Eagles, Wembley Stadium, review: these dinosaurs are going out with a roar

Don Henley of the Eagles performs at Wembley Stadium - Redferns
Don Henley of the Eagles performs at Wembley Stadium - Redferns

“It’s been quite a week of music here at Wembley – it’s ‘dinosaur week’,” joked Eagles frontman Don Henley. Indeed it has. Beginning the UK leg of their world tour on Sunday night, Eagles played the stadium just days after Fleetwood Mac and Billy Joel had taken the same stage.

It’s 44 years since Eagles first played at Wembley. Back then, they were opening for the Beach Boys – who are also still around, filling the Royal Albert Hall tonight. It seems the dinosaurs will always be with us. Why hasn’t the world moved on?

Henley had an answer: “Dinosaurs might be old, but they leave big footprints.” Arguably, no footprints are bigger than Eagles’. The spread of ages at the stadium – from mid-20s to mid-70s – was proof of the everlasting success that last year saw their 1976 Greatest Hits become America’s best-selling album of all time. Countless acts have followed in those footprints, building on the template laid by their smooth, FM-friendly, country-tinged rock – not least Sheryl Crow, who gave a cracking performance as Sunday’s opening act. There’s a bit of pterodactyl in every bird, and a whole lot of Eagle in Crow.

But are these dinosaurs really bona-fide, or a Natural History Museum fudge: a few bones and a lot of plaster to hide the missing parts? Henley is the only member of the original four-piece on display. Randy Meisner retired; Bernie Leadon was fired; Glenn Frey died in 2016.

And yet drummer/singer Henley’s Eagles are an astonishingly tight live proposition, almost eerily precise: close your eyes, and you could be hearing an LP. The band put any doubts to rest within seconds of arrival, opening with a pristine close-harmony cover of Steve Young’s Seven Bridges Road, a live Eagles staple. Henley himself was in as fine vocal fettle as ever, hitting the high-notes of One of These Nights with power, summoning a wolfish croon for Witchy Woman while his down-tempo drumming turned the song into a swamp-stomp, and bringing the crowd to tears with a tender encore of Desperado.

Deacon Frey and Joe Walsh of the Eagles - Credit: Harry Herd/Redferns
Deacon Frey and Joe Walsh of the Eagles Credit: Harry Herd/Redferns

This line-up’s not-so-secret weapon is Frey’s son Deacon, who joined the band aged just 24 in 2017. At Wembley he was a minor revelation, not merely his father’s vocal doppleganger but (whisper it) better, sweet-voiced with a hint of roughness, bringing a mellow sincerity to Peaceful Easy Feeling then letting loose for Already Gone. Country veteran Vince Gill took vocal duties for other Frey songs (taking the lead on New Kid in Town) but was outshone by Frey Jr.

Also among the line-up are Joe Walsh, an Eagle since their last great album, 1976’s Hotel California, and bassist Timothy B Schmit, who joined for their first dud, 1979’s The Long Run. Walsh’s voice has lost its clarity, but his guitar lines are still precise, lyrical and articulate. In the spine-tingling finale of Hotel California, his guitar solo had the crowd singing along to every note. If this tour is their last, as Henley has hinted, these dinosaurs are going out with a roar.

At Manchester Arena, Weds (eagles.com), and touring the UK until July 4