The Eagles come to South Florida

The Eagles came to south Florida last Monday evening, the 26th of January, for what Glenn Frey joked was "The Eagles Assisted Living Tour." On their rocking chairs these guys are not.

I was there not because I love the Eagles (which I do), one of the all time great classic folk Rock bands, but because of the strength of their 20 track new release, Long Road Out of Eden. I've got a lot of old bands I love, but my rule is: you gotta have a great new release to make the show worthwhile. Call it my secret fountain of youth.

So after hearing the new album (and watching some footage from Hell Freezes Over, their last tour) I knew they were going to be in top form -- and they were. It was the full lineup - Henley, Frey, Felder, Schmitt and Joe Walsh - plus a whole rhythm section on horns, some of which is below.

One of my favorite tunes from LROE is How Long - a beautiful up tempo rocker reminiscent of Already Gone from On The Border. It's a real Eagles classic with strong solo vocals from both Henley and Frey, beautiful harmonies and a nice guitar solo: the complete package.

There was no back up band and the show was listed as starting at 8:00 PM. It was about 8:20 when the lights went down and the stage darkened. The audience screamed in anticipation, as the silhouettes one by one strode on stage. About 30 seconds of tortured anticipatory silence followed, still dark, until dead on queue -- the stage lit up in blue splendor as each bolted out of darkness, all dead on queue from note one, and into How Long: (super short clip, but the camera nazis were everywhere for the first 30 minutes)



Another great one from LROE is the caustic Henley ballad Too Busy Being Fabulous (man, these guys have had their share of rough west coast chicks!). I think we've all known the type ... and they wasted no time launching into the 3rd song from LROE with the 2nd song of the night (a tad longer, but still a tiny morsel):



They went into Hotel California with only the 3rd song of the evening, a bit surprising, but no disappointment to me. I loved the way they shifted through time throughout the whole evening. You never knew which decade was coming up next.



And on and on they went for hours. In The City was a particularly strong rocker/Joe Walsh performance on a gorgeous electric. This grainy video where auto focus seems to have gone haywire doesn't really come close to approaching justice of course, but you can barely make out Joe in action on the big screen, and the audio gives you a hint:



The only disappointment was what they didn't do, most notably, from LROE, the 2nd Joe Walsh tune Last Good Time in Town, and the Glenn Frey What Would I do with my Heart, and from the "reaching back" department, Tequila Sunrise would have been a real treat. Nevertheless, they ended the night with Desperado (alas, my disc had long since been full), and from the first to last notes ... it was one to remember ...

Thanks Zo - We'll Miss You!

A class act says goodbye ...

1-20-2009

Amen!

"America ... is getting ready to leave the ground "

'On this spot where we're standing, 46 years ago, Dr King had a dream. On Tuesday, that dream comes to pass.' U2 performed 'Pride' and 'City of Blinding LIghts' to an audience of 400,000 in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington tonight.


Bruce Springsteen, Beyonce, John Legend and James Taylor were among a catalogue of household names performing at the 'We Are One' inaugural concert for President-elect Obama. Towards the end, Samuel L Jackson took the stage in the shadow of the giant statue of Abraham Lincoln and recalled Rosa Parks, the civil rights movement, Martin Luther King and how 'a band from Ireland was moved by Dr King's message and his sacrifice and wrote a song to remember and honour him...'

"Let freedom ring," announced Bono as U2 arrived on stage and struck up the opening bars of Pride (In The Name of Love). “This is not just an American dream,' he said. "Also an Irish dream, a European dream, an African dream … an Israeli dream ... and also a Palestinian dream."

'Let freedom ring, let freedom ring....' he continued, as Edge played the opening chords to City of Blinding Lights. "What a thrill for four Irish boys from the north side of Dublin to honour you sir, the next president of the United States, Barack Obama...'

And it looked beautiful again tonight, in this city of blinding lights where as the song went tonight. 'America is getting ready to leave the ground....'

We Are One

The Barack Obama Presidency is already like no other. Tune in to HBO, or your NPR radio station, to see the We Are One concert live at 2:30 PM EST. A host of stars, including U2, will play. After the concert, the President Elect himself will address the crowd. The event will be rebroadcast free on HBO at 7:30 and 11:30 PM EST.

Bono: Guest Columnist in Sunday New York Times

"Fully inhabiting the moment during that tiny dot of time after you’ve pressed “record” is what makes it eternal."

Whether writing in the NYT or penning the lyric, Bono has the flair. Check out his guest column on Sinatra in the Sunday, 1-11-2009 New York Times ...

On the Cover of Rolling Stone ...

