Review: Co-op Live’s Eagles masterfully perform Farewell Tour classics

“We’re in the middle of our 52nd year playing these songs for you,” Don Henley told the Eagles opening night crowd at Manchester’s Co-op Live Arena.

“We’re doing this with no fireworks, no confetti cannons, no wind machine, no choreography. Just a bunch of guys with guitars.”

“Just a bunch of guys with guitars” is a rather modest assessment of one of the most successful bands of all time, with over 200 million records sold worldwide, six number one albums and six Grammy Awards to boot. name just a few of their achievements. .

READ MORE: Eagles Manchester full setlist – every song from Co-op Live residency opening night

A montage of archival footage and photography raises the curtain, going back to where it all began in the early 1970s. There’s a sense of finality in the air – and if that seems like an obvious thing to say about a farewell tour titled The Long Goodbye, let’s not forget that the Eagles have said goodbye several times already.

When “hell freezes over” was when Henley declared that they would perform together again after breaking up in 1980. The Hell Freezes Over live album and tour followed 14 years later. Then came the Farewell 1 tour which ended in 2006. And yet here we are.

The band opens with Seven Bridges Road, its perfect vocal harmonies proving Henley right: there’s no need for smoke and mirrors in such a tight set with such a masterful musicianship.

The first of five shows at the venue, they are the only UK dates of the farewell tour – a coup made possible by Co-op Live’s impeccable connections. Arena owner, OVG co-founder and music mogul Irving Azoff has been the band’s manager for more than forty years. After an opening season marred by well-publicized issues, if there was one show you’d hope would go off without a hitch, it was this one.

There was only one key in the works and it came well before the show, with Steely Dan pulling out of their scheduled support slot last month due to “unforeseen circumstances”. They are at least partially present in former member Michael McDonald of The Doobie Brothers, who more than makes up for it as a stand-in opening act.

And while the venue’s shaky start is mentioned a few times by Henley in the Eagles set, shows like tonight will be what people remember 10 years from now.

Adding to the excitement of this fond farewell is the presence of late co-frontman and guitarist Glenn Frey’s son, Deacon, who was part of the 2017 tour group.

Capably filling his father’s shoes, he takes center stage on lead vocals for Take It Easy, the set’s second song, with the confidence of someone who’s been doing this for decades.

Country music legend Vince Gill is also part of the band’s current lineup, lending his velvety voice to Lyin’ Eyes and Take it to the Limit.

The set list runs through their catalog of classics from Witchy Woman and Peaceful Easy Feeling to Tequila Sunrise and Life in the Fast Lane. Everyone gets their time to shine, with Joe Walsh stepping into the limelight for In the City and Life’s Been Good and living up to his reputation as ‘master of the Stratocaster’ with his thunderous guitar solos.

The bowl becomes a sea of ​​twinkling torches as they return to open their encore with Hotel California followed by Rocky Mountain Way. The phone lights go out again and the excitement is palpable during the piano ballad Desperado, then the entire arena is up and dancing, hands in the air, to Heartache Tonight.

Is this really goodbye? Time will tell. Either way, their legacy will last long after the tournament ends next year.

They said it best themselves when they announced these dates: “This is our swan song, but the music goes on and on.”