The Eagles: They just keep on rocking
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The biggest change the legendary American band the Eagles has experienced in 40 years is that the members have become "old men." That's the word from lead singer Don Henley as the band prepares for its first ever visit to the Chinese mainland.
"We've all become old men – but we are still here," Henley said. "In the US, writers and journalists worship the people who die young in rock'n'roll – they make you a hero if you die early. We didn't want to do that.
In other professions, people work until they're 65, but in rock'n'roll you're not supposed to do that. Yet we did. So there's no reason to stop. As long as people come to see us, we'll keep on doing it until somebody gets ill or something. The guys seem to be fine right now. I'm going to be in the gym a lot."
After two concerts in Chinese Taipei last weekend, the band now flies to Shanghai to begin its tour of the Chinese mainland.
"It is just like adventuring in a new world," said Joe Walsh, Eagles' guitarist. Nowadays, he and the other three members, Henley, keyboard player Glenn Frey and bassist Timothy B. Schmit, are all in their 60s and the Eagles will enjoy its 40th year in show business in 2012.
Veterans they may be but they still command respect and big audiences around the world. According to Pollstar, the worldwide concert industry trade publication, the Eagles were ranked ninth in the list of the most profitable concert performers in 2010, picking up $100 million. (The top three of the list are also old hands – Bon Jovi had $200 million in gate receipts, AC/DC $170 million and U2 $160 million. The "baby" Lady Gaga ranked fourth.)
For the Chinese mainland tour, the Eagles will perform at the Shanghai Mercedes-Benz Arena on March 9 and the Wukesong Arena in Beijing on March 12. This is part of their Long Road Out Of Eden world tour.
Reflecting the title of the tour, the band is set to perform songs from its most recent album, Long Road Out Of Eden, as well as classic numbers including "Hotel California," "Desperado," "How Long," "Take It Easy," "Heartache Tonight" and "Take It To The Limit."
"After I got here, I learned that Chinese people were familiar with ‘Hotel California' and ‘Desperado.' But, you know, in the 1970s, when we were at our height, most of our songs were not played in China. Maybe the concerts here won't be like the American concerts where many of the songs remind the audience of their feelings when they heard the songs for the first time," Frey said.
"Obviously, people want to hear the songs that they have heard for years. Those are the obvious crowd pleasers, like ‘Hotel California,' ‘One of These Nights' and ‘Lying Eyes.' I like ‘Hotel California' the most, because I don't have to sing, but it is a challenge to play, and to play it live you really have to pay attention," Walsh said.
"But we also want to put some of our current music out there, and because we have this relatively new album, we do songs from it. We needed to feel like we were still a viable entity in the music world, so we didn't just want to do old numbers. We wanted to have newer music to keep it interesting."
Henley believes the reason why the Eagles remains popular is that the band doesn't pander – they just do what they do. "People either really love us or they hate us, there's no middle. So we're about the music, we're not about following fashion; we're not about haircuts; we're not about clothing, obviously. We're just about the music and that's why we're still here after 40 years."
Henley said they sometimes change the way they perform their classic hits on stage. "Sometimes, you go to a Bob Dylan concert and you have no idea what song he is singing. Sometimes we jam a little bit, and sometimes, we stretch a little bit. There is always a nice balance."
None of the band has visited the Chinese mainland before, but they said that they felt the Chinese people were hard-working. "We know Yo-Yo Ma, but we are not familiar with popular music in China as we seldom get a chance to listen to it in the US. But we are very interested in traditional Chinese musical instruments – we hope we can have opportunity to learn more about them."
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