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thethirdencore · 6 years

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Eagles and Jimmy Buffett in Minneapolis, June 30, 2018

Here's my complete review of the Eagles concert at Target Field in Minneapolis, MN.

Now that I've gotten my thoughts together about Saturday's Eagles concert in Minneapolis, it's time to post about it!

First off, I want to mention that the venue of Target Field was... hectic, to say the least. There was seemingly one entrance to the whole stadium where everyone had to file through and go through bag checks and metal detectors. Apparently there were over 42,000 people at the show, so you can imagine the pace of just getting through the line to go in!

It was incredibly hot, surprisingly, for a Minnesotan summer day. Jimmy Buffett even called it "tropical." It would have been considered uncomfortable and almost unbearable if the anticipation of seeing the Eagles play hadn't set in. But, Jimmy Buffett came first as an opening act, and thankfully arrived promptly to the stage right at 7.

I'm no "Parrothead," but I found Jimmy and his Coral Reefer Band's set to be enjoyable. He played all of his recognizable hits, like "Cheeseburger in Paradise," "Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes," "Come Monday," and "Margaritaville." He also played "Knee Deep" and "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere," songs that were originally recorded with Zac Brown and Alan Jackson, respectively. I was also impressed with his cover of Crosby Stills and Nash's "Southern Cross," a crowd-pleaser that brought everyone together to sing along to the chorus, as well as Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl." He also included the live rarity "Gypsies in the Palace," which he attributed beforehand as a co-write with his late friend and former neighbor, Glenn Frey.

Walking around the stadium and seeing the droves of fans, I found it striking that so many of them had on Margaritaville t-shirts and parrot hats. One guy seated in my section was swinging his hips to "Fins" wearing a belly-baring tube top, a skirt, and a hat piled high with an assortment of fruits. He looked like the mascot for Chiquita bananas!

After reading the review of the show in the Pioneer Press, I was surprised that the reviewer called Jimmy's music "terrible." Are his lyrics filled with deep meaning? For the most part, no. But his music is something enjoyable that you can get up and sing along to. It's also the first show I've seen where the crowd bops beach balls back and forth throughout the whole stadium. Something about that was oddly appealing to me, even though I got hit in the face with an errant ball not just once, but twice. 😂 His set just gave off a chill, easygoing vibe that I think set up the Eagles show pretty well. And I'm sure Jimmy doesn't care one bit that the Pioneer Press called his music terrible... I'm sure he's laughing all the way to the bank, considering he's got a successful Broadway musical to his name, as well as Margaritaville retirement communities and his own Land Shark Lager beer.

FUN FACT: According to the Wikipedia article on "Parrotheads," Timothy B. Schmit was the one to coin the term during his tenure with the Coral Reefer Band.

Now, onto the Eagles set. They opened the show promptly at 9 PM with "Seven Bridges Road," which I thought was a great song for an opener; it was a song that I thought should have been in the set list for the History of the Eagles tour. The three remaining Eagles' voices meshed with new voices Vince Gill and Deacon Frey perfectly, and it shows that they've really been working at perfecting the harmonies in this new phase of the band. The second song was "Take It Easy," which introduced Deacon Frey on lead vocals. Later when Don introduced Deacon to the crowd, he said, "We are particularly delighted, our hearts are full, and we are grateful to have Glenn's son Deacon up here with us." The crowd erupted into applause as Deacon emerged into the spotlight to soak it all in for a few seconds, wearing a Minnesota Twins jersey with "Frey" emblazoned on the back. As the applause died down, Deacon thanked the crowd and went on to say that he had spent some time in Minnesota before, saying, "My dad used to take me fishing in Brainerd." Some can recall that Glenn played a concert with Deacon in Brainerd in 2008 at the Manhattan Beach Lodge. It was probably one of the first, if not the first time that Deacon took the stage with his dad publicly. Fast forward ten years, and that young man's playing in front of 42,000 people at Target Field! I'm sure Glenn would be so proud of how cool, calm, and collected Deacon is onstage! He delivered solid performances on "Already Gone" and "Peaceful Easy Feeling," and I honestly believe that he's perfectly capable of handling more of Glenn's songs in concert.

The third song was "One of These Nights," and I was honestly in awe that Don Henley could still hit those high notes almost spot-on, after all these years! Next up was "Take It To The Limit," which introduced Vince Gill on lead vocals, and, in my opinion, it was perfection. He seemed to hit all the high notes just right, and I would venture to say that it's the best I've seen the song performed since Randy Meisner sang lead vocals on it in the 70s.

Can we just talk about how great Vince Gill is for a second? Not only does the guy have the voice of an angel (seriously, look up his solo work if you aren't familiar with it), but he can keep up and hold his own playing guitar licks, too! I'm thrilled that he's playing with the Eagles now, because I've been a fan of his for a long time. His backing vocals add something special to the mix, too, especially on songs like "I Can't Tell You Why," where he's singing harmony to Timothy's lead vocals. Vince recorded his own version of "I Can't Tell You Why" for the Common Thread album of Eagles covers, and that's a great listen, too!

Some reviewers have said that Timothy's voice sounds "rougher" than it used to, but in my opinion, it still sounds really good. As I said before, Vince and Timothy's voices compliment each other well, and Timothy gave great performances of "I Can't Tell You Why" and "Love Will Keep Us Alive."

I was pleasantly surprised to hear a track from Long Road Out of Eden played at this show, with Deacon and Don trading lead vocal duties on "How Long." I actually captured a video of the full song, so I'll post that soon. It also shocked me that Don didn't sing as many songs as he used to during this tour, but instead chose to stay in the background, playing drums. I suppose this is all by design, to get the audience acquainted to the new faces in the band, but I still missed hearing him sing songs like "The Long Run" and "Victim of Love." Still, his live renditions of "Witchy Woman," "Life in the Fast Lane," and "Those Shoes" can't be beat!

Another welcomed surprise was the addition of a Vince Gill solo song to the mix, "Don't Let Our Love Start Slippin' Away." Vince traded a few guitar licks with Joe Walsh and Steuart Smith, and the audience ate it up. I heard a guy in the stands behind me yell, "Atta boy, Vince!" Atta boy, indeed.

Speaking of guitar riffs, I should mention that this latest incarnation of the band has not just one or two, but THREE skilled guitar players between Joe, Vince, and Steuart. I have no other words to describe Joe's playing on Saturday except that he kicked ass! In my opinion, he's got to be one of the greatest guitar players of all time, and it still shows to this day when he just blows everyone away with his guitar licks. From "Funk #49" to "Rocky Mountain Way," Joe had the audience up and energized!

Just to mention a few random tidbits:

•Don began the show by saying, "We are gonna play about two and a half hours of music for you... because we can!" 👏 👏 👏 I was so relieved to hear that the Eagles are still a band that plays 25 awesome songs every night!

•The horn section is back in action! They played a big part in the performance of "Funk #49" and the instrumental horn introduction to "Hotel California."

•Since I mentioned "Hotel California," I'll mention that NOTHING beats the sound of 42,000 people singing right along with Don, and the rhythm of that fantastic guitar duel between Joe and Steuart... absolutely nothing!

•The screen graphics for this tour are pretty cool. Songs that had graphics that stood out to me were "Witchy Woman" and "Hotel California." Both gave off a creepy-in-a-good-way vibe, with "Witchy Woman" panning past scraggly-looking trees and barbed wire fences in a night lit by a full moon, and "Hotel California" passing through the empty, tiled corridors of the mysterious hotel. My description doesn't do it justice... just go see a show to see it in person!

•A photo of Glenn was projected on the screen at the end of "Peaceful Easy Feeling," and I came close to crying. Not out of sadness, totally, but for the fact that Deacon was up on stage, doing such a great job of keeping his dad's legacy alive.

•The main difference I noticed between this show and the one I had seen when Glenn was alive was how much I missed Glenn's jokes. Now the joking is almost solely Joe's thing, and I miss hearing, "This was written for my first wife, Plaintiff," before "Lyin' Eyes," among other things.

•I also miss Glenn's band intros. We all know that Glenn was an illustrious master of ceremonies at Eagles shows, and he always took the time to introduce each and every member of the band, along with where they were from.

All things considered, the Eagles still know how to put on a good show, even without Glenn. Moving forward with Deacon and Vince singing Glenn's songs is keeping his legacy alive for future generations of Eagles fans. And while things will never be quite the same without Glenn, I'm sure glad that these guys chose to continue playing together, "because (they) can," and I can't wait to attend another show!

#jimmy buffett #margaritaville #eagles band #don henley #deacon frey #joe walsh #timothy b schmit #vince gill #minneapolis #target field #concert review

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