Eagles bring history, hits to Verizon Arena

History of the Eagles, they called it. Glenn Frey and Don Henley came across like college professors for a time at Verizon Arena Monday night, teaching and explaining. But count Joe Walsh as the rebellious student who pouted a bit until the show got to the part he liked. And that was also the part that the 15,525 fans were apparently there to see, according to the frequent roars of approval.

Things were sort of chronological for a while (except "Take It Easy" was saved for the encore, which anyone could have predicted.) There were fun stories about how the band came together, and there were surprises: Frey and Henley welcomed one of their original members, Bernie Leadon, who'd been out of the Eagles' nest since 1975 — back and contributing greatly to the first half of the show before leaving until returning for the encore. And also strolling out was Timothy B. Schmit to play bass and sing.

Happily there was no opening act, and even with a 20-minute intermission, the show pushed the three-hour mark. And no, Don Felder was not part of the show. Instead, original Eagles Frey, Henley, Leadon and long-time bassist Schmit supplemented their sound with five additional musicians, the most prominent of whom, Steuart Smith, capably took on the guitar parts formerly handled by Felder. Smith (an Eagle since 2001) and Walsh proceeded to entertain themselves and fans with a lot of old-style guitar duels.

Guitar fans were amply rewarded, in fact, with guitars galore all night. At times, like a chorus line, guitarists Henley, Frey, Leadon, Walsh and Smith, plus bassist Schmidt were wailing away in front while the hired hands played all the other stuff, including piano, organ, drums, percussion things and the like.

Songs included almost everything an Eagles fan could hope to hear, from "Peaceful Easy Feeling" to "Lyin' Eyes," "Tequila Sunrise," "Already Gone," "Best of My Love," "One of These Nights," "Take It to the Limit," "I Can't Tell You Why" and on and on. Walsh fans were doubly blessed with some of his non-Eagles music, from his days in the James Gang ("Funk #49") to his solo hits ("Rocky Mountain High," "Life's Been Good" and "In the City").

As the show roared towards its end, "Life in the Fast Lane" led into "Hotel California," "Take It Easy," and then a quiet, lovely "Desperado" sung by Henley signaled the band was finally ready to exit the building, leaving behind a gratified throng of fans.

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