Unbelievable -- not that U2 is "on the cover of Rolling Stone" ... of course. The boys are a sure bet with each new release. I refer instead to the fact that The Edge is hanging out with Jack White (oh, yeah, Jimmy Page was there too). Jack White is the White in White Stripes, his breakout band that features a total lineup of himself, and sister Meg who bangs out drums for him.

Teaming up with buddy Brandon Benson, Jack went on to form The Raconteurs. Their debut release Broken Boy Soldiers, was the most amazing new disc I've heard in about a decade. Having already fallen in love with Jack's back to basics "balls out" guitar that so defines the essence of Rock 'N' Roll, BBS was so chock full of hooks and killer licks it screamed for radio airtime, and Steady As She Goes did get airtime and even video. I'm still scouring TM for tix to a So FL show.

So the idea of Edge palling around with Jack ... too much. In any case, here's some of the best stuff on the new one yet ... off to pick up the new RS tomorrow :-)

---

"U2 Break Down 'No Line on the Horizon"
In early December, Rolling Stone traveled to London to visit U2 in the studio as Bono and Co. worked on the upcoming No Line on the Horizon. The journey was as spellbinding and energizing as you might imagine, and you'll be able to read all about it when our new issue hits newsstands on Wednesday, January 7th. To tide you over, here's a track-by-track preview of 10 choice songs (and you can dig deeper into all our U2 coverage in our archive):

"Get On Your Boots"
The likely first single, this blazing, fuzzed-out rocker picks up where "Vertigo" left off. "It started just with me playing and Larry drumming," the Edge recalls. "And we took it from there."

"Stand Up Comedy"
Another hard rock tune, powered by an unexpectedly slinky groove and a riff that lands between the Beatles' "Come Together" and Led Zep's "Heartbreaker." Edge recently hung out with Jimmy Page and Jack White for the upcoming documentary It Might Get Loud, and their penchant for blues-based rock rubbed off: "I was just fascinated with seeing how Jimmy played those riffs so simply, and with Jack as well," he says.

"Crazy Tonight"
"It's kind of like this album's 'Beautiful Day' — it has that kind of joy to it," Bono says. With the refrain "I know I'll go crazy/If I don't go crazy tonight," it's the band's most unabashed pop tune since "Sweetest Thing."

"Unknown Caller"
This midtempo track could have fit on All That You Can't Leave Behind. "The idea is that the narrator is in an altered state, and his phone starts talking to him," says the Edge.

"Tripoli"
This strikingly experimental song lurches between disparate styles, including near-operatic choral music, Zooropa-style electronics, and churning arena rock.

"Cedars of Lebanon"
"On this album, you can feel what is going on in the world at the window, scratching at the windowpane," says Bono, who sings this atmospheric ballad from the point of view of a war correspondent.

"Magnificent"
"Only love can leave such a mark," Bono roars on what sounds like an instant U2 anthem. Will.i.am has already done what Bono calls "the most extraordinary" remix of the tune.

"Moment of Surrender"
This seven-minute-long track is one of the album's most ambitious, merging a Joshua Tree-style gospel feel with a hypnotically loping bass line and a syncopated beat.

"Every Breaking Wave"
A swelling soul-pop song, with bright synth sounds influenced by OMD and, Bono says, "early electronica." "You don't hear indie bands doing blue-eyed soul [like this]," he adds.

"No Line on the Horizon"
The title track's relentless groove began as a group improvisation. "It's very raw and very to the point," says the Edge. "It's like rock & roll 2009."

[From Issue 1071 — January 22, 2009]

Get the Lastest on U2 Anytime

Here's some U2 fun for you; enjoy this U2 Widget - get the latest on The Boys anytime!

It Just Keeps Getting Better

Economic forecasts be damned -- this is gonna be a great year: Ladies and gentlemen, pick a city, cause The Dead are hitting the road again!

Under the banner, "An Evening With," the trek will encompass 19 shows in 16 cities, kicking off April 12 in Greensboro, North Carolina, and wrapping up May 10 in Mountain View, California. The quartet will be joined by guitarist Warren Haynes and keyboardist Jeff Chimenti.

Check it out ...

Mandy per Melissa

Amanda at beach in LW, taken by older sister Melissa for photography class, ~1995 ...

U2 Reveals Five Versions of New Record

From Artist Direct ...

Now that they've announced a release date for their new studio record, No Line on the Horizon, U2 has unveiled not one but five formats for its March 3 release. Aside from standard CD and double LP pressings, the album will be available in three limited edition packages. According to Billboard.com, the digipak version costs $35.98 and includes a 36-page booklet, foldout poster and "a new (downloadable) film from Anton Corbijn featuring the music of U2"; the magazine version drops the CD in "a special 60-page soft cover magazine-style book" and also includes Corbijn's film as a special download; and the deluxe $96 boxed set tacks on a 60-page hardcover book, a second poster and the Corbijn project on DVD.

No clear tracklisting on U2's new one yet, but we do know that will.i.am contributed to a new cut called "Crazy Tonight."

U2 - Q The Music

No Line on the Horizon - First Real Info!

The boys have done an interview with "Q" magazine -- and released our first real info on the new disc, which is being likened more to Achtung Baby than either HTDMAB or ATYCLB. They also gave the magazine a preview of the full disc -- we are getting very close ladies and gentlemen! Look for a counter to hit the blog soon :-) Here's the story from Q ...

Q has had a world exclusive preview of the forthcoming new U2 album, provisionally titled No Line On The Horizon.

Sessions for the long awaited album were completed at a feverish pace at Olympic Studios in West London throughout November. However, recording actually began in October 2006, with U2 teaming up once more with producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois after first exploring the idea of working with Rick Rubin. Between them, Lanois and Eno worked on the key triptych of U2 records - The Unforgettable Fire, The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby.

"We learned a lot from Rick," says Bono. "He's head over heels in love with the concept of the song. But our feeling was, you don't go to rock'n'roll just for the songs. We wanted songs that would take us into a different world.

"And because Brian and Dan are experimental in their niches, the opportunity to bring some experimentation into the pop consciousness is so exciting to them. And to us."

By the time U2 arrived at Olympic Studios, Eno was shepherding the album to a conclusion with various other producers being called in to mix specific tracks - long-time cohort Steve Lillywhite and Black Eyed Peas man Will.I.Am among them. As has become customary for U2 records, tracks were being re-worked - and in some cases completely overhauled - right up to the final deadline.

Q initially heard previews of seven tracks at various stages of completion as the band were winding up. First impressions were that, while the two most recent U2 albums (2000's All That You Can't Leave Behind and 2004's How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb) marked a return to basics, No Line On The Horizon is more in keeping with the spirit of 1991's Achtung Baby: which is to say, a bolder, more testing collection.

The material itself runs a gamut from the classic U2-isms of Magnificent, which echoes The Unforgettable Fire's opening track A Sort Of Homecoming in its atmospheric sweep, to the straight up pop of Crazy Tonight (the track Will.I.Am was taking a pass at) and the swaggering Stand Up, wherein U2 get in touch with their, hitherto unheard, funky selves - albeit propelled by some coruscating Edge guitar work, a signature feature of a number of the tracks. The latter track is also home to the knowing Bono lyric, "Stand up to rock stars/Napoleon is in high heels/Be careful of small men with big ideas."

Among other instantly striking tracks are Get Your Boots On, a heaving electro-rocker that may mark the destination point the band had been seeking on Pop; Winter, featuring a fine Bono lyric about a soldier in an unspecified war zone, surrounded by a deceptively simple rhythm track and an evocative string arrangement courtesy of Eno; and the stately Unknown Caller, which was recorded in Fez and opens with the sounds of birdsong taped by Eno during a Moroccan dawn.

At Olympic, particular excitement was reserved for two tracks: Moment Of Surrender and Breathe. A strident seven-minute epic recorded in a single take, the first of these sounds like a Great U2 Moment in the spirit of One, while Eno suggests the latter (at the time still a work in progress) is potentially both the best song the band had written and that he had worked on.

A week after the Olympic playback, Bono treated Q to a private audience of two further unfinished tracks - playing both on his car stereo at teeth-rattling volume whilst being piloted through London's rush-hour traffic. Two versions of the title track were extant: the first is another Unforgettable Fire-esque slow burner that builds to a euphoric coda, the second a punk-y Pixies/Buzzcocks homage that proceeds at a breathless pace.

"We recorded the second version just last night," explained the singer whilst enthusiastically air drumming along to it. "I'm very excited by that one,"

Q begged to differ, casting a vote for the more layered earlier version.

One other track, Every Breaking Wave, was beginning to take shape around an emotive Bono vocal and an appropriately grand swell of a climax. "We might be on to something special there," noted Bono.

And within the U2 camp, this is the general consensus around the album as a whole. A clearly excited Eno told Q No Line On The Horizon could be the band's greatest album, a view also echoed by the Edge.

"We've learnt a few things over the years," said the guitarist. "So I think (the album) could be a bringing-to-bear of all those eureka moments from the past."

No Line On The Horizon is set for release on March 2. And you can read more about the album in Q magazine's world exclusive U2 cover feature from December 31.