With Frey’s son, Eagles soar at Fiserv Forum
When Glenn Frey died, it felt like it was time for the Eagles to end.
Don Henley suggested as much in interviews a few years before Frey’s untimely death in 2016, and watching his understandably somber bandmates perform without him at the Grammys that year was depressing. But the Eagles continued.
Of course they did. They’re the second-highest grossing touring act in North America so far this year, and in August, the Eagles’ “Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975” officially became the top-selling album in history.
But after seeing the band at a nearcapacity Fiserv Forum Thursday, I’m glad to see the Eagles go on.
It was a bit jarring hearing songs like “Take It Easy” performed without Frey singing about runnin’ down the road tryin’ to loosen his load. But the band found a fitting fill-in with his son Deacon.
Deacon Frey wasn’t the most magnetic showman, but he had a fine voice that blended in nicely with the eightpart harmonies. And he was a natural conduit for his father’s work, even singing with his eyes shut like his dad did.
Deacon took his father’s place on lead vocals for “Take It Easy,” “Peaceful Easy Feeling” and “Already Gone.” The other fill-in — country great, and Frey’s friend, Vince Gill — also fit in with the band’s mellow spirit, managing to bring just a touch of toe-tapping, honky-tonk swagger to his lead vocals for “Heartache Tonight.”
It also provided the lone moment, during a two-and-a-half-hour set, when Gill’s soulful guitar work commanded the spotlight. A shameful missed opportunity to be sure, but at least longtime Eagle guitarist and singer Joe Walsh got to strut.
On a night when “Take It Easy” seemed to be the band’s mission statement, Walsh deliciously defied the formula, leading the audience through a kooky repeat-after-me bit ahead of his own song “Life’s Been Good,” where he cued thousands of people to add the lyric “baloney” for little discernible reason.
Walsh sang lead vocals on five songs with contorted facial expressions and a textured voice, a welcome contrast to Henley and the gang’s subdued stage presence and ultra-smooth presentation. And during a hot take of “Funk #49” from his old group James Gang, Walsh made his guitar squeal and stomp and soar, while a swinging five-piece horn section backed him up.
He was the only Eagle Thursday who truly embraced his rock-star nature, but the songs remained the star of the show.
Beautiful takes of “Take It to the Limit” and “Desperado” were supported by tasteful string arrangements, and on “Hotel California,” Henley’s vocals, and Walsh and Don Felder’s epic guitar parts (the latter artfully articulated Thursday by Steuart Smith) sounded exactly as they were recorded.
In the end, it was Deacon Frey who received some of the most affectionate applause in Milwaukee.
“It means so much to me to hear you guys clap like that,” he said after sharing lead vocals with Henley on “How Long.” “This is the treat of my life to be able to play these songs with these guys.”
Clearly, his father’s songs meant a great deal to these fans, too.