Eagles Final Tour Makes “Maybe” Final Stop in Detroit at Little Caesar’s Arena

The Eagles - Detroit 2023 A little over fifty-eight years ago, The Beatles set a record playing to 55,000 screaming fans at Shea Stadium in what would become rock’s first stadium concert. At that show the Beatles played for only 37 minutes and the fans screamed so loud that the band couldn’t be heard through the sound systems of that time. This limitation in sound technology led to major innovations in the industry and a few years later, arena rock was born and changed live music forever.

Why am I talking about this? Because The Eagles are presently touring their Long Goodbye Tour after 52 years as a band, the majority of those years as an arena and stadium act. We’re in a time where the big arena rock acts from the 70’s who managed to survive are winding down and announcing farewell tours. Ozzy did it a couple of times and so did Motley Crue, so we take it with a touch of skepticism, but there’s no denying the clock is running out.

The Eagles, despite a 14-year breakup in the 80’s and 90’s, and Glenn Frey’s death in 2016, have managed to last 52 years together. The remaining core members of Don Henley, Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmit, plus a cast of touring members are in the early stages of The Long Goodbye Tour that is scheduled to run into at least 2025. Don Henley hinted to the crowd in Detroit that they might be back. “It just depends how this old Skeleton holds up” he said.

Beginning the show lined up at the front of the stage, Vince Gill, Timothy B.Schmit, Don Henley, Deacon Frey, Joe Walsh and guitarist Steuart Smith performed Seven Bridges Road under the backdrop of a star lit night before launching into a greatest hit filled 2 hour show that showcased not just The Eagles, but also the solo work of Henley and Walsh.

Since the death of Glenn Frey, country star Vince Gill and Frey’s son Deacon have filled the huge void he left. Vocally, Gill and Frey take turns on the songs that Glenn sang and do an admirable job. There’s no replacing Glenn, but Vince’s sweet and soulful tenor fits in nicely and does the music justice. I can’t think of a better choice really.

For the song Peaceful Easy Feeling, Deacon Frey took the lead while photos of his late father graced the large LED screen behind him. The crowd gave a standing ovation at the end to which Deacon expressed his gratitude for their love of the native Michigander.

A couple songs later it was the master of the Stratocaster, Joe Walsh time, starting with his biggest contribution to the Eagles songbook, In the City. The crowd went absolutely bonkers for Joe every time he spoke, played a guitar solo or sang one of his songs. He clearly is a fan favorite and had the crowd standing much of the night. During one of his between song banters he stated that he doesn’t remember much of the 70’s but he had more fun being 20 in the 70’s than he’s having being 70 in the 20’s.

Don Henley introduced his song “The Boys of Summer” by dedicating it to the great Jimmy Buffet who recently passed away. There were several more Joe Walsh songs in the show with Life’s Been Good, Funk #49 and Rocky Mountain Way. It was good to get the crowd worked up a little between the soulful harmonies of the more laid-back hits in the repertoire.

Previous shows ended with a three-song encore that included Rocky Mountain Way, Desperado and ended with Hotel California. In a move that I think was smart, they switched it up this night and moved Life in the Fast Lane into the encore to end the show, leaving everyone on more of a high.

Steve Miller Band

Opening the evening was Stevie “Guitar” Miller who was a last-minute replacement for Steely Dan who had to pull out for the first few shows due to an illness to Donald Fagen.

At 80 years of age, Steve Miller doesn’t seem anywhere near that old. He doesn’t move like Jagger, but I don’t think he ever did. He sounds great and he seems to really be enjoying himself on stage. His 15-song set was all hits and what the people came to hear. Like The Eagles, his music was written decades ago but it still sounds as good today as it did then. There is a whole generation out there listening to their parent’s records and proving that you can’t kill rock n’ roll.

All photos by Dan Boshart

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