The summer concert season in New York is a busy one as Tom Petty and Peter Wolf rocked Gorest Hills Stadium this past Thursday, Chicago and the Doobie Brothers played Northwell at Jones Beach Theatre on Friday and a trio of classic rock radio staples took over Citifield yesterday for the start of a two day rock “festival”.
The Doobie Brothers appropriately opened the festival proceedings and they play their many radio hits and truly sound great.
Steely Dan hit the stage next and played a full headliner set built for the 50,000 plus crowd and leaving out the obscure tunes they mix in when taking their yearly residence at the Beacon Theatre.
The anticipation for the return of The Eagles after the unexpected passing of Glenn Frey was palpable. The newly revamped Eagles pulled out all the stops with country star Vince Gill playing guitar and sharing lead vocal duties on Glenn Frey’s songs with Glenn’s son Deacon Frey. A horn section and strings particularly during “The Last Resort” added to the frills and a monster video set up worthy of Times Square helped those of us in the upper deck enjoy the show.
My initial feeling was that the band should have stayed broken up after Glenn Frey’s passing and that this was yet another money grab by rock and roll’s greediest drummer Don Henley, the man who invented the hundred dollar concert ticket and a charitable donation to your parking fee. Joe Walsh has a successful solo career outside of the Eagles but Henley is not nearly as popular without the Eagle brand name. All that considered, the crowd was ecstatic and the concert made people happy with most singing along to the treasure trove of iconic songs. In the end I think that it was all worth it. Joe Walsh balanced out the quieter acoustic moments of the show with his usual great versions of his solo hits like “Rocky Mountain Way” and “Lif’s Been Good”.
Bob Seger did not make an appearance as he had at The ClassicWest but it was an outstanding night of Eagles entertainment even with the continued banishment of Don Felder who currently plays third billing on the shed circuit.
Day two of The Classic East begins today at 5 PM with Earth,Wind and Fire, who always put on a great show, opening, then karaoke Journey and then the legendary Fleetwood Mac close the event filled weekend. I saw Stevie Nicks at the New Coliseum recently and it was awful as she rambled on between songs causing me to leave before it ended. This should not be an issue tonight with Fleetwood Mac who has the added intrigue of a Buckingham McVie project swirling around the band.
Reeling in the Years
Rock on!
GQ