Hotel California Tour Delivers: Eagles in the Garden.

The neon blue sign announces Hotel California. A man takes the stage at Madison Square Garden in New York and shows off the cover of one of the most iconic records in rock history. He puts the vinyl record on to play. The silver curtain rises and reveals the band who then performs the title track of the album released in 1976: Hotel California.

The Eagles gifted their fans last night (Feb.15) opening the show with the song that became the group’s signature. And the actor holding the vinyl was only giving a glimpse of what was coming for the next nearly three hours of show – the live performance of the album Hotel California in its entirety on this tour for the first time since its release along with all of the group’s hit songs from other albums.

An orchestra supported the performance of the multiple Grammy Award winning repertoire. Featuring violins, trumpets, and a sharp choir, sixty-eight musicians joined the band members to play the instrumental part of ballads like Wasted Time and other hits. The group performs at least two shows in each city where they pass, always with the presence of a local orchestra.

To the delight of Glenn Frey fans, one of the founders of the Eagles, Deacon Frey, son of the musician who passed away in 2016, is on tour, in the same place where his father was before him. Like Glenn Frey, Deacon Frey is a vocalist and guitarist. There is even a strong physical resemblance between father and son. After Glenn Frey’s death, the band announced its end but reunited after a year with the new formation that Deacon Frey is part of today.

Amongst the departure and arrival of several musicians since their original formation in 1971, the Hotel California tour has one of the band’s founders – drummer and vocalist Don Henley. In addition, two long-standing band members are part of this tour: guitarist and vocalist Joe Walsh, who joined the band in 1975, replacing founding member Bernie Leadon and bassist and vocalist Timothy B. Schmit, also part of the group’s last formation before a hiatus of fourteen years.

Country singer and songwriter Vince Gill is on tour with the group. Gill’s strength goes into the execution of songs like Take it To The Limit, from 1975, when the Eagles had strong references of country style, blues, and folk-rock.

In addition to the entirety of the group’s most successful album, other songs that topped the charts, including Desperado, Witchy Woman, and The Best of My Love, were included on Saturday’s set-list. The group will make the last presentation of the Hotel California tour in New York on February 18th. 

The band’s classics, along with the visual projections of the California deserts, sunset and dusks, Old West and American highways, transport the audience to the nostalgia of the 70s, leaving no doubt as to why the group has sold more than 150 million albums worldwide.
By Lorena Campos /Thenews2