Published on: September 22, 2024, 11:18h.

Last updated on: September 22, 2024, 11:28h.

“Welcome to … whatever this is,” Don Henley greeted the crowd on Friday as his Eagles became the fourth superstar rock band to headline a residency at the Las Vegas Sphere in which they co-starred with the Las Vegas Sphere.

Indeed, the visuals on Friday’s opening night consistently outdazzled the performances from the 52-year-old Los Angeles outfit.

“How many of you have been here before?” Henley continued as about a third of the crowd  responded. “The rest of you, I hope you brought some Dramamine, because it’s gonna get crazy.”

That was no exaggeration. The Sphere’s giant wraparound screen provided a lightning a zip south along the Las Vegas Strip during “Life in the Fast Lane,” flew drone-like up and down an impossibly tall tenement apartment in “In the City,” and projected live video of all six singers across a starry night sky during the ethereal “Seven Bridges Road.”

Henley actually joked about being upstaged.

“So this is the Sphere, some 21st century iteration of entertainment venue,” the 77-year-old singer/drummer said. “We’re just the house band.”

But being upstaged wasn’t a bad thing at all. In fact, the Sphere is what an Eagles concert has always needed. Even when they were in their early 20s, all the band ever did was stand still and sing.

How Do They Sound?

Though the Eagles were outmatched by the Sphere’s visuals, their sound was perfection.

Henley joked about the Sphere’s tens of thousands of speakers letting the crowd hear “all our mistakes,” but none were audible. The band’s six-part harmonies were flawlessly executed as they wove in and out of 19 songs that continue resonating across the generations.

Both country crooner Vince Gill and Deacon Frey substituted for Deacon’s father, Glenn, who co-founded the band with Henley in 1971 and died in 2016 — apparently because the hole was too big to fill with just one person. And, as expected, Henley said a few words about J.D. Souther, who died last week.

“J.D., as some of you may know, played a pivotal role in the Eagles,” Henley said during the four-song encore. “He wasn’t in the band, but he certainly co-wrote some of our biggest hits, including ‘The Best of My Love,’ ‘New Kid in Town’ and this next song, ‘Heartache Tonight.’”

Surprisingly, the band opened the show with “Hotel California,” for which it commissioned a video with animations capturing the conflicting emotions of hedonism, abandonment and imprisonment suggested by the lyrics.

Their biggest song felt like it should have been an encore. But with the “when will they play it?” question out of the way, the band seemed unburdened — and the crowd freer to go to the bathroom with no FOMO.

Eagles Sphere Set

1. Hotel California
2. One of These Nights
3. Lyin’ Eyes
4. Take It to the Limit
5. Witchy Woman
6. Peaceful Easy Feeling
7. Tequila Sunrise
8. In the City
9. I Can’t Tell You Why
10. Seven Bridges Road
11. Those Shoes
12. Life’s Been Good
13. Already Gone
14. The Boys of Summer
15. Life in the Fast Lane

Encore

16. Take It Easy
17. Rocky Mountain Way
18. Desperado
19. Heartache Tonight