For greater than 50 years, the Eagles have been portray vivid footage with their music, from the darkish desert freeway of “Resort California” to the billion stars throughout of “Peaceable Simple Feeling” to the chilly, chilly metropolis of “Life within the Quick Lane.” On Friday evening (Sept. 20), these photographs got here to intense life at Las Vegas’ Sphere, the place the know-how of 2024 lastly caught as much as the band’s enduring artistry and created a technicolor show worthy of their basic, illustrative songs from the Nineteen Seventies and past.
The California country-rock group – shaped by Don Henley and the late Glenn Frey in 1971 – might have by no means imagined this future for itself as a result of this sort of game-changing venue merely didn’t exist of their heyday. The primary evening of the Eagles’ five-month Sphere residency proved there’s one thing notably enchanting about pairing songs which have this deep of a historical past with a brand-new medium to expertise them. Lots of the followers within the constructing for opening evening might need checked out a cease of The Lengthy Goodbye Tour over the previous year-plus, however regardless that the setlist wasn’t too far off (with some notable swaps – extra on that under), this present was worlds other than any Eagles live performance earlier than it. The group nonetheless boasts the pristine harmonies, tight guitar licks, and general ardour that belies their veteran standing; it’s simply that now you may also take a literal journey right into a spooky forest for the otherworldly “Witchy Girl,” so it’s not simply the unnerving manufacturing setting the macabre temper.
The band – made up of Henley, Joe Walsh, Timothy B. Schmit, Vince Gill and Glenn’s son Deacon Frey, in addition to a crew of longtime touring musicians – was by no means overpowered by the Sphere’s floor-to-ceiling visuals as a result of the 20-song set made up completely of hits all the time held its personal in opposition to the immersive spectacle. Seeing the Eagles catalog backed by this dazzling show solely enhanced simply how timeless and impactful these songs are.
Beneath, discover Billboard’s greatest moments from Eagles’ opening evening at Sphere.