The Eagles fly high at Glendale Arena

By CHRIS HANSEN ORF
Get Out
Oct. 18, 2005

The Eagles have sold 28 million copies of their “Greatest Hits" album, and a near-sellout crowd at Glendale Arena was more than ready to hear some of those hits, giving the band a standing ovation as the house lights went down Monday night.

“I've never seen a band get a standing ovation when the lights popped off,” said Kevin Denick, 45, of Scottsdale. “I had tears in my eyes for the first three songs.”

Perhaps sensing the anticipation of the audience, the Eagles started the show with a rush of their best-known hits, opening the set with “Take it Easy,” during which singer Glenn Frey substituted the famous “standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona” line with “Phoenix, Arizona,” much to the delight of the audience, and followed up with the hits “Witchy Woman” and “Peaceful Easy Feeling.”

The band, dressed casually in jeans and suit jackets, was loose and energetic, consummate professionals after 30 years of performing together.

The group kept the hits coming with “New Kid in Town,” “Lyin' Eyes” — a tune that Frey dedicated to his first ex-wife — and “Long Run” before taking a 20-minute break and returning to play acoustically on “Tequila Sunrise” before slowing things down with some newer number like “Love Will Keep Us Alive” and “Hole in the World.” They kicked the tempo back up with the classics “Heartache Tonight” and “Life in the Fast Lane.”

The first encore brought the tune that seemingly everybody was waiting to hear, the signature tune “Hotel California,” and the band added a solo hit from Joe Walsh (“Rocky Mountain Way”) and a Don Henley solo staple (“All She Wants to do is Dance”) before ending the night with “Desperado.” The band is on a seemingly continuous “farewell” tour that will bring them back to Glendale on Nov. 11, so if you missed this “farewell” performance, they'll be back in three weeks to do it again.

“They played everything I wanted to hear,” said Lisa Marquez, 43, an “Eagles Greatest Hits” CD owner from Surprise. “I loved how they mixed in the solo stuff too. It was a great show.”

EAGLES SET LIST
"Take it Easy"
"Witchy Woman"
"Peaceful Easy Feeling"
"One of These Nights"
"New Kid in Town"
"I Can't Tell You Why"
"Lyin' Eyes"
"The Boys of Summer"
"In the City"
"Long Run"
(Intermission)
"Tequila Sunrise"
"Love Will Keep Us Alive"
"No More Cloudy Days"
"Hole in the World"
"Take It to the Limit"
"Walk Away"
"Sunset Grill"
"Life's Been Good"
"Dirty Laundry"
"Funk 49"
"Heartache Tonight"
"Life in the Fast Lane"
"Hotel California" (encore)
"Rocky Mountain Way" (second encore)
"All She Wants to do is Dance" (second encore) "Already Gone" (third encore) "Desperado" (third encore)