You’ve heard about that “dark desert highway” for decades. But have you ever seen it?
Eagles (L to R: Vince Gill, Timothy B. Schmit, Don Henley, Deacon Frey, Joe Walsh and touring guitarist Steuart Smith) at night 1 of their Sphere residency on Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, in Las Vegas.
Chloe Weir
For more than 50 years, the Eagles have been painting vivid pictures with their music, from the dark desert highway of “Hotel California” to the billion stars all around of “Peaceful Easy Feeling” to the cold, cold city of “Life in the Fast Lane.” On Friday night (Sept. 20), those images came to intense life at Las Vegas’ Sphere, where the technology of 2024 finally caught up to the band’s enduring artistry and created a technicolor display worthy of their classic, illustrative songs from the 1970s and beyond.
The California country-rock group – formed by Don Henley and the late Glenn Frey in 1971 – could have never imagined this future for itself because this kind of game-changing venue simply didn’t exist in their heyday. The first night of the Eagles’ five-month Sphere residency proved there’s something particularly enchanting about pairing songs that have this deep of a history with a brand-new medium to experience them. Many of the fans in the building for opening night might have checked out a stop of The Long Goodbye Tour over the past year-plus, but even though the setlist wasn’t too far off (with some notable swaps – more on that below), this show was worlds apart from any Eagles concert before it. The group still boasts the pristine harmonies, tight guitar licks, and overall passion that belies their veteran status; it’s just that now you can also take a literal trip into a spooky forest for the otherworldly “Witchy Woman,” so it’s not just the unnerving production setting the macabre mood.
The band – made up of Henley, Joe Walsh, Timothy B. Schmit, Vince Gill and Glenn’s son Deacon Frey, as well as a team of longtime touring musicians – was never overpowered by the Sphere’s floor-to-ceiling visuals because the 20-song set made up exclusively of hits always held its own against the immersive spectacle. Seeing the Eagles catalog backed by this dazzling display only enhanced just how timeless and impactful these songs are.
Below, find Billboard’s best moments from Eagles’ opening night at Sphere.
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Starting With ‘Hotel California’
Is there any bigger flex than kicking off a concert with your signature hit? Some fans might have expected the Hot 100-topping title track of their 1976 album to come later in the show, or maybe even as the final encore song, but once the countdown clock crept to zero just after 8:30 p.m. PT, it was the familiar strains of the 6-minute-plus radio staple that rang across the Sphere. The visuals set the tone for the evening, beginning simply with headlights traveling down that notorious “dark desert highway” before opening up into the haunted halls of the hotel, full of faceless figures at a long dinner table and white masks peeking down ominously from the ceiling.
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Deacon Frey Comes Into His Own
Glenn Frey’s 31-year-old son Deacon first played with the band at 2017’s Classic West concert, stepping in after his dad’s 2016 death at age 67. Now, more than seven years later, Deacon is a full-fledged member of the group, seamlessly harmonizing with peerless vocalists like Henley, Gill and Schmit and confidently taking over lead on Glenn’s beloved signature songs, including “Peaceful Easy Feeling,” “Already Gone” and “Take It Easy.” Most telling is Deacon’s willingness to flip up his dad’s well-worn melodies to put his own spin on the classics, showing his comfort level onstage with a band filled with legends.
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Paying Tribute to Jimmy Buffett & JD Souther
The Eagles took a moment on opening night to perform a twofold tribute for fallen friends, starting out with Henley’s solo hit “Boys of Summer” for the late king of summer Jimmy Buffett, who died in September 2023 at age 76, and then moving on to “Heartache Tonight” to remember the song’s co-writer JD Souther, who died Tuesday at age 78. “I’d be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge a couple of people, one of whom we lost a year ago this month, Mr. Jimmy Buffett,” Henley began the tribute. “We’re dedicating this next song to him. And then the song we’re going to do after this next song, I want to acknowledge the co-writer of that song, who we lost three days ago, Mr. JD Souther. JD, as some of you may know, played a pivotal role in the Eagles. He wasn’t in the band, but he certainly co-wrote some of our biggest hits, including ‘Best of My Love,’ ‘New Kid in Town’ and the one we’re going to play after this next song called ‘Heartache Tonight.’ So these songs go out to those boys, Mr. Buffett and Mr. Souther. Sing it so they can hear you.”
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From Underwater to Outer Space
Image Credit: Chloe Weir The way the Sphere screen truly envelops the stage allows the crowd to be transported both musically and visually, and the Eagles’ show took a journey from under the sea to above the clouds (with some terrestrial stops in between). Some of the most stunning visual displays included a couple’s gorgeous underwater choreography for “Boys of Summer”; a towering cityscape growing over the crowd before collapsing down into the ground for “In the City”; and a bus driving all the way into the cosmos and into a meteor shower for “Take It to the Limit.”
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The Fitting Lyrics
For “Lyin’ Eyes,” one of the Eagles’ purest country tracks, the massive screen put the focus on the song’s storytelling, isolating each lyric line by line and raining the words down onto the crowd. The focus was also on the lyrics later in the night, when two lines surfaced that felt like perfect fits for the once-in-a-lifetime residency: “We will never be here again” from “Take It Easy” and “This night is gonna last forever” from the final song of the evening, “Heartache Tonight.”
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The Troubadour Comes to Vegas
Like U2 and Dead & Company did before them, there is also a fan experience for Eagles concertgoers in the adjacent Venetian Resort – with this one re-creating the vaunted Troubadour club in West Hollywood where Henley and Frey got their start in the early ’70s. There are a lot of special treats at the Vibee-created Third Encore fan experience, including Henley’s first-ever drum kit from when he was a kid (emblazoned with the name of his teenage band Felicity) as well as jerseys, posters and other memorabilia from the band’s personal collection and exclusive merch only available at the pop-up.
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Night 1 Setlist
Image Credit: Chloe Weir Hotel California
One of These Nights
Lyin’ Eyes
Take It to the Limit
Witchy Woman
Peaceful Easy Feeling
Tequila Sunrise
In the City
I Can’t Tell You Why
New Kid in Town
Seven Bridges Road
These Shoes
Life’s Been Good
Already Gone
Boys of Summer
Life in the Fast LaneENCORE
Take It Easy
Rocky Mountain Way
Desperado
Heartache Tonight -
Eagles’ Remaining Sphere Dates
Sept. 21
Sept. 27
Sept. 28
Oct. 11
Oct. 12
Oct.18
Oct. 19
Nov. 1
Nov. 2
Nov. 8
Nov. 9
Dec. 6
Dec. 7
Dec. 13
Dec. 14
Jan. 17
Jan. 18
Jan. 24
Jan. 25