping, having the time of his life, was Timothy B. What a great gig! What in the world prompted him to return to the Eagles when they restarted? Had to be a boatload of cash.

I think TBS was only with Buffett from 83-85 - before the gig was as big as it was of late.

You were probably watching Live By The Bay from '85...and to me that was the pinnacle of Jimmy's concert performance and those guys were certainly having a great time.

I hadn't heard about the recent controversy with the Eagles - but it certainly doesn't surprise me a bit...this kind of "activity" has been going on for a very long time, and the more money involved, the more likely they'll have the "tech" available to do it.

I quit going to "stadium" shows many moons ago (over 30 years) and only go to small and intimate venues. That way I know I'll get my money's worth!

[edcmat-l1]

Originally Posted by Nymuso

Shortly after the passing of Jimmy Buffett I watched a full concert of his on YouTube. Right there on stage next to him, running and jumping, having the time of his life, was Timothy B. What a great gig! What in the world prompted him to return to the Eagles when they restarted? Had to be a boatload of cash.

Joe Walsh credits the Eagles (Henley?) for saving his life. He said when they called him for the reunion they told him he had to get sober. He's been, ever since.

[Bob Womack]

Originally Posted by edcmat-l1

Joe Walsh credits the Eagles (Henley?) for saving his life. He said when they called him for the reunion they told him he had to get sober. He's been, ever since.

Yep. Don Felder drove him to rehab and then held his hand (figuratively) for the week between his exit from rehab and the Hell Freezes Over tapings.

Bob

[ghostnote]

I don’t believe anything I hear about the Eagles, good or bad. They are too polarizing; people already know what they think about them no matter what the situation is. And as we can see in this thread, this situation is no different. I’m just a casual Eagles listener, so I have no horse in this race. I hope it’s not true, because I think live music should actually be live. However, I also think that Don Henley is not a demonic overlord, he’s just a driven guy who’s not very nice and is hard to work with. And Don Felder is not an angelic victim. He’s a good guitar player who overestimated his own importance and paid the price. There were only two equals in that band. Joe Walsh and Tim Schmidt understood that, and as a result made millions of dollars and lots of good music while keeping their sanity.
(relatively speaking…)

[tinnitus]

Already teaching myself to play rock/blues guitar by then, I was 16 or 17 when Witchy Woman hit heavy rotation on AM radio, and deservedly so! That was strong stuff. IMHO, the next half-century propelled the Eagles along a sine wave veering sharply between brilliant and boring.

Music aside, Henley’s projected persona has always struck me as something steeped in almost prissy hubris.

I can’t speculate on the Henley/Frey feud with Don Felder (reported 2024 net worth $60 million). It’s just sad to see them part ways as DF was, and remains, a very talented and fluid guitar-slinger.

Saw yet another "last chance" kind of televised Eagles reunion tour not too long ago (with Frey’s kid at center-stage, not unlike Dhani Harrison in his dad’s tribute show). Of far greater interest to me (or so I was hoping) were the contributions of ace musicians Joe Walsh (an Eagle since 1975) and Vince Gill, a more recent hired gun. Both godlike in their own rights, or so I hoped. But no.

I suppose Joe owes his fans their (commercially successful) favorites. But I don’t care if I ever hear him regurgitate Rocky Mountain Way, Life’s Been Good or the upbeat dance-mix version of Walk Away again. 95% of his other material is far superior.

Even worse was Vince Gill’s offering prefaced by his asking “Anybody like hillbilly music?” What followed was a generic bar band I, IV, V that I could do with a handful of Craigslist players after 2 rehearsals. Vince is sooo much better than that.

Maybe I’m jaundiced, but it seemed that they were simply allowed by Herr Henley (up on his throne behind them) to trot out some monochromatically generic offerings in a feeble nod to what they can do without him. As the controlling entity, was DH afraid to let a couple of stud musicians off the leash for a few minutes and potentially upstage his safe-as-mother's-milk, cookie-cutter Eagles show? Meh.

Seeing recent claims that “the Don” relies on piped-in recorded vocals simply does not surprise me. Whatever he used to offer that was fun and impulsive seems to have turned into a precisely choreographed de facto residency, whether in Vegas or not.

[Nymuso]

Originally Posted by tinnitus

Seeing recent claims that “the Don” relies on piped-in recorded vocals simply does not surprise me. Whatever he used to offer that was fun and impulsive seems to have turned into a precisely choreographed de facto residency, whether in Vegas or not.

Saw them in 2018. If the talk of track-sweetened vocals is accurate, this was before that was being employed, and they did have that classic Eagles sound. But then, with half the guys in the backing band singing as well, how could anyone be sure? I suspect you, me and three other AGF guys singing in that environment would sound exactly like the Eagles as well.

I recall from Felder’s book he was aghast, when they got back together, at all the backing musicians, horns etc. His quote was something like, why do we need all this? We’re The Eagles! I agree.

[marciero]

I laughed out loud at Fil's observation in the video of Desperado being sung a whole step higher in 2024 than in 2015.

[Slothead56]

I’d like to assure Mr. Henley that I have been offsetting his greed and money lust for years by playing his songs for little to no personal financial benefit.

Now sue me!

[The Watchman]

Why do these shows get sold out? Because people want to see their heroes, not necessarily hear them. Sometime back in the '80s, the videos and elaborate stage shows became more important than the actual music.

[Murphy Slaw]

Originally Posted by The Watchman

Why do these shows get sold out?

Selfies.

People want to brag about it.

[TheGITM]

I only go if I can get premium seating so I can post stuff that looks cool on social media.

How did I ever enjoy concerts before I could post stuff on the internet???

[edcmat-l1]

There are plenty of great musicians who are jerks. I typically don't go to shows based on public opinion of someone's personality. Both Henley and Frey were notoriously difficult to work with. You can't deny the history making career they had.

[fitness1]

Originally Posted by The Watchman

Sometime back in the '80s, the videos and elaborate stage shows became more important than the actual music.

Video Killed the Radio Star.

It's even evident at the amateur level - videos posted in Show and Tell here get 10 times more attention than audio only tunes.

[Rolph]

The first band I saw that deployed fraud at a concert was ZZ Top, in Tempe, Arizona, circa 1973. They brought a small zoo of Texas animals to join them on stage, and there was a mistake where the background rhythm to "Give Me All your Loving" started playing and the band wasn't! We couldn't believe this. The rest of the show was better, thanks to some unusual green leafy substance a girl gave me that I had been unfamiliar with up till then.