Eagles - Farewell Tour I - Live From Melbourne

Year of Release: 2005
Label: Rhino
Catalog Number: 970423
Format: DVD
Total Time: 00:00:00

I enjoyed watching this DVD set immensely. The Eagles are one of my favorite bands and they always have been. Even when I was listening to Black Sabbath, Kiss, and Queen, I was spinning the Hotel California album on regular basis [me, too. -ed.]. I thought it was an unfair advantage for them to land Joe Walsh, but it was oh so sweet. I loved Walsh in the James Gang and really got into a groove listening to his solo albums The Smoker You Drink The Player You Get and So What.

Since that time, the Eagles broke up, got back together, and broke up again, going back and forth with it for years it seems. Don Henley had immense success as a solo artist; he was the only one that reached a high level of respectability and sold a ton of records. I guess the rest of members found out they needed the Eagles more than they thought. It seems evident to me that is what took place. Whether that is part of the story or not does not really matter, what counts is that they now get together on a regular basis and tour to thrill all of their long time fans and their children. Think about that statement-their fans and their children. That covers a lot of ground and there are not many bands that maintain that kind of far reaching influence over the course of a recording career, the Eagles do it in style.

One of the things I noticed about this performance was the lead guitar playing and how it was lacking on many of the songs. Its obvious former lead guitar man Don Felder is the missing link here. Joe Walsh does a decent job and he played admirably on previous recordings; however, on stage he is subdued and unable to fill in the gap of Felder's absence. Steuart Smith, while impressive, is not the fit for all of these great songs. Not to take anything away from Steuart, he is a very good guitarist, just not good enough to get these songs across as they were originally intended. Everyone's voices were excellent, particularly on the four-part harmony in "Hole In The World." The four remaining members, Glenn Frey, Joe Walsh, Don Henley, and Timothy B. Schmit still have what it takes to put on a great show, the chemistry is there to make magic happen.

Regardless of these observations about the obvious inadequacies that these old rockers have to deal with now, they still put on one hell of show and have added some tasteful horns for that Herb Alpert effect in a few of the more desert across-the-border type tunes like "One Of These Nights" and "Desperado." I really enjoyed the addition of the solo tunes, as Henley says in an interview ... they are all Eagles songs anyway and it gives the fans a full 3-hour show to enjoy.

Thirty tracks is a lot of music and the addition of bonus material makes this one package hard for anyone to pass up. Anything that is artistic has room for criticizing because each individual has their own tastes and opinions. I said what I felt about this performance, but I have to admit that there was not one song, except the new ones, that I did not know the words to or was not tapping my feet to. Things will never be the same with this band, many things have changed since the 70s, but I cannot complain too much, this is all great music and I loved hearing it and watching them perform it. It certainly does give you a peaceful easy feeling.

Tracklisting:
Disc One: The Long Run / New Kid In Town / Wasted Time / Peaceful Easy Feeling / I Can't Tell You Why / One Of These Nights / One Day At A Time / Lyin' Eyes / The Boys Of Summer / In The City / Already Gone / Silent Spring (Instrumental Intro)* / Tequila Sunrise / Love Will Keep Us Alive / No More Cloudy Days * / Hole In The World / Take It To The Limit / You Belong To The City / Walk Away / Sunset Grill

Disc Two: Life's Been Good / Dirty Laundry / Funk #49 / Heartache Tonight / Life In The Fast Lane / Hotel California / Rocky Mountain Way / All She Wants To Do Is Dance / Take It Easy / Desperado

Bonus Features including: Behind-the-Scenes Footage / New Interviews / A Glimpse Backstage / Sound Check? and much more

* New songs

Musicians:
Glenn Frey - guitar, keyboards, vocals
Don Henley - guitar, percussion, drums, vocals
Timothy B. Schmit - bass, vocals
Joe Walsh - organ, guitar, vocals, slide guitar

With:

Bill Armstrong - horn
Scott Crago - drums, percussion
Al Garth - horn
Willie Hollis - keyboards, vocals
Christian Mosert - horn
Greg 'Frosty' Smith - horn
Steuart Smith - guitar, vocals
Michael Thompson - accordion, keyboards, vocals

Discography:
Eagles (1972)
Desperado (1973)
On The Border (1974)
One Of These Nights (1975)
Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975) (1976)
Hotel California (1976)
The Long Run (1980)
Eagles Live (1980)
The Eagles Greatest Hits (1982)
The Very Best Of The Eagles (1994)
Hell Freezes Over (1994)
Selected Works: 1972-1999 (2000)
The Very Best Of The Eagles (2001/2003*)
*w/bonus DVD

Hell Freezes Over (DVD) (1994/2000)
'Hole In The World' (DVD single) (2003)
Farewell Tour I - Live From Melbourne (DVD) (2005)

Genre: Rock

Origin US

Added: July 4th 2005
Reviewer: Keith "Muzikman" Hannaleck
Score:
Artist website: www.eaglesband.com
Hits: 2887
Language: english