I went to see the
Eagles at the newly renovated “Fabulous” Forum in Inglewood, one of a half
dozen shows they are doing to inaugurate the new era of this venerable venue. It was built by Jack Kent Cooke to be
home to the LA Lakers basketball team, who were later joined by the LA Kings hockey
team. But it became the preeminent
concert venue in town despite being built with sports in mind rather than optimum
sound, and it always freezing cold because of the ice skating rink under
the floor. It fell out of favor when the Staples Center opened downtown,
though many music artists refused to play Staples after playing there once
because the sound there is hardly the best (Bruce Springsteen heading that
list), and it eventually was sold to a church.
Last year, The Madison Square Garden company, in a surprise move, bought
the Forum and put $100 million dollars into making it into what may
be the best large concert arena anywhere.
They put the music first, how novel.
So it was with
memories of concerts past, dating back to the early 1970’s, that I headed south
to Inglewood. The place was filled with people
like me (old enough to have those memories) all reminiscing about the shows
they had seen there and where they sat for them. My first one was Santana in 1971 (I think). I went with a guy from work who had done
their lights when he lived in San Francisco, and we sat, on purpose, in the
upper reaches right under the spot lights.
After that there was Led Zeppelin, Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, Elton
John and Billy Joel (together), and the Genesis concert where my lighting
director friend explained to me that they would go on to make more money from
their investment in the company that makes Vari-Lights—the computerized lights
that move in all directions and change colors—than they would from their
music. And then, of course, there was my
life at the Forum with Fleetwood Mac, beginning with the first show of theirs I
saw where they were second on a three-act bill headlined by Dave Mason who
would later join their band. They headlined
six shows of their own there four years later, backed for the song “Tusk” by
the USC Marching Band.
The Eagles are
calling their show the History of the Eagles tour (like their documentary from
last year), and they are recounting their musical history pretty much
chronologically. I would think they are only doing this show here in LA,
because Bernie Leadon (who hasn't played with them since before hell froze
over) plays the whole first half and the encores with them. They started
with an explanation of how they got together and started writing songs, casually
sitting on amps to replicate a $6 an hour rehearsal room somewhere in the San
Fernando Valley. They opened with Whatever Happened to Saturday Night, and
it evolved from there all the way to an acoustic version of Desperado, which is my all-time favorite
Eagles song. In between they
played every Eagles song anyone would ever want to hear in a room where the sound was—in a word--perfect.
