Went to the Eagles’ concert last Sunday in Auckland.

 

We have been waiting for this since 1995 when they were last here. We nearly went to their concert in Oz but couldn’t get tickets.

 

The concert is supposed to be 3 hours but condensed into 2 and a quarter because of the impending storm that night. Glen Frey said that right at the beginning as people were expecting a 3-hour concert.

We sat in constant but not heavy rain so by the time it finished the lower half of our bodies were soaked. It wasn’t cold though.

 

Wow, what an amazing band. The authenticity of their music while playing live is almost 10 out of 10. There was a team of at least 10 people helping them to change guitars, mike stands, chairs, re-arranging other musical instruments and doing whatever needs to be done in between songs. Other than five of the band members, they bought along a backing band of another five. One of them played the lead guitar in the song Hotel California with a guitar with two necks. When this was played, the audience just stood up and danced and this must rank as their signature song. My son, who spent about a month touring Mexico in January bought me a T shirt from Todos Santos (at the tip of the Baja California Peninsula) because there is a hotel there called Hotel California. Not sure if that inspired the song of the same name.

 

All of them looked great, still keeping their full crop of hair, their looks, their voice, their musical instrument playing ability, their mannerism. All of them sang their signature songs, individually and in harmony.

 

Despite the rain which wet a little of the stage, everything went according to plan. No equipment malfunction, no hitches, no gear failure.

 

They seem to get on now but their journey as one of the most memorable rock bands wasn’t a leasant one. There were arguments, breakup, reformation, public row, drugs, women, you name it.

 

The four-hour documentary a couple of weeks before they came tells their stories warts and all.

 

Very interestingly (unsurprisingly), the audience is largely baby boomers, with ladies making up at least half.

 

There are two more bands in my bucket list – Fleetwood Mac and Dire Straits. The former is coming in Nov but the Dire Straits are not touring. They might change their mind as they get older?

 

PS  I used to love the English all-girl group called the Spice Girls, until I realise they are not Chinese cooks!!!