Which shows feature in the 1980 concert album ‘Eagles Live’?
The Eagles had a good long run in the 1970s at the summit of country rock, the new music genre they’d helped bring into being, but in the longer run, there was no future for a band in which Glenn Frey and Don Felder had to share a stage. And so, in the summer of 1980, Frey, Felder, Don Henley, Joe Walsh and Timothy B Schmit decided to part ways.
Not before a showdown between the two most adversarial members of the group during a gig in Long Beach on July 31st, however. And, as far as their label Asylum Records was concerned, not before they’d fulfilled their contractual agreement to release one more full-length LP. The problem was the Eagles had nothing left to give. Original material was already drying up by the time they came to make The Long Run in 1978.
The band had no other option than to release a live album. But rather than simply put out the recording of a single show from start to finish, the group decided to do something different. They collated the best of their live performances from 1976, when they reached the peak of their creative powers with Hotel California, and 1980. One song from their final, fractious performance even made it onto the record.
It was like a compilation album of sorts, except all of the compiled recordings were performed in front of bumper crowds. And it appeared to be a fitting farewell gift for the Eagles faithful to remember them by, as well as the ideal complement to the compilation Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975) from the first half of the group’s time together.
But which shows are on the album?
All in all, six different sets feature on Eagles Live across a double album spanning 77 minutes and 17 songs. Roughly what a fan could expect to get on any given night at one of their mammoth stadium shows in the second half of the ‘70s. Most of their best-loved songs and all of their biggest hits make an appearance. But so does their acapella cover of Steve Young’s seminal country rock single ‘Seven Bridges Road’, and the Joe Walsh solo hits ‘Life’s Been Good’ and ‘All Night Long’.
With limited high-quality gig recordings to choose from, the Eagles and their producer, Bill Szymczyk, had their work cut out, getting the tracklist right. Their selection ultimately included song performances from seven nights of live shows, three in October 1976 and four in July 1980.
Four of the songs were recorded between October 21st and 23rd, 1976, at the 17,000-capacity Forum in Inglewood, on the outskirts of the band’s native Los Angeles. These four songs ironically included the first single from the Hotel California album, ‘New Kid in Town’, a song inspired by NHL hockey star Gene Carr, who plied his trade for the Los Angeles Kings at the Forum. ‘Take It to the Limit’ from One of These Nights also features previous bassist Randy Meisner on lead vocals.
12 of the other 13 tracks are from three successive nights at Santa Monica Civic Auditorium between July 28th and 30th, 1980, including the iconic opener ‘Hotel California’ and early Eagles songs ‘Saturday Night’ and ‘Take It Easy’. The odd one out is Walsh’s ‘All Night Long’, which was recorded at that fateful final concert at the Long Beach Arena in front of 15,000 people.
To non-Eagles fans, the album might seem like a mixed bag. And to those who followed the band from their earliest beginnings, the inclusion of Walsh’s solo stuff was something of an insult. But the rare live renditions of ‘Doolin-Dalton’ and ‘Wasted Time’ go some way to making up for these sacrilegious missteps.
Overall, the record’s 17 live tracks bookend a period in which the Eagles rightly saw themselves as the biggest draw in rock music. They might not have sounded the same in 1980 as they did in 1976, but that’s a fair reflection of what superstardom did to their act.
