Eagles

We stumbled into these tickets, which was a fantastic treat. I had seen them once before, and I realized both shows generated similar thoughts:

Corporate Rock. Bland. Clichéd. Too popular to possibly be good (or, in other words, sell-outs).

There are many words people have used to disparage the Eagles. But considering that Don Henley and the late Glenn Frey almost went out of their way to ensure that you knew that they were the biggest dipshits in rock music If you have seen the documentary they backed - and approved - you have to admire their absolute lack of concern about looking like arrogant entitled jackasses spouting facile, teenage-level insults about them is weak sauce. There are plenty of nasty (but true) things you can say about the Eagles without even getting to their music.

And I would argue that those music based insults are objectively false. You can choose not to like them; that is your prerogative. But you cannot dismiss their songwriting, their harmonies, These septuagenarians still sing like freaking angels. Well, except for Joe Walsh, but that’s not why he’s there. And even then, his harmonies are pretty damn good or their musicianship. And arguing that their massive success implies that they are least common denominator and therefore low quality is also lazy thinking (and kind of a Yogi Berra-ism: “It can’t be good - everybody likes it”).

The simple fact of the matter is that this show was essentially non-stop mega songs that have all permeated popular culture. Most bands, if they are lucky, have one or two of these kinds of songs in their repertoire. The Eagles filled three whole hours wall-to-wall with them. It is an extraordinary accomplishment to be able to do that. And at least for me, that can transcend Hell, Don Henley gets a pass just for writing The Last Resort the fact that they are, unquestionably, dicks.

And, after all that, it was simply a hell of a concert. As long as you can get over yourself and enjoy the Eagles